Filed under: Caley Society, Conference Facilities, flower arranging, flowers, Garden Advice, Garden Open Days, Garden Visits, Gardeners' Royal Benevolent Society, Gardening, Gardening Workshops, Lifelong Learning, Oatridge College, perennial, RCHS Individual Achievement Award, Suntrap Garden, Suntrap Garden Open Day, suntrapgardengardeningscotland, Things to do in Scotland, Visit Scotland gardens
The public have a chance to stop the demise of Suntrap Garden
Suntrap Garden’s Open Day in May 2011 could be its last unless the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) and Oatridge College’s scandalous decision to sell the Green Belt located Garden to property developers is halted.
But all is not lost.
A group of representatives of the organisations which use Suntrap is seeking a rescue package by pursuing funding to run the Garden with the help of volunteers. And as part of the effort the Garden volunteers are holding a further Open Day as part of its fundraising efforts on Sunday 22nd May from 10.30am – 4pm. Attractions will include a sale of plants, displays, exhibits and demonstrations, face-painting for the youngsters, Eubee a snowy owl, gardening for children, refreshments and home baking.
Entry to the garden is £2 for adults and free for children and OAPs, with the money from that and several of the stalls going to the Friends of Suntrap and Save our Suntrap Campaign. Parking is free.
Suntrap is reached from the A8 and is signposted about half a mile west of the Edinburgh City Bypass roundabout. It is served by Lothian Buses services 25, 34 and 45 to the Park and Ride at Riccarton/Heriot Watt Campus.
Benefactor, George Boyd Anderson, gave the Garden to the NTS in 1966 as a place for horticultural education for those with small gardens – a concept well ahead of its time. He wanted the NTS to ensure it would be really useful to the public. It has provided advice and classes to generations of gardeners and, in recent years, has been a special therapeutic training resource for students with learning difficulties who find the place relaxing and rewarding.
Suntrap is well known in the Gardening Community. The Save Our Suntrap (SOS) Group, led by the Friends of Suntrap (the very first NTS Friends’ group) comprises members of national and local organisations such as Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society, Perennial, Scottish Gardeners’ Forum, National Bonsai Collection and Suntrap Gardening Club.
SOS is fighting passionately on behalf of the Garden. This community group proposes to continue to open the Garden to the public and reinstate classes but also has plans to expand the role of the Garden in therapeutic and other ways, including gardening space, providing the public with fresh opportunities to garden in a healthy environment.
SOS is seeking to lease the Garden to prove that it can be run effectively in accordance with the principles under which it was gifted as a legacy to the gardeners of the future. The members have support with the campaign from a variety of sources, including politicians.
It would be an outrage if this Garden is lost to the property market when there is a chance that it could be saved! With help, the sun could shine again on Suntrap!
Members of the public can do their part in saving the garden by showing their support and coming along to our Open Day on Sunday May 22nd.
Filed under: Caley Society, container gardening, Garden Advice, Garden Courses, Gardening Scotland, Gardening Workshops, Lifelong Learning, Oatridge College, Suntrap Garden, Things to do in Scotland | Tags: Caley Society, Garden Visits, gardening classes, Oatridge College, Suntrap Garden
Yesterday we got the awful news that due to cut backs Oatridge College who run lifelong learning classes at Suntrap Garden are handing the garden back to the National Trust for Scotland at the end of July. The NTS are themselves in trouble financially and it looks as if the garden will be shut permanently unless someone appears very quickly with a rescue package. The volunteers who help in the garden are willing to continue to support the garden and the Friends of Suntrap also want to continue to support the garden.
There is doubt about what will happen to the National Bonsai Collection which is housed in the garden. A new bonsai house is nearing completion. In the last year volunteers have been keeping the garden open to visitors over the weekends and visitor numbers have increased as have sales of plants grown to help maintain the garden.
