TWO of last year's gold medal winners have united to face one of this year's toughest challenges at Strathclyde. Scottish Natural Heritage and Hopetoun Gardens, South Queensferry, are presenting The Environment in Your Hands, on a Tarmac surface to show that you can create a beautiful garden even in the most unpromising situation.

The garden has a number of environmental themes but chiefly sets out to show that a bio-diverse or ecological approach to the richness and variety of plants in our gardens can provide a wildlife haven in any neighbourhood.

We can all encourage wildlife with our choice of plants, and all the plants in The Environment in Your Hands exhibit will be from the Plant for Wildlife Register at Scottish Natural Heritage.

This doesn't mean that the garden has to look messy or cranky, as lots of the plants are like the butterfly bush you may already have in your garden. Preferably, you should use garden chemicals sparingly and specifically, for example, one that kills aphids only and does not harm the ladybirds, lacewings and hoverflies which eat aphids in vast quantities.

There is undoubtedly an important message behind the garden but as one of its designers, Beechgrove Garden presenter Lesley Watson, explained: ''At Strathclyde Park people come to be entertained and inspired, so the garden is going to be pretty spectacular with lots of sections or ideas that people can try out at home. This is showtime.''

Part of this theatrical production lies in creating a garden that looks as if it has been there for years, instead of a few days, and in finding the finance or sponsorship to make it happen. The three sponsors this year are Scottish Natural Heritage, Dougal Philip at Hopetoun House Walled Garden Centre, and Donaldsons and Hickson timber constructions.

The sense of theatre will be enhanced by the stage set over the Tarmac - with decking, roof garden and balcony bridge. All planting is in containers, some of them 50-litre pots.

There is a tantalising mix of colour and fragrance and the exuberant planting is seen to full effect in the swag bags and plants over the balcony bridge - ivy, bidens, nasturtiums and surfinia petunias.

Big trees have gone in first - ''just as you would do in your own garden'' - the biggest being the wild cherry, Prunus avium, with a single branch to support a children's swing made from recycled car tyres.

Water is very important in wildlife gardening, as simple as a birdbath or as sophisticated as a pond with a fountain.

The show garden has two water features. One of the pumps is solar-powered - with the back-up of an ordinary pump in case the sun isn't as kind as it was last year. The larger of the water features is a sculpture in oak commissioned from Dave Beaton.

All timbers in the garden come from managed forests and are treated with special finishes.

Unlike some of the show gardens, which are dismantled and disposed of, The Environment in Your Hands display will mostly be recycled for use at the Scottish Natural Heritage headquarters in Battleby, Red Gorten, Perth.