Duncan Miller
‘The Rain Garden’ @ Scone
The process of harvesting rainwater to reuse it and reduce excess water loss has grown in public consciousness with the changing climate and a need to measure the impact of our own garden practices on such changes. In Scotland, periods of drought are being experienced more regularly and intensely in different areas of the country with rainfall patterns over the last four decades also becoming more frequent and intense (RBGE, 2017).
'The Rain Garden’@ Scone seeks to illuminate how we gardeners within the domestic landscape can adapt and ultimately benefit from the principles of a rain water system, opening up discussion around the possibilities of truly sustainable creative landscaping and planting design solutions. This process has the potential to be healing of both mind and land.
With greater, wet-tolerant species at the base and drought-tolerant species towards the edges of the design, a focus has been placed on adaptable wildlife-friendly plants which offer long structural interest, soil coverage, and strong visual impact. These include grasses such as Carex divulsa which have fibrous root systems and protect the soil surface from erosion; Gunnera magellanica, a prostrate evergreen perennial, tolerant of waterlogged conditions; and plants such as Digitalis lutea and Angelica archangelica, with reproductive strategies enabling them to self-seed into gaps when under stress. In the shade of Alnus glutinosa 'Imperialis', the planting palette is pared back with accents of mauve, yellow, and white to compliment the choice of naturalistic materials including a bespoke hazel hurdle.
Many of the perennials will be relocated to other clients’ gardens and upcoming projects. The hard landscaping will find a home in my own garden which I am landscaping at the moment – when I get the time!
Dr Olga Runcie
‘Cozy Slumber Corner’
My main professional passion and mission is in sleep education emphasising the importance of healthy sleep and helping people to achieve better quality sleep. I have a vision of combining these passions together and developing ‘Cozy Slumber Corner' garden.
This garden is intended to celebrate the healing wonders of sleep by showcasing medicinal herbs used as sleep remedies through the history of humankind and by displaying a restful sitting area, where people can catch the rays of evening sun.
I hope that this garden will raise awareness and stimulate conversations about the importance of sleep health, and highlight the therapeutic benefits of medicinal herbs. I also hope that it will inspire individuals to integrate nature and gardening into their lives to achieve better sleep.
Disclaimer: everyone intended to use any herbal remedies must consult with a healthcare professional.
An important focal point of this garden will be an educationally curated herbal bed, featuring a variety of plants known for their sleep-enhancing qualities like lavender, chamomile, valerian, motherwort, St. John’s wort, and other sleep-promoting herbs to create a sensory experience that promotes relaxation and tranquillity.
The restful sitting area will showcase a blend of natural elements, soothing colours, and plants selected for their neutral colours and soft texture. The sitting area will be positioned in a semi-shaded spot, allowing visitors to unwind and enjoy the peaceful surrounding plantings.
Bradley Donaldson
‘The Seat of Merlin’
I have chosen to create a garden that is an impression of a scene from the life of the mythological figure of Merlin. I hope to create a sanctuary that a herbalist or hermit might create within the woodlands of Scotland. The garden is intended to transport the viewer into another world and perhaps another time, to allow their imagination and playfulness to be unleashed.
I will use natural elements in a bush craft style to create structural elements of the garden, such as a fallen tree carved into a seat at the head of the garden, chopped wood discs for stepping stones, as well as a sheltered herb dryer crafted out of small branches and upcycled slate stone and bound with willow bark.
I intend to meet the brief of healing with a garden that is both reflective of mythological culture of the British Isles and the natural habitat, whilst being curated into a garden that inspires thoughtfulness and wonder.
The plant selection is predominantly native or naturalised plants that will create an impression of the woodland floor but all serving a medicinal purpose. I will create a meandering, growing path made from natural gravel, larger stone and moss, and plants such as dandelion and yarrow. The viewer can engage with the plants as they walk the length of the garden and interact with some of the fun and fantastical sculptural elements of the garden such as a planted wizard’s hat, carved wands, the bands of fabric on a clootie tree and the grind stone that doubles as an ode to a Pictish shrine.
I will include some small understory trees/shrubs such as Elder, Hazel, Rowan, Willow and Sloe bushes and low border plants such as creeping thyme and mint. The garden will be an assemblage of textures with a contrast of foliage and delicate touches of flowers from the herbaceous plants.
I am the vice chair of a communal allotment committee and will relocate the garden after the competition to the allotment space to be enjoyed by the members of the allotment holders and children who attend for part of their schooling on the grounds.
