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! 

Plants, props and walls

A few more photos for both the show gardens from the first build day-

Plants, props and walls

Plants for 'The Readers Imagination Garden'

Posts with literary references

Walls just finished

Laying out 'In the Knitted Garden'

In the Knitted garden, just prior to moving off  the college site

It's begun!

The Team are on site at Ingliston today, beginning to build the plots. How exciting! First off is the Reader's Garden, reassembling the base & outdoor library which had been constructed on Campus, whilst the lovely folk from the DSWA build the wall.

"SRUC Students in a Spin Over Plans for Gardening Scotland"

Garden Design students from Scotland’s Rural College turned to a group of Model Engineers to help them build one of the show gardens planned for Gardening Scotland at Ingliston from 29th-31st May.












Read the full News article here about the help we are getting from ESME:  http://www.sruc.ac.uk/news/article/1237/sruc_students_in_a_spin_over_plans_for_gardening_scotland 

Constructive Fun

Another busy day yesterday preparing the show gardens. Lots of problems solved!

Construction Team were busy beavers very kindly helped by Chris the Builder, who has sorted how to make the bookshelves for the outdoor library for #ReadersGarden15.

Thank you Chris!














Glasgow Botanics have kindly donated some mature papyrus to #KnittedGarden15. Susan and Penny went over to collect, and then we got them potted up and fed to get them in tip top condition for the Show (the plants that is, not Susan & Penny)

Another Trip to Almondell to see ESME and look at how the turntable is progressing. Nearly there with a very elegant yet simple solution! Thanks to the guys!















The Plant Team brought together a lot of the #ReadersGarden15 plants to see how they were all looking together. Have to say they were looking gorgeous! What a lovely woodland glade it is going to be. Photos don't do the plants justice!

Sunshine for the soul

First session back after Easter, and we had a very productive day down at the greenhouse with the whole team. 

Some of the plant team went off to R&B to purchase some more sapling trees whilst the rest began the construction for Readers Garden. Some lovely sedges were potted up from the gardens to bring them on for the Knitted Garden.

We then gave lots of TLC to all our plants for both gardens, and generally enjoyed being out in some warm sunshine for the morning, as did the trees.

The Papyrus has arrived by post for 'In the Knitted Garden'.  It has been planted up and is now sitting happily in the greenhouse with its feet nice and wet!

Panda spotting

Lovely big bamboos for the Knitted Garden. I wonder if we can do some spinning and weaving out of these once the Show is done... ;)

Phllostachys aureosulcata “Aureocaulis”

Happy in the greenhouse.

Some more nice big bamboos at R&B, destined for the Knitted Garden

Cosy Tree

What has Susan been up to!

The girls taking a well earned lunch

The Artist (Susan) contemplating the best way to work in all those ends... 

Cosy tree!

It's very colourful too, amongst the drab of the granite paving.

In a Woodland Glade

Beautiful woodland glade plants - see them in May at Gardening Scotland in The Readers Garden.

Lilium martagon 'Album'

Fern with spores

Pinus sylvestris

Anthriscis sylvestris 'Ravenswing'

Astrantia major

Digitalis purpurea 'Alba'

Geranium phaeum

Author confirmed for Readings in the Readers Imagination Garden

Janice Galloway

We have been in touch with a number of publishers and authors so that we can have 'Author Reading Events' from the garden during the period of Gardening Scotland.  We are delighted that Janice Galloway has accepted our invitation, and several publishers are interested.  All very exciting!

Scottish Gardener Article

A page from this months 'The Scottish Gardener' Magazine, with information about some of the show gardens this year.  The SRUC gardens are top left and bottom left.

Plant Arrivals

About 250 plants have arrived for 'The Readers Imagination Garden' today.  They will need to be carefully tended now to bring them up to Show Garden standard, and to be flowering at the right time.  We have also been able to use many plants from the college nursery, and are expecting another delivery of plants on Monday-so It is all go!




Show Plants setting into the greenhouse at SRUC

Every little helps...

We are still searching for a little bit more sponsorship, or donations, to purchase good quality plants, so if you have any spare change maybe you could...

"Help fund our student Show Garden"?

http://www.gofundme.com/IntheKnittedGarden

Much appreciated!

We're in the News!

"SRUC Designers’ Double Entry for Gardening Scotland"

Talks about both our entries.












Article can be found at: http://www.sruc.ac.uk/news/article/1182/sruc_designers_double_entry_for_gardening_scotland

Tiger nuts

Cyperus esculentus is a perennial growing to 0.9 m (3ft) at a fast rate. It is hardy to zone (UK) 8. The flowers are hermaphrodite. 

Exciting to see things germinating already, in preparation for the Show!

The 'nuts' are actually a tuber from the roots. They are edible, and quite tasty too!

Read more about Tiger nuts: http://www.pfaf.org/user/plant.aspx?LatinName=Cyperus+esculentus 

Great News

We are delighted to announce that Susan White who is the designer of 'In the Knitted Garden'  (for design plans scroll down), has jointly been awarded the Artisan Award from Gardening Scotland.

This is great news for Susan who is a talented designer, and will give her garden more financial backing.  If you would like to donate to this garden please scroll down for Crowd Funding details.

The centre piece of 'In the Knitted Garden' is a dead tree which will be brought back to life with brightly coloured 'Gorilla' style knitting.  The tree for the garden is in the process of being stripped.

https://twitter.com/SSusanmwhite
https://twitter.com/KnittedGarden15

The Scots Pine

Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris)

A tree associated in storytelling with purification and foresight.


This beautiful and important native tree is one of Scotland's gems, and is equally important for economics and for biodiversity conservation. The Scots pine is a very important habitat for some rare lichens and for the Scottish Crossbill (Loxia scotica), an Amber Status species which is found nowhere else in the world.

"As the largest and longest-lived tree in the Caledonian Forest, the Scots pine is a keystone species in the ecosystem, forming the 'backbone' on which many other species depend." (http://treesforlife.org.uk/forest/species-profiles/scots-pine/)

The Readers Garden will feature a small Scots Pine* as part of the woodland glade edge.

"The Scots Pine formed large parts of forests in Great Britain, particularly in the North of England and in Scotland, until 8000 years ago. The oldest known Scots Pine blew down at Inveraray in 1951 and was thought to be over 330 years old. " Find out more about the Scots Pine here: http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/infd-5nlfap


* Or maybe 3... Mummy, Daddy and Baby pines, Goldilocks style?