Nicely captured by the image on this year's programme of a kilted knee, with secateurs substituted for sgian dhu, the throng in Strathclyde Park for Scotland's National Gardening Show yesterday ranged from the Barbour brigade to wee wifies with rain-mates protecting perfect pensioners' perms, writes Jennifer Cunningham.
While the pavilioned splendour, complete with arched PVC windows, of the Balmoral Restaurant was fully booked with VIPs and their guests sitting down to lunch, most took shelter in the tents around the food court while die-hards ate their picnics in the rain overlooking Strathclyde Loch.
Mrs Isobel Lindsay, collecting catalogues and ideas for the garden of her Tayport bungalow, said: ''Last year we went to Chelsea, but it's too big and too busy and, of course, there's no point in buying plants there because so many are bred in the south of England.''
The traffic division of Strathclyde Police was out in force, but the lessons of last year's jams had been
well-learned.
The same determined cheerfulness was evident everywhere in a sensibly-shod crowd, most of whom sported the yellow drawstring bags provided with tickets booked in advance by The Herald, which began to sprout with the foliage of new purchases almost as soon as the gates opened at 11am.
Scotland's growing relationship with the Royal Horticultural Society was boosted by the number of home-grown exhibitors who took major awards, including Best Show Garden (Glorious Gardens of Argyll and Bute), Best Petit Jardin (Scottish Wildlife Trust), Best Exhibit in Floral Marquees and Best Local Authority (both South Lanarkshire Council).
Fifteen RHS gold medals were awarded. Six went to Scotland, where the amateur gardeners of the Scottish Begonia Society, Scottish Orchid Society and Scottish Rock Garden Club found their specialist skills acknowledged alongside the virtuoso professionals of the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, Glasgow City Council and South Lanarkshire Council.
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