Anna Allan, Sarah Mitchell, Callum Bird Neilson, Kerry-Anne Saouter, Michelle Woodall, Woody Dunlop - HNC Garden Design Students, Scottish Rural College, Edinburgh
‘Where Wild Things Are’
‘Where Wild Things Are’, is an invitation to come and play: the main inspiration behind the design being the wild and free spaces of the imagination, as depicted by Henri Rousseau. We were inspired by childhood memories of playing outside, making dens, children’s books, and by our own gleeful exploration of gardens.
It’s designed at scale for very young children, but our hope is that people of all sizes will be drawn to its mystery and hidden treasures; its wildness, and it’s riot of colours, textures, and forms.
The healthcare sector is aware of the therapeutic benefits that gardens and gardening bring in so many settings: from dementia care to spinal injury, it’s a given that gardens are healing spaces. We are conscious, though, that small children in hospital, and their families, might be less well served with therapeutic spaces that are specifically designed for them. Therapeutic play is widely practised in paediatrics, but outdoor play can be harder to access in hospital contexts, and sick children can miss out on opportunities to lose themselves in the world of their imagination.
Our goal is to create a tiny space where children can explore, hide, play, and lose themselves in sensory experiences of nature. As a bonus, adults may participate in the experience by becoming a child again...just for a little while.
Henri Rousseau’s early 20th century ‘Exotic Landscape’ paintings and his ‘Merry Jesters’ mirror the type of lush, mysterious environment we envision, where nature offers colour and forms that are fascinating, inviting, tactile, and yet complex and a little unknown. Our planting plan draws on the flora of tropical environments and aims to create a tiny jungle where senses and imagination reign. Osmanda regalis, shapely grasses, and the spectacular, glossy Fatsia japonica form the basis of the jungle, with punches of colour through the foliage provided by iris, allium, hemerocallis, geum and camassia. Spot further texture and colour from Beta vulgaris and Rheum rhabarbarum.
Our intention is to donate this garden to a children’s hospital in Scotland.
Kate McClorey
‘The Physics Garden - Healing Herbs’
I am currently studying the History of Garden Design and I found myself really drawn to Medieval gardens. Many of these gardens were created within monasteries and the plants grown were medicinal and useful as well as decorative. I was amazed to discover how many of the features of medieval gardens are still used or would work, in a small urban courtyard or small garden setting today. I therefore envisaged a medieval Physic Garden adapted to suit our lives today.
Having undergone surgery recently which requires 3 months' recovery, the theme of healing resonated and I wanted to design a garden that provided not only a restful, scented, peaceful haven in which to relax with plants that would have been grown by our forebears that can be used for cooking and medicinal purposes nowadays, but also one that is relatively low maintenance and encourages wildlife, even in the city.
The garden will be donated to Queen’s House, a care home with a specialist dementia unit in Kelso.
Jenny McHardy
‘Unwind’
My main inspiration for my design was to create a show garden that used creativity to make a more sustainable space, reworking found and coppiced materials to create exciting structures that are great for wildlife.
The layout is inspired by the Bauhaus art movement with circular and globose shapes repeating throughout the garden, soft naturalistic planting with grasses, herbs, and flowers that are beneficial to both people and insects. Unwind is a daydreamer’s garden.
A modern twist on a French potage garden, ‘Unwind’ features a curated mix of scented herbs, unique edible crops, soothing textures, subtle blended colours, and a vibrant pop of colour for a rejuvenating touch. I have chosen some unusual species of alliums to maintain architectural interest in every season, grasses, a large potted bamboo, and a small water feature.
I plan to donate the clovers and wild flowers to my village’s butterfly garden.
Jurga Sarkute
'Rainbow Garden'
When rainbows appear it always makes us happy, it gives us a feeling that everything will be ok, that the sun is just around the corner and those dark clouds are not going to stay for much longer. Seeing the magical colour display of a rainbow brings us joy, gives us hope, and makes us smile and wonder.
I wanted to transfer a rainbow palette into the garden, filling it with plants that radiate happiness, showcasing different types, textures, heights, and most importantly, to match rainbow colours.
Kath Blain
‘Och aye, yer vada?’ A Scots Ayurvedic Garden
Wellbeing has been talked about much during and after COVID as if it is a new idea. Ayurvedic (Sanskrit Ayur life, and veda knowledge of) herbal medicine originated in India more than 3000 years ago. It centres on the balance between mind, body, spirit, and environment and promotes holistic healing with the use of preventive herbs as much as reparative healing with therapeutic herbs.
At this time of climate change however, the distance products must travel needs to be considered. This garden has been designed with herbal plants which can be grown in Scotland.
The visual design is based on the Paisley pattern and, although linked to the Paisley weavers, the original design and wool used originated from Kashmir. The teardrop design is thought to represent the totality of life within a drop. These two ideas are fitting with the Scots-India healing link theme of this garden. The two patterns used have been reversed and kept the same size to represent balance in life and design. Sensory aspects of wind chimes, a solar powered water feature, and seating area for reflection have been added. The planting will also be sensory having shape, texture, movement, and smell – making the garden more holistic.
