Into the Woods: A Fairytale Garden Pod at the Chelsea Flower Show
Landscape designer Tania Suonio’s “Connected” garden at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show is deeply personal in many ways.
“She believed that even the rocks or trees had a spirit. Because of her, my connection to nature is very strong and I wanted to honor her with the garden.” We joined the designer for a peek inside.
Photography by Britt Willoughby Dyer.
A simple wooden ramp leads us into the pod.
Her magical woodland pod, a rustic but elegant structure in which visitors can sit and read, work, chat or just gaze up at the incredible glass roof, planted around the perimeter with woodland plants and ferns, is one of the Sanctuary gardens at this year’s show.
The exterior looks like the trunk of an ancient oak that inspired the garden but is constructed of cork cleverly embellished with moss and surrounded by woodland planting.
The Finnish designer has been advised not to use the word “fairytale” to describe her biodiverse and sustainable design, but it’s exactly how this miniature garden feels; she wanted to evoke the sense of wonder you got as a child when entering the forest for the first time.
Up on the glass roof a circle of ferns adds more greenery to the soothing space.
The pod’s incredible cork exterior is planted up with moss, ferns, and woodland plants.
The wooden pod is styled as an enormous Jurassic oak trunk—but actually constructed with a wooden frame that has been clad inside with narrow vertical panels of oak that took 500 man hours to create and add to the very Nordic feeling inside.
Integrated oak chairs provide a place to perch.