If you have not yet visited this treasure then please do so before the gates close for the last time. If you think it should be saved for its teaching facility which will be impossible to replicate at Oatridge then write to your MSP, MP, etc. So much lottery money is going to support the Olympic games but we need funding now for a basic educational facility for the most vulnerable members of society. On this site alone day in and day out we see people asking basic gardening questions like how to grow potatoes. At Suntrap, adult education night classes cater for the increasing numbers who want to learn about gardening.
Hidden Treasure to Close
Taken from the article from the blog – Grows on You, to find out further information http://www.sos2010.btck.co.uk
Filed under: Garden Open Days, Garden Visits, Snowdrops, Things to do in Scotland, Visit Scotland gardens | Tags: Dalmeny Estate, Garden Open Days, Garden Visits, Snowdrops
Dalmeny Estates are holding their annual Snowdrop day on Sunday 28 February from 2.00 pm to 5.00pm.
Filed under: Garden Visits, Suntrap Garden, Things to do in Scotland, wildlife in the garden | Tags: Birds in the Garden, Garden Visits, Suntrap Garden
Filed under: Autumn Winter Nightclasses, container gardening, Garden Courses, Garden Visits, Suntrap, Suntrap Garden, Things to do in Scotland, Visit Scotland gardens | Tags: Directions to Suntrap
Although the garden has been around since 1957, it’s not the easiest place to find, nestled between the new Royal Bank of Scotland and the Park and Ride at Heriot Watt. So where exactly are we, well here’s an aerial shot, although we are an inch to the right, google haven’t quite found us either –
Filed under: Garden Visits, gardeningscotland, Suntrap Garden, suntrapgardengardeningscotland, Things to do in Scotland, Uncategorized, Visit Scotland gardens | Tags: Directions to suntrap garden, Garden Advice, Garden Open Days, Garden Visits, Gardening, Gardening Scotland, Oatridge College, pallet gardens
It’s not all hard work, some people come along and just enjoy the day out
Filed under: Garden Open Days, Gardening, Lifelong Learning, Suntrap Garden, Suntrap Garden Open Day, Things to do in Scotland, Uncategorized | Tags: bird, Directions to suntrap garden, Flickr, Garden Open Days, Garden Visits, Gardening, Gardening Scotland, ladybirds, Suntrap Garden, Suntrap Garden Open Day
Filed under: Gardeners' Royal Benevolent Society, Gardening, Gardening Scotland, gardeningscotland, Lifelong Learning, Oatridge College, Suntrap Garden, Things to do in Scotland, Visit Scotland gardens | Tags: Garden Open Days, Garden Visits, Gardening Scotland, gardeningscotland, John Smith, Oatridge College, pallet gardens, perennial, Suntrap Garden, team leader, Things to do in Scotland
From –
Horticulture Week
05 June 2009
Flower power drove gardening charity Perennial and land-based college Oatridge’s clapped-out VW Beetle to gold at Gardening Scotland.
Co-designer with Oatridge horticultural team leader Ann Burns, Oatridge Suntrap Garden leader John Smith said the most colourful car in Scotland could now be recycled to make an entrance feature at nearby Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway.
Filed under: Garden Visits, Gardening, Gardening Scotland, Lifelong Learning, Oatridge College, Suntrap Garden, Things to do in Scotland, Uncategorized, Visit Scotland gardens | Tags: Ann Burns, Garden Open Days, Garden Visits, Gardening, Gardening Scotland, Oatridge College, perennial, Suntrap Garden
It was a hard day setting up the beatle at the site.
Filed under: Garden Visits, Gardening, Lifelong Learning, nature, Oatridge College, Suntrap Garden Open Day, Things to do in Scotland, Visit Scotland gardens, walks | Tags: bird, Garden Open Days, Garden Visits, Italian Garden, Oatridge College, Suntrap, Suntrap Open Day Sunday 24 May
What a perfect Summer’s day we had. The weather was beautiful, the garden was busy.
But, I think Eubee, the snowy owl, might have been the star attraction for many.
Suntrap Garden 