Until Next Year

Bye bye from The Team!

Giggles all round at the end of a long day finishing building our two gardens

Silver Gilt

And we won a Silver gilt Medal for Kellie's Readers Imagination Garden!
Again, we are delighted!

Kellie in the outdoor library, and Jim from the Beechgrove having a wee sit doon in the Chesterfield

Silver Medal

We won a silver for Susan's In the Knitted Garden.
In spite of the troubles we had with some of the plants (Gossypium doesn't really like the climate in Scotland, sadly), we are delighted!
Roll on next year!

Susan explaining to George for the Beechgrove that sheep can't actually knit...their hooves catch on the yarn too much! 

Last Day of preparation

Just popping up a few photos of our last build day.  The show starts tomorrow.  Hope you can make it to Gardening Scotland.

Beech Grove garden

Both the gardens are nearly finished now and looking good.  The Beechgrove Garden team were at Ingleston today for filming, however it was just too wet for them to film outdoors.  We had a wee chat with Jim though.

 

Kellie and Janet chatting about the garden with Jim.  Janet is just starting to stock the outdoor book shelf.

Plant List for 'In the Knitted Garden

Information is given below about the plants included in the knitted garden. They are all linked to fibre, and cotton production.

In the Knitted Garden – Plant list

Visit our Show Gardens blog at http://srucshowgarden.blogspot.co.uk/ or scan the QR code

 Lavatera × clementii 'Silver Barnsley'  Gossypium hirsutum (seedlings of hirsutum, Kundan, Red Beauty, Black Beauty)  Cyperus diffusus  Cyperus esculentus  Cyperus alternifolius  Phyllostachys aurea  Phyllostachys aureosulcata aureocaulis

 Urtica dioica  Lamium maculatum  Libertia peregrinans 'Taupo Sunset'  Carex elata  Uncinia rubra  Linum grandiflorum var rubra  Linum grandiflorum 'Bright Eyes'  Linum usitatissimum  Dipsacus fullonum

Bamboo

Phyllostachys ssp are amazing plants that can be used in many ways: Leaves and stems can be woven, or fibres can be extracted and spun into fine yarns. A type of Viscose can be manufactured from bamboo. A quick growing, prolific plant, it holds promise for being a very sustainable fibre crop.



Flax
 Scotland used to be famous for its textile industries, especially for Linum ssp. The industry was stimulated by an act of Parliament of 1686 stipulating that everyone had to be "buried in linen winding sheets made from materials which had been grown, spun and woven in Scotland"!



Nettles
 Before Flax production Urtica dioica, or 'Stinging nettle' was used to to produce the finest yarn. It was known as "Scotch Cloth".

Whilst Urtica dioica is great for biodiversity (being a food plant for many insects and birds), due to its stings it's not so nice as a garden plant! Therefore it has been confined to a pot and we have used a garden-worthy substitute - the 'Dead nettle' (no stings) otherwise known as Lamium maculatum. It is a useful ground cover plant available in several leaf varieties & flower colours.

Urtica dioica can also be drunk as a tea or used in soup!



Grasses
 Grasses and sedges have been used for basket weaving, rope making and fibres since at least 3000BC (Ötzi, the mummified man found in the Ötztal Alps in 1991, wore a cloak woven from grasses.)
 We have included several garden-worthy varieties, chosen for their foliage colour. These include: Carex elata; Uncinia rubra; Libertia peregrinans.



Papyrus
 Cyperus, perhaps better known as a House plant or a plant of the Egyptian Nile, has also long been used for its fibres, producing both textiles and for making paper. It is a great plant for an ornamental pond, though not always hardy in Scotland.



Cotton
 Probably the most well-known fiber plant, Gossypium ssp are the world’s biggest non-food crop. Cotton can be grown in Britain as a bedding plant, though light levels and rainfall in Scotland hamper its growth. We have chosen Lavatera ‘Silver Barnsley’, also a member of the Malvaceae family, to represent Cotton. A beautiful garden plant, it closely resembles the leave shape and flower of Gossypium.

We also have a pot of Gossypium seedlings and a vase of dried ‘cotton bolls’ on display.



Teasel
 Dipsacus fullonum are still used today in the textile industry for preparation of various fibres into yarn. An interesting garden plant that is native to the British Isles. It is appreciated by wildlife for its seeds and pollen. In the Knitted Garden it is used for its architectural, fresh green foliage.

Planting list for 'The Readers Imaginatin Garden'

We hope you find the planting list of Interest.  We have certainly enjoyed planning the plants, and then buying them from local nurseries.  Thanks to Mac Plants and Binny Plants for their help and advice.

Plants for ‘The Readers Imagination Garden’

A shaded/semi-shaded, woodland glade style garden Trees Alnus glutinosa Betula pubescens Pinus sylvestris Sorbus aucuparia (plus saplings) Shrubs Amelanchier canadensis Corylus maxima ‘Purpurea’ Rosa canina Sambucus nigra Viburnum opulus Ferns Adiantum pedatum Asplenium scolopendrium Dryopteris erythrosora var. prolifica Dryopteris filix-mas Metteuccia struthiopteris Polystrichum setiferum Climbers Hedera helix Lonicera periclymenum

Plants, grasses, rushes Anemanthele lessoniana Anthriscus sylvestris ‘Raven's wing’ Aquilegia vulgaris var. stellata 'Ruby Port' Arum italicum ‘Pictum’ Asarum europaeum Astrantia major ‘Super Star' and 'Ruby Wedding' Dicentra formosa 'Cox's Dark Red' Digitalis purpurea 'Alba' Epimedium x perralchicum 'Frohnleiten' Epimedium 'Spine Tingler' Epimedium x rubrum Geranium phaeum var . samobor Geum marika Geum rivale 'Leonard's variety' Hostas - Mixed Lamium maculatum 'White Nancy' Lamium orvala Lilium martagon album Luzula nivea Myrrhis odorata Polygonatum giganteum Pulmonaria ‘Sissinghurst White’ Rodgerisia' Bronze Peacock' Rodgersia aesculifolia Rodgersia ‘Hercules’ Stipa arundinacea Symphytum officinale

f interest.