New accessible garden opened
A new accessible garden has been officially opened in the Carse of Gowrie.
The garden at the newly-built Madoch Centre in St Madoes was officially opened to the public on Wednesday, November 1, by members of the church and Ken Cox, an expert gardener from the nearby Glendoick Garden Centre.
The new garden will be accessible to all, including people in wheelchairs, and the team at the Madoch Centre are already looking forward to holding inclusive gardening groups in the coming months.
Anthea Bircham, coordinator of the Madoch Centre, said: “It has been a real collective effort from a number of different groups and individuals. The idea is for an accessible garden for people in wheelchairs and people who are less mobile - they will be about to sit or stand to do gardening here.
“We worked with Carse in Bloom and Graham Macdonald from Errol who designed the garden in the shape of the St Madoes Cross.
“The planters were then made by Wisecraft, a social enterprise group from Murray Royal Hospital in Perth, who did a fantastic job, because they were quite complicated to do.
“Robert Wilson also donated plants for the opening event and Algo gave us stones and they put those in for us free of charge, which was very generous.
“It has been a real collective effort and local folks have also helped to paint the planters and planted flowers as well. Locals outside the Madoch Centre. Pic: Andrew O’Brien Photography
“Some people have donated memorial benches which is a nice feature, and five people donated birch trees as well.”
At the opening event last week, the crowd were treated to a tea party and all the people who had helped make the garden a reality were thanked.
Anthea continued: “Ken Cox did the officially opening, and he is a renowned gardener who has been all over the world. I
“t was a really nice occasion, and we didn’t want to do the garden opening on the same day as the official opening event [for the Madoch Centre] - it needed its own special day, so it was nice to do them separately.
“We will be starting a gardening group in the next few months with tea and refreshments and they will be decided what flowers to put in for spring.”
Those interested in joining the Madoch Centre’s gardening group in St Madoes can contact them on 01738 861023.
They are planning on holding their first get-together at the beginning of December.