The plants themselves have medicinal properties – cardiac, respiratory, wound healing, haemostatic, gastrointestinal, expectorant, anti-depressant, antihypertensive, and analgesic.
An Ayurvedic proverb states that ‘when diet is wrong, medicine is of no use; when diet is correct, medicine is of no need’. The culinary herbs in particular have preventive properties reducing glucose levels, lowering cholesterol levels, reducing inflammation, and have antibacterial, antiviral, anti-fungal, or antiseptic properties, and together with nutritional food can aid the body to heal itself.
I am exploring the possibility of relocating the Paisley pattern tear drops to a community garden/communal area. My preference would be Ninewells as I used to work there, and it fits with the garden theme.
Matt Jessop - A garden proposed by NC Horticulture students at SRUC Oatridge
‘What Lies Beneath’
‘What Lies Beneath’ is a garden designed by SRUC Oatridge students that showcases the astonishing capacity for plants to heal the extensive environmental damage caused by human activities. While intensive industrial agricultural practices and mineral mining have polluted and degraded habitats, we believe that all is not lost. Plants are fighting back, and this garden promotes research conducted by SRUC which uses plants to quietly heal the wounds we have created.
The garden highlights the intimate symbiotic relationship that exists between plants and fungi. Right beneath our feet a secret, silent world exists. Composed of a vast and interconnected network of unseen fungal mycelium, commonly referred to as the ‘Wood Wide Web’, it is now known that this communication highway not only allows plants and fungi to share resources, but to build resilience, and defend themselves from pests and diseases.
Phytoremediation is the process of using plants to clean contaminated soil. A notable example of this being sunflowers, Helianthus annuus, used to remove radioactive cesium-137 and strontium-90 from the soil at Chernobyl. Similarly, mycoremediation, employs fungi to do the decontamination. Oyster mushrooms, Pleurotus ostreatus, have been shown to effectively reduce the concentration of toxic hydrocarbons in diesel-contaminated soil. Phytomining uses plants to harvest valuable minerals such as gold, silver, and copper from mining waste - a current area of research for SRUC at Cononish mine near Tyndrum. The garden seeks to recreate and promote this research.
Using carved mushrooms as an ornamental focal point, from which the mosaic tile path representing the mycelium connecting the garden. The plants will be carefully chosen to educate about the services they provide, and the research being done to utilise their ability to repair our earth. Importantly, the plants will also be selected for their aesthetic appeal ensuring that gardeners can go home knowing their gardens are helping to heal the world.
Once the event is over, we hope to donate the garden to one of the many schools that SRUC teaches in to ensure the next generation of gardeners learn about the wonderful things nature does to help us tackle the climate crisis.
Gabriele Matilionyte and Fraser Anderson
‘Rest, reflect and recharge’
To capture the healing power of nature, ‘Rest, reflect and recharge’ invites you on a journey to explore the immersive sensations of pollinator-friendly and sensory plants. Central to the garden sits a bird bath to welcome wildlife, inscribed with words, "To see a world in a grain of sand, And heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour."
Take time to rest and reflect sitting under the arbour, draped in the aromatic star jasmine. It’s here you can absorb gentle sounds, colours, vibrations, and scents to recharge your soul.
As it is widely known that spending time in the nature improves physical and mental health, our idea behind the design is to create a space in which a visitor can take a moment to unwind after a busy day and recharge their soul. The design combines our favourite garden styles: Fraser likes a formal garden, as reflected by the symmetrical image of planting on both sides of the garden, and Gabriele loves a cottage garden, which is featured by including a romantic colour scheme of whites, pinks, purples, and peaches.
The design incorporates a gravel path, which takes the visitor to explore the borders filled with pollinator-friendly and sensory plants, such as roses, foxgloves, rosemary, lavender, cosmos, and ornamental grasses. As they walk round the ceramic bird bath, underplanted with catmint, and reach the top of the garden, the visitor is invited to pause and rest on a wooden bench, surrounded by a gorgeous scent of star jasmine, climbing over the garden arch. This garden design offers a combination of smell, sound, colour, and touch, giving an opportunity to reconnect with the healing power of nature.
Design elements will be donated to a local charity or community organisation, e.g. Marie Curie Hospice in Edinburgh, Oxgangs Neighbourhood Centre, or Wester Hailes Community Centre.
We cannot wait to see all these amazing design ideas realised into built gardens which are sure to inspire us all. Make sure you’ve got your ticket for Scone Palace Garden Fair on 31st May and 1st June to see and vote for your People’s Choice Winner of the Scottish Garden Design Competition.