Oxfordshire garden among ‘Best of the best’ in UK by BBC

Nadine Mitschunas from near Wallingford is one of three people whose gardens are in the running for the ‘Best of the best’ edition of the garden of the year awards.

This year’s competition, the 10th, has a unique twist: every contender is a previous finalist, bringing together standout gardens from the last decade of the awards.

Ms Mitschunas was nominated by the magazine’s readers alongside Pam Woodall from Dorset, as well as Jo and Andi Butler from Shropshire.

She was previously the 2021 Judge’s Choice winner.

Nadine Mitschunas from near Wallingford (Image: BBC Gardeners World)

Representing a broad range of gardening styles from across the country, each of the finalist gardens shows creativity, dedication and a passion for plants.

The overall winner will be chosen by a panel of expert judges, to be announced in the October issue of BBC Gardeners’ World.

The panel includes garden designer and BBC Gardeners’ World presenter, Arit Anderson; garden designer and author, Ann-Marie Powell, BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine content director, Kevin Smith, and head gardener at Crocus, Ashley Edwards.

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Mr Smith said: “Reaching the top three is a huge achievement, especially in this special anniversary year.

“These gardens truly represent the very best from the past decade and showcase the creativity, dedication and passion of our readers. Choosing a winner from such an exceptional group won’t be easy.”

Nadine Mitschunas finalist in Gardeners World magazine Gardens of the Year 2021 competition GOTY 190721 19072021 19/07/21 19/07/2021 19 19th July 2021 Summer location Oxfordshire photographer Jason Ingram (Image: Jason Ingram)

BBC Gardeners’ World previously said about Ms Mitschunas’ garden: “This really is a garden for our times, reflecting the care that so many gardeners have poured into creating spaces for wildlife to thrive.

“Our winner has achieved this to a high level of perfection but not forgotten the need to make an atmospheric space to simply live in and enjoy.

“With mostly plants rather than landscaping used to create the space, it’s a thrifty and achievable blueprint for many others to follow.”

Ms Mitschunas works as a pollinator ecologist and started to cultivate her overgrown and unloved plot in 2010.

Last year, the BBC reported that Ms Mitschunas was the UK’s first rice grower.

The crops in her four small paddy fields were able to grow due to the hottest summer on record last year.

She said: “Nobody has tried this before, but with climate change, we have crops that, 10 years ago, we wouldn’t have thought would be viable.

“In 10 years time, rice could be a completely perfect crop for us.”

The experiment was the idea of the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.

“I’m actually amazed because they are big, happy, bushy plants,” she added.