Overnight Transformations at Gardening Scotland (23 May 2010)

A few years ago ‘instant’ gardening was hugely popular, when TV makeover shows encouraged viewers to transform their gardens in the course of a weekend with plants, blue paint and acres of decking.

Instant gardening has given way to the slower pleasures of planting seeds and growing food, but there is one man who still has responsibility for performing an almost overnight transformation.

Jim Jermyn is the Show Manager of Gardening Scotland, the national gardening and outdoor living show.  It is his job to turn acres of bare grass and auction sheds at the Royal Highland Centre in Edinburgh into an oasis of flowers and gardens and he has just one week to do it in.

Gardening Scotland 2010 will begin at 10am on Friday, 4 June and the very first visitors through the gates will expect to see water features, wildflower meadows, 20 inspirational Show Gardens and The Dobbies Floral Hall filled with hundreds of thousands of perfect blooms.

Every year it is a race against time to get the show ready and this year the challenges are greater than ever.

"We have just seven days to complete the build-up. That involves getting almost 400 exhibitors onto the site, offloading hundreds of thousands of plants from vans and trucks and creating incredible floral displays” says Jim.

"This year we’ve also got a huge steel pond arriving under police escort for the Water Gems Garden, sponsored by Brewin Dolphin, and Edinburgh City Council are bringing in a scale model Spitfire for their exhibit".

Sometimes exhibitors and the designers who create fantasy Show Gardens have to work in pouring rain. Other years, when the weather is warm, everyone involved in the Show helps out with lots of frantic watering in order to keep the plants in perfect condition.

"Wind is the biggest hazard for us", says Jim. “It slows down progress and means that everyone is hard at it right to the very last minute".

Yet despite the challenges there isn’t a year when Jim and his team have missed their deadline and so there’s a very good chance that the first visitors through the gates on Friday, 4 June will find a Show that is perfect in every way.

Visitors to the Show will be able to judge the results for themselves because once again The Sunday Post will be sponsoring The People’s Choice Award.  Visitors on the very first day will get their chance to vote for the floral exhibit they judge to be the best.

Last year’s winner was Beautiful Perth in Bloom whose life-size leaping stag made from plants was the unanimous choice with visitors.

This year the task of choosing between exhibits will be harder than ever as there will be lots of new exhibitors including plant hunters Sue and Bleddyn Wynn-Jones of Crug Farm Plants, who regularly travel to some of the wildest and most inhospitable parts of the globe on their quest for new plants.

New this year too will be Sandy Taylor from Scottish Garden Railways whose scale model tracks and trains bring an unusual touch of life to the garden.

For many of the nurseries and garden designers who create exhibits at Gardening Scotland, the challenge is to have plants coming into flower at exactly the right time.

Someone for whom that is even more difficult is Amber Goudy from the Scottish Agricultural College in Edinburgh, whose 21st Century Croft Garden will be created first at The Chelsea Flower Show in London next week before being dismantled and trucked back to Edinburgh for Gardening Scotland 2010.

"There’s a croft in my garden and I’ve had to build two because the Chelsea site is sloping while at Gardening Scotland it will be level", says Amber.  “My main worry however is about the plants. I’ve got a greenhouse full of wild harebells that need to be in perfect condition.

"With some plants you can remove early buds to slow down the flowering time but with harebells there’s nothing you can do to hold them back except reduce the temperature.”

Whatever the hurdles that the exhibitors and designers have to overcome however the results are guaranteed to be spectacular. With a Food Fair, a Craft Marquee, the Big Back Garden full of family fun and games and the Gardening Scotland Demonstration Kitchen where Scottish food champion Wendy Barrie will be cooking up delicious food with fresh local produce, Gardening Scotland promises to be a great day out for everyone.

ENDS

Gardening Scotland 2010 will take place from Friday, 4 June – Sunday, 6 June at The Royal Highland Centre, Edinburgh.

Advance tickets cost from £11. Children under 16 go free. Call the ticket hotline on 0131 333 0965 or visit www.gardeningscotland.com.

Citylink will operate buses direct to Gardening Scotland from Glasgow, Inverness, Aviemore, Dundee, Pitlochry, Perth and Inverkeithing. Visit www.citylink.co.uk or call 0871 266 3333 to book seats.

Lothian Buses will again operate a shuttle service, every 15 minutes, to Gardening Scotland.  The buses, service number 98, will leave from St Andrew Square and Haymarket as well as number 31 bus stops on the way to the Showground.  This service will be free for those with senior and concession travel cards.

Gardening Scotland Photos