Whether or not we get the barbecue weather we feel we deserve, for three glorious days in June at least it will be as if all our summers have come at once, when the grounds of the Royal Highland Centre in Edinburgh will be transformed by an explosion of colour and scent produced by hundreds and thousands of plants.
From modest beginnings 11 years ago, Gardening Scotland has flourished and this year it’s set to attract 32,000 visitors who are expected to spend more than £1million on plants. The growers and nurseries that travel from across the UK to sell their flowers in The Dobbies Floral Hall include some of the finest plantsmen and women in the country.
Amongst them this year will be Sue and Bleddyn Wynn-Jones from Wales. Not only is their nursery, Crug Farm Plants, regarded as one of the finest, but the couple are recognised as intrepid plant hunters who regularly travel to some of the remotest and most hostile corners of the world.
Over the course of 20 years, they have encountered armed rebels and natural hazards in the pursuit of new plants.
Guatemala, Colombia, Korea and Vietnam are all countries which have all yielded up new plants to Sue and Bleddyn, but Taiwan is their favourite destination.
“It is incredibly rich in new species, but it is also one of the world’s most violent earthquake zones, so collecting there can be hazardous,” says Bleddyn.
Gardening Scotland show manager Jim Jermyn is known throughout the botanical world for his stewardship of Edrom Nurseries in Eyemouth, the alpine nursery which, during his ownership, became renowned for offering unusual plants.
Although he’s sold Edrom, Jermyn continues to spend his time botanising in the Alps and the Dolomites, writing books on Alpines and working with the scientists and horticulturists who study these fascinating plants.
He says: “We have expanded the show to attract as many novice gardeners and families looking for a great day out as we do committed gardeners, but as the fun element has grown we have continued to apply the same, rigorous standards inside the Dobbies Floral Hall.”
What this has meant is that renowned nurseries, such as Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants, exhausted from putting on an award-winning display at Chelsea Flower Show just days earlier, do not hesitate to drive the 400 miles north from their base in Hampshire to Edinburgh, knowing that their fellow exhibitors include other specialists and Chelsea gold medallists.
It is significant, says Jermyn, that Scottish gardeners have a unrivalled understanding of what is on offer. “Many of our visitors are knowledgeable. They know what makes a plant special and are willing to spend money when they find something exceptional.”
A total of 20 show gardens will be created outside this year, which is almost twice as many as at any previous Gardening Scotland. Among those transforming bare grass into fantasy gardens will be Water Gems, the Edinburgh-based landscaping company that is the current holder of the highest award from the British Association of Landscaping Industries. They won that accolade for creating a garden in Edinburgh which tumbles down a steep hillside to the Water of Leith and includes a swimming pond where the owner takes a dip among water lilies, bulrushes and the pond’s resident frogs.
For all the garden designers, the week leading up to the opening of the show can be fraught as stones and soil arrive, mature trees are trucked in and thousands of plants are delivered in fleets of vans as the rush to meet the deadline of 4pm on Thursday, when the judges begin their tour of inspection, draws closer.
Someone who will be feeling that pressure for the first time this year is Eoghan Watt. A qualified garden designer and land manager, it is his job to oversee maintenance of the thousands of homes under the care of property management company, Ross & Liddell. After attending the show as a visitor for several years, Watt became inspired to create a Ross & Liddell show garden and so this year among the wildflower meadows, Victorian bowers, outdoor living spaces, land art, herbaceous borders where peonies bloom in great satin globes and carefully controlled minimalist plots, there will be a garden that depicts the communal land around flats.
“Getting the scale right is essential. Plants and containers have to be big enough to make an impact,” he says.
Show gardens can cost anything from £1,000 to £50,000 but some of the biggest attractions at are created on the proceeds of cake sales and sponsored silences. These are the pallet gardens, the tiny plots just one square metre in size, that have proved to be a runaway favourite with visitors.
The Pallet Garden Challenge was originally started by the Scottish Gardeners’ Forum as a contest for gardening clubs. It wasn’t until they opened up the challenge to schools that it really took off and now children from as far apart as Argyll and the Borders spend months preparing intricate planting plans, growing seedlings on classroom windowsills and planting up trial versions of their plots.
Taking part this year is Garnetbank Primary, a school in the very heart of Glasgow. Hemmed in on one side by the 1960s tower black of the Glasgow Dental Hospital and on the other by the iconic edifice of Glasgow School of Art, it has a tarmac playground where not even a blade of grass flourished until the school formed a gardening club and the children began filling every container they could find with compost and plants.
They now have a gnome, Tam, and blog regularly about their endeavours. Tam will be travelling to the show along with everyone in the gardening club.
“The children are really enthusiastic and they take the Pallet Garden Challenge very seriously,” says teaching assistant Heather Little.
Almost 400 exhibitors take part in Gardening Scotland and it is as easy to pick up a hot tub as a hoe. Don’t miss the Big Back Garden, which is dedicated to all those ways of enjoying a garden without the digging.
There will be garden games, including tempting sand pits and welly throwing competitions, as well as swings and trains for children to clamber on.
In the Living Garden Area, there will be experts from more than 25 environmental organisations, who will be celebrating International Year of Biodiversity with a special pod garden dedicated to the elements essential for life.
But even if you come to Gardening Scotland simply to pick up a jar of Scottish honey or find an original artwork for your home, Jermyn says the temptation laid out in The Dobbies Floral Hall is too seductive for even non-gardeners to resist. He says: “I haven’t met a visitor yet who hasn’t gone home with at least one plant.”
Gardening Scotland 2010 is on from Friday, June 4 until Sunday, June 6 at The Royal Highland Centre, Edinburgh. Tickets cost £15 on Friday and £13 on Saturday and Sunday. Children under 16 go free.
Citylink will operate buses direct to Gardening Scotland from locations across Scotland. Buses will depart from Glasgow, Inverness, Aviemore, Dundee, Ferrytoll (Inverkeithing), Aberdeen, Pitlochry and Perth. Seats must be pre-booked.
Visit www.citylink.co.uk or call 0871 266 3333.
