Pocket Garden Contest Winners Announced
27 June 2023
The winners of our Pocket Garden Design Contest 2023 have been announced. Three schools from around Scotland were voted the best by public vote, and three more have been recognised by our judges for reflecting one of the themes.
Children of all ages, from nursery to high school were tasked with reflecting our 2023 themes of Celebration, One Planet Picnic and Wildlife Gardening, having to use their creativity to create sustainable and eye-catching gardens.
The winning gardens included planters created to look like presents, spaces for wildlife to thrive and edible plants for the children to eat.
Newmains Primary from Renfrewshire won first place, receiving 1,066 votes and 12.53% of the online vote. Firpark Primary School from North Lanarkshire came in second with their celebration of the NHS receiving 841 votes and Flowerbank Early Childhood Centre’s 'Child who could be King, posh picnic' in East Ayrshire took third place with 539 votes.
The themed winners were Appletree Nursery in Argyll and Bute for the celebration theme, Banchory Academy, Aberdeenshire for the wildlife gardening theme and St Andrews Primary in Midlothian won for the food theme.
The online Pocket Garden showcase was launched in 2021, with 38 garden design winners displayed in its first year. This year, 43 schools were chosen to be entered into our online showcase and 8,514 votes were cast by the public to choose the public’s favourite winning design.
Eve Keepax, our Senior Education and Learning Officer, said: “I would like to congratulate all the winners of our Pocket Garden Design Contest.This year’s designs were inspired by the themes of Celebration, One Planet Picnic and Wildlife Gardening and the entries we received were filled with fun, excitement and celebration. We are thrilled that so many schools and young people took part this year and had fun learning about how they can help wildlife, grow something to eat and be creative, all in sustainable ways.”
Anthony McClusky, Project Officer at Butterfly Conservation and Pocket Garden Design Contest 2023 judge, said: “It has been fantastic to see the creativity that young people brought to their Pocket Gardens this year. This year’s themes of Celebration, One Planet Picnic and Wildlife gardening ties into the work we do at Butterfly Conservation, so I was thrilled to see how many of the entries created a space for wildlife to flourish. The Pocket Garden Design Contest allows young people to think outside the box while being creative in a fun, sustainable way. Congratulations to all the contestants that took part this year- you have a lot to celebrate about!”
You can see all the winning the winning entrants and finalists in our online showcase.
