Winning Pocket Garden designers selected
14 March 2024
Pupils from across Scotland have shown their fantastic imagination and creativity by winning the ninth annual Pocket Garden Design Competition.
They were invited to design a small garden reflecting the interlinked themes of Nature’s Engineers, One Planet Picnic and Wildlife Gardening.
Run in partnership with the Garden for Life Forum, the 2024 competition attracted more than 100 entries, representing the work of whole classes and schools.
The 30 winning designs selected this year represent the very best entries and the winners from across 19 local authority areas in Scotland, have now been invited to build and grow their garden at school before filming or photographing it to be displayed as part of an online interactive showcase garden which will be made available to the public to see in June. The public will be able to vote for their favourite Pocket Garden.
Eve Keepax, our Education and Learning Officer, said: “Pocket Garden has once again inspired some fantastic learning and ideas. Nature’s Engineering is the world’s most sustainable technology, from bird nests to beaver dams. It provides solutions for the challenges of life in amazing ways.
"The children celebrate Nature’s Engineers in their designs and will use sustainable ways to grow and create their gardens so that they’re good for wildlife and can also provide a wee snack for visitors.
“Well done to everyone that entered the competition. I'm already looking forward to seeing the transformations from design to real garden.”
The winners of the design competition are:
| School Name | Town | Design title |
| Redwell Primary | Alloa | Bee-ing an engineer |
| Park Primary | Alloa | Heritage and Resources |
| Rephad Primary | Stranrear | Beaver dam and bird nests |
| Heathhall Primary | Dumfries | Homes for wildlife |
| Grove Academy | Broughty Ferry | Making caves and mushrooms |
| Flowerbank Early Childhood Centre | Kilmarnock | Tree of life |
| Killermont Primary | Bearsden | Wonderful wetlands rain garden |
| Elphinstone Primary | Elphinstone | 100 years of living with nature |
| Greenbank Pre School | Edinburgh | Greenbank Picnic Garden |
| Leverhulme Memorial Primary | Isle of Harris | Beataidh Banrigh (super-Bee) |
| Leverhulme Memorial Primary | Isle of Harris | Beart a Chlo Mhor - Harris Tweed loom garden |
| Tulliallan Primary | Kincardine | Honeycomb haven |
| Drummore Primary | Drumchapel | Celebrating Scotland |
| Skypoint School ASN | Clydebank | Natural engineers of the waterways |
| Whinhill Primary | Greenock | Nature's engineers near us |
| St Andrew's Primary | Gorebridge | The stages of a butterfly |
| St David's ELC Midlothian | Dalkieth | Jack and the Beanstalk |
| St Andrew's Primary | Gorebridge | Burrow and nest |
| St. Mark's Primary | Irvine | Green City |
| Glenlyon Primary | Aberfeldy | Gamekeeper's Piece |
| Glenlyon Primary | Aberfeldy | Nitrogen Farm |
| Corseford School ASN | Johnstone | Oh little bird |
| Houston Primary (P5 & 6) | Houston | A world of plants |
| Park Mains High School | Erskine | A Bee who came to tea |
| Hamilton Grammar ASN | Hamilton | Soil, water, sky |
| Carluke High School | Carluke | Bug eat bug -natural pest control |
| Raploch Community Campus | Full of life! | |
| Knoxland Primary | Dumbarton | Our beaver dam |
| Linnvale Primary | Clydebank | Busy as a Bee |
| Harrysmuir Primary | Livingston | The hill at Harrysmuir |
The Pocket Garden Design Competition aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and forms 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.
The online showcase will be open from 14 – 24 June 2024 for people to visit and place their vote for the nation’s favourite Pocket Garden.
