Winners of 10th annual Pocket Garden Design Competition announced

Budding Pocket Garden designers from 26 schools have been selected as winners of the 10th annual Pocket Garden Design Competition.

Earlier this year, in partnership with Garden for Life Forum, nursery and school pupils, aged three to 18, were invited to design a miniature garden which included food for people, were good for wildlife and reused something.

More than 170 entries from schools in 24 local authority areas across Scotland were submitted, representing the work of whole classes and schools, all capturing fantastic imagination and creativity linked to the 2026 theme - fresh water. 

Competition judges – Liz Stewart CEO of Scotland’s Gardens Scheme, Caitlyn Johnstone of Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and Anthony McCluskey of Butterfly Conservation Scotland – met in early March to review entries and select the winners alongside our Senior Education and Learning Officer Eve Keepax.

The designers of the 26 winning entries have now been invited to build and grow their miniature garden at school before filming or photographing it to be displayed as part of an online showcase in June where people will be able to vote for their favourite. All the designs illustrated the annual theme which this year is fresh water, a precious resource that sustains life and shapes so much of Scotland's landscape, history and culture.

Eve said, “We’ve been running the Pocket Garden Design Competition for a decade, and were excited to see the designs that this year’s theme of fresh water inspired. The pupils’ imaginations did not let us down as their designs captured a huge range of fresh water aspects, from landscape features to technology such as bridges, water wheels and hydro-electricity, from ancient engineering of stepwells to the modern issues of pollution. Even their chosen materials such as an old kayak, or sink, will help to tell their garden story with humour and creativity.

“Congratulations to all the winners – I’m already looking forward to seeing the designs transform into real mini gardens.”

The competition provides a great way to connect children and young people with food and nature while creating a focus for Learning for Sustainability.

Caitlyn Johnstone, Nature Based Solutions Scientist with the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh said; “As an ecosystem scientist and member of the judging panel for the Pocket Garden Design Competition this year, it is heartening, buoying! to see the incredible creativity shown by the students. Young people see connections for humans and nature that turn the fantastical into the practical, and I am delighted to see those possibilities come to life through the Pocket Gardens.”

Pocket Garden Design Competition aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal Four and is run as part of Keep Scotland Beautiful’s Climate Action Schools framework which supports schools towards achieving Target 2030, Scotland’s learning for sustainability action plan. It also gives pupils and educators a practical, creative focus for interdisciplinary curricular learning, STEM skills, outdoor learning and teamwork.

The online showcase will be open for visitors and voting from 12-22 June 2026.

The winning schools can be found in the table below: