Gardening Scotland 2018

[Stan da Prato]

The Club will have a stand and display at Gardening Scotland which will take place at the Ingliston Showground in Edinburgh from 1st to 3rd June 2018.  We plan to have a similar educational display to that in 2017 with a display of plants and troughs, although other ideas are welcome.
We shall again be looking for volunteers and ideas for the stand.  We would appreciate help with assembling the stand during the preceding week, starting on the Monday, including tidying and bringing it up to the highest standard.  We shall also need volunteers for manning the stand on the three show days, Friday to Sunday, talking to the public about plants, seed, the Club and membership.  This is on a prearranged rota, with volunteers able to choose their time slots.
It would be good to have some new faces helping out this year.  Stan da Prato standaprato@talktalk.net and Sandy Leven sandy.leven@btinternet.com will be in charge of the stand and Richard Green rkpgreen@aol.com is organising the rota.  Please contact any  of them for more details.

[Maggi Young]

Speaking of Gardening Scotland -  I hope  there are  plenty volunteers to help out with the SRGC stand  this year??

[Maggi Young]

Ah, yes, speaking of Gardening Scotland .... here is something  else about the event that may be of interest ....

Scotland’s National Gardening Show on a Quest to Find ‘Gardener Of The Year 2018’

Do you know someone with green fingers, the sort of person who’s got  dirt under their fingernails and can make anything grow? Then Gardening Scotland wants to hear about them. It could be a passionate plants-person, a teacher who gets their pupils growing, a brilliant professional, a talented amateur grower, a keen community gardener or a veg-obsessed allotmenteer. 
At stake is the title of Gardener of the Year 2018, along with £200 worth of gardening vouchers, courtesy of Caulders Garden Centres.
And there’s a Young Gardener of the Year award too, open to anyone under the age of 25, with another £200 worth of gardening vouchers from Caulders for this winner too.

Gardening Scotland is the national festival of gardening and outdoor living, bringing together nurseries and growers from all over the UK to stage the biggest plant fair in Scotland.
It takes place from Friday, 1 June until Sunday, 3 June at the Royal Highland Centre Edinburgh and includes inspirational Show Gardens, talks, workshops and expert advice, as well as crafts, live music, a vibrant cookery theatre where top chefs will be showing new ways with seasonal produce and a Food Fayre, filled with gourmet delights.
Children can get their hands dirty in the Big Back Garden, where Dobbies will be running Little Seedlings Clubs and there will be close encounters with bugs and bees, as well as a chance to dig up the past with Archaeology Scotland.

The show is a great day out for everyone, from dedicated gardeners to complete novices and through the Gardener of the Year competition, it’s also an opportunity to acknowledge the skills and dedication of some of Scotland’s top gardeners.

So if you know of anyone that fits the bill, then get in touch. Send their name, address and contact details, along with explanation of why you think they deserve to be gardener of the year, to: info@gardeningscotland.com by Friday, 18 May. And don’t forget to include your own contact details too.



 www.gardeningscotland.com

[Stan da Prato]

Today Rob brought the two blue boxes from 2017 to the show ground and we set them up. This year he  has fitted new false floors on which the pots sit to reduce the amount  of fill material   required. The first  batch  of plants were then unloaded-many more tomorrow. 

[Maggi Young]

False bottoms always a cunning plan.  Great smile from Rob as he warrants his work strong by climbing in the box!

[Stan da Prato]

Good progress today. Ian and I each brought a   car load of plants  so with Peggy and Richard we started  filling  the two blue boxes. Note how many labels we have from past shows when we used a bigger stand. Later Neil brought in  more plants from Ayrshire.

[Maggi Young]

Tremendous progress!

[Maggi Young]

A selection of photos today from Ingliston, at Gardening Scotland  build up - these photos from Ian the Christie kind -
Remember,  Ian Christie will be on  TV tomorrow ( and Sunday)  on the Beechgrove Garden  programme speaking to Carole Baxter (another long term SRGC member !) about  getting plants, including Meconopsis ready for the show.

We'll start with  photos of the  SRGC  Gang at work.....

[Maggi Young]

Now for  some shots of Kevock Garden Plants' build-up - they're just  home from Chelsea - where they again won GOLD!


David Rankin busy, at right hand side

[Maggi Young]

Jacques Amand International  are there - also hot foot from Chelsea, where they too won Gold

Big John has a helper, none other than Colin Crosbie - former  curator at Wisley!


It's not all work - sometime you just need to sit - and think!








High class botanical pot scrubbers!!!!

[Maggi Young]

More plants headed for displays in the floral hall .....

[Maggi Young]

A carnation floral display  being assembled .....


while outside  more plants are waiting their turn....




...forming an orderly queue


A hosta display  in progress



Glorious Garden of Argyll and Bute

[Maggi Young]

'Hedgehog Paradise'

[Stan da Prato]

This morning the team filled the gaps in the small blue box -which has sunny habitat  alpines -with packing prior to top dressing with gravel. As you may note the light in the hall is very poor and largely artificial.

[Stan da Prato]

The bigger blue box has woodland  type plants -four views one of each side