2025 Pocket Garden overall winners revealed

The overall winners of the 2025 annual Pocket Garden Design Competition, which we run in partnership with the Garden for Life Forum, have been revealed today. 

Nursery and school pupils, aged three to 18, were invited to design a miniature pocket-sized garden inspired by the 2025 ‘Our Heritage’ theme and which included food for people, is good for wildlife and reuses something. 

Thirty-two finalists - which told stories of traditional crafts, food and local monuments - were chosen after the charity received more than 130 entries from 18 local authority areas. Those schools built and grew their gardens. Images, stories and videos of each garden featured as part of a national online showcase.  

A judging panel consisting of representatives from the Garden for Life Forum, Butterfly Conservation and Historic Environment Scotland selected three overall winners based on the design themes.  They were: 

• Sacred Heart ELC, Falkirk – winner of the heritage theme. 

• Dunscore Primary, Dumfries & Galloway – winner of the wildlife theme. 

• Grandtully Primary, ‘wonder of weeds’, Perth & Kinross – winner of the One Planet Picnic theme. 

Heather Macnaughton, Strategic Partnerships Manager at Historic Environment Scotland selected the heritage themed winner. She said: “Communities define their heritage, and this garden pays a fitting tribute by the children to Grangemouth’s industrial past. The iconic chimneys which form the skyline of the town are brought alive by plants that represent the steam.   

“The fusing together of the planting with elements of the workforce’s uniform, the potatoes in the safety boots and strawberries in the jacket pocket, is both inventive and helps to provide a resulting coherent garden. The adaptive approach as the garden has developed over time and not always to plan, prioritising nature and purpose, has hopefully provided some great learning opportunities for everyone involved.” 

The following gardens were voted by the public as their favourite after more than 4,000 votes were cast. 

In joint first place were two East Ayrshire Schools: Kilmaurs Early Childhood Centre and Auchinleck ECC. 

In second place was Linnvale Primary, West Dunbartonshire 

And in third place was Keills Primary, Argyll & Bute (Islay) 

Eve Keepax, our Senior Education and Learning Officer, said: “If you’re in need of something to raise your spirits, spend a moment browsing the Pocket Gardens showcase. There are photos and stories full of creativity, resilience, humour, teamwork and care.  All in addition to wonderful first-hand experience of problem-solving, sustainability, nature and thinking about our values.   

“This year’s heritage theme provided a focus for children across the country to show what they value about what has been passed down to them, or something about where they live that is special for them.  It included industry, food, landscape, pop culture, story, and even the humble weed!  

“The showcase winners did a fantastic job bringing these garden ideas to life and the sheer number of votes we received shows how much the public enjoyed them too. 

“I’d like to thank everyone who took part for creating these magical designs and say a huge congratulations to all our winners. I’m already looking forward to next year’s competition.” 

The Pocket Garden Design Competition aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal Four, Learning for Sustainability, and is run as part of our Climate Action Schools framework. It gives pupils and educators a creative focus for learning for sustainability, STEM skills, and the Curriculum for Excellence while learning more about the climate and nature emergencies and having fun learning outdoors.  

Further information and inspiration from past years can be found here.