Pamela Anderson’s Wild and Whimsical Gardening Style Works on Any Scale – and You Can Get the Look for Less With Meadow Flowers

Pamela Anderson’s garden on Vancouver Island is everything a flower lover would choose if they could dream up their perfect garden. It’s the kind of place you would wander into barefoot without realizing you’ve been there for an hour. Flowers spill into each other, friendly pollinators drift through, and the whole thing feels calm, romantic, and a little wild.

In an interview with Architectural Digest, Pamela said of her garden, “I think ‘Provençal' is how I love to think of it. It’s wildflowers and herbs and vegetables mixed in. I’m combining the rules of gardening and then more of my whimsical nature.”

This loose, natural look isn’t just a fantasy – it’s something you can recreate in your own yard, which is exactly what makes it so appealing. The key to achieving it is letting go of perfection, and abandoning the idea that everything needs to be precisely spaced or tightly controlled. Pamela’s garden is all about abundance and softness, with plants that are perfectly happy to coexist alongside one another.

Choose the Right Wildflowers First

What is the secret to an untamed garden? Wildflowers, of course! Wildflowers thrive when they’re allowed to grow uninhibited and completely naturally. Cosmos, poppies, bachelor buttons, nigella, calendula, and Queen Anne’s lace are all staples when it comes to this aesthetic. They self-seed super easily and look even better when they’re left to go slightly unruly.

To keep things simple at first, start with a pollinator-focused wildflower seed mix. This mix from the Mountain Valley Seed Company via Amazon is a selection of 19 different annuals and perennials. Even better? With every purchase, they make a donation to the non-profit “Bee Conservancy,” so you get to feel good about saving the bees as well.

These mixes are designed to bloom at different heights and times, which will give your untamed garden a layered meadow effect without all that pesky planning. When it comes to my own garden, I usually scatter the seeds by hand and then lightly rake them in rather than planting everything in super neat rows. It feels more intuitive, and the result in the end is always a more natural, “untamed” look.

Stick to a Soft, Romantic Color Palette

Pamela’s garden is less about bright colors that contrast and more about muted, gentle tones. She has a lot of whites, creams, blush pinks, pale yellows, and soft purples, with an occasional brighter flower popping up naturally.

To recreate this look in your own wild garden, choose flowers within the same color family and repeat them frequently throughout your space rather than grouping them all into one spot. This will give your garden that wild look you’re going for. However, this repetition is what makes it feel intentional rather than chaotic. The look you want is “untamed” but not as if you just threw a bunch of flowers into the garden and hoped for the best.

Pro tip: To visually ground the wildflowers, add a few perennials as anchors. Rare Roots sells several native perennials, including my personal favorite, this Black Adder Hummingbird Mint. The green foliage has a delicious fragrance, and they’re deer-resistant, so if you have that problem in your garden, these will help keep them away.

Plant More Closely Than You Think

Density is highly important when going for the “untamed” look that Pamela Anderson’s garden has. Flowers should brush up against each other, and the leaves should overlap, as empty soil can cause the illusion to shatter into a million pieces. Planting closer together also has the benefit of suppressing weeds and creates that full feeling that Pamela’s garden is known for.

If you have any taller flowers, they will need some light support, especially after it rains. I like using natural bamboo plant stakes as they visually disappear and won’t stick out like a sore green thumb in your garden. These bamboo plant stakes from Amazon come in several different sizes and blend right in.

Let the Garden Be a Little Messy

Leaning into an “untamed” garden will help you in all areas of your life, as you really need to go with the flow when it comes to this aesthetic. Things will reseed where you didn’t plan, others might flop over or lean; it’s not something to fix but to work with.

Recreating Pamela Anderson’s wildflower-heavy garden is less about the exact placement of every single seed and more about your attitude. As she told Architectural Digest when asked if she had any tips for gardeners: “Just make a lot of mistakes and try. Really, it’s soil, water, and sun. It’s the simplest thing.”