Ishan Crawford Beautiful Scotland judges spent four hours touring Dundee this week as part of Bonnie Dundee’s entry in the City category of the 2026 awards. The visit, administered by Keep Scotland Beautiful, put a citywide volunteer network of community groups, schools, businesses and residents under the spotlight for their work making the place greener, cleaner and healthier.
Climate, Net Zero & Environment Convener Cllr Lynne Short praised the effort: “Dundee has a great amount of dedicated and committed volunteers