Aberdeen’s beautiful parks and green spaces ‘rose’ to the occasion today when judges from the prestigious Beautiful Scotland competition toured around the city as part of their deliberations.
The visit was started by judges Liz Stewart and Gregor McGillivray at the community garden at the Duthie Park Ranger Station speaking with community groups and organisations from around the city followed by a tour of the David Welch Winter Gardens.
Other places the judges visited on their tour included the schoolchildren-designed flower beds on Great Southern Road, Victoria and Westburn Parks, through Old Aberdeen, and finishing at Seaton Park.
In 2023, 2022, and 2021, Aberdeen won gold in the ‘City’ category in Beautiful Scotland and was also crowned Overall Joint First in 2022. In 2020, Aberdeen was a finalist for Champion of Champions award in Britain in Bloom but the competition was cancelled due to the pandemic.
Aberdeen City Council In Bloom Champion Councillor Neil MacGregor said: “It is fantastic to welcome Beautiful Scotland judges back into the city as we always enjoy showing them around including meeting many of the people involved in ensuring our green areas look great.
“Aberdeen’s entry is very much a joint effort with community partners, volunteers and Friends groups and it is fantastic they are here today as part of the group welcoming the judges to the city.
“The community groups and City Council staff have done a wonderful job of ensuring our parks and green spaces are at their best and contributing towards our beautiful city for everyone to enjoy.”
Beautiful Scotland is organised by Keep Scotland Beautiful and is the top gardening competition for councils and other community organisations across the country. Major winners from regional competitions including Beautiful Scotland are then put forward for the UK-wide finals Britain in Bloom.
The city has won a medal in either Britain in Bloom or Beautiful Scotland every year since 2008 and has been award-winning in the competitions since 1964.
The city will be judged on its horticulture which is our amazing parks and green spaces, community involvement which is all our fantastic green partners and volunteers including Friends groups, schools, businesses, community groups and the thousands of volunteers who help us, and environmental responsibility which is the work carried out for the Council’s climate plan, carbon reduction, and other similar projects.
The winners for the various categories will be announced at an awards event in September.