Gardening Scotland show gardens to live again

Three show gardens from this year's Gardening Scotland are set to bloom again in new locations.

A garden Amber Goudy and Martin Crowley which won the event's top award and featured two giant steel lilies which poured water onto slate was sold before the Show was over.

A garden which commemorated the gardeners killed in the First World War, which was sponsored by Poppyscotland, is to be rebuilt in the grounds of Erskine, the charity that provides care for ex-servicemen, and 'The Retreat' by Dundee & Angus College will have a new life as a contemplative space within the grounds of Robin House, the hospice for children with life-limiting illnesses, which is set on the banks of Loch Lomond.

Commenting on the sale Amber Goudy said: ” Our garden went to private clients in Ratho and you wouldn't believe how much it suits its new location! We are so pleased that it gets to live on, and isn't being dismantled.”

Husband-and-wife team, Amber and Martin built the garden as a thank-you to Perennial, the horticultural charity that supported Martin during his recovery from Guillain-barre syndrome.

Gardening Scotland show manager Jim Jermyn says: "This year saw some of the best gardens in the 15-year history of the show, so it is no surprise that visitors should want to take them home with them, but this is a record number of gardens to have a new life after the show is over and demonstrates that designers took on board our brief to create gardens that visitors could imagine having at home.

"The Perennial garden had already received one of three new Artisan Awards which we handed out in advance of the show to designers whose plans were innovative and creative but which were also on a domestic scale."

A total of 39 gold medals were given out by judges at Gardening Scotland 2014 and in the New Hopetoun Gardens Floral Hall the top award went to 'Bloom 50', an elaborate celebration of 50 years of Britain in Bloom by Beautiful Fife featuring a restored Falkland farm cart and an authentic Fife rowing boat.

Other awards went to floral exhibits, botanical art and tiny pallet gardens made by school children.

A full list of winners is available from www.gardeningscotland.com.

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