Gardening Scotland Branches Out - In Italy (September 2009)

GARDENING Scotland, the national flower and gardening show that first put down roots 10 years ago, is now branching out – in Italy.

The hugely successful Scottish show has been invited to take part in one of Italy’s top gardening events.

Organisers will travel to Tuscany next month for the Murabilia Flower Festival that takes place in the botanic gardens within the historic walled city of Lucca.

Murabilia will run from 4-6 September and for the three-day festival, Gardening Scotland will be creating a striking exhibit of blue agapanthus and white lilies, to represent the Scottish Saltire, displayed against an impressive backdrop of mature trees with beautiful tartan from Lochcarron of Scotland.

Gardening Scotland is taking part in Murabilia at the invitation of the Italian Chamber of Commerce which has, for the last three years, been an exhibitor at the Scottish Show.

From their exhibit Gardening Scotland will be promoting affiliated organisations including The Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh; Scotland’s Garden Scheme, Scottish Begonia Society and The National Trust for Scotland.  Gardening Scotland have also joined forces with Strathmore Hotels to encourage visitors to Scotland to combine a trip to Gardening Scotland with visits to some of Scotland's best gardens. 

Show manager, Jim Jermyn, said: “We have welcomed the Italian Chamber of Commerce’s support of Gardening Scotland, so it is very exciting to be building on that relationship by flying the flag for the Show in Italy.  “The aim is to give visitors to Murabilia a taste of what Gardening Scotland and Scottish gardens have to offer.”

Imma Scirpoli of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Edinburgh said: “Gardening Scotland’s participation in Murabilia is a significant opportunity to strengthen the cultural and commercial links that exist between Scotland and Tuscany.

“Around 30,000 Italian-Scots are of Tuscan origin and Glasgow has the third largest Italian population in the UK, after London and Manchester.”
 
Both Gardening Scotland and the Italian Chamber of Commerce hope that participation in Murabilia will persuade more Italians to take advantage of scheduled flights from Pisa to make the journey to Edinburgh.

Lucca (78Km from Florence), which was founded by the Romans, is one of the very few towns in Italy to have preserved the 16th century defense red brick walls of San Salvatore, San Regolo, La Liberta’ and the Botanic Garden that surrounded this former capital of Tuscany. These walls define the town, and it is within them that every year it is held Murabilia or 'Wall of Flowers', Garden Show in September.

With over 240 exhibitors, Murabilia is most Lucca's famous gardening show, dedicated to the green world in all its forms, displaying a wide range of rare and unique plants and flowers. It also includes activities like art installations and tree-climbing workshops.

The show will feature more Show Gardens and amongst the nurseries and specialist growers from all over Europe, which will be representing the wide-ranging categories of plant, including also ferns, succulent (Sedum) and dark-coloured leaves and flowers plant varieties.

Gardening Scotland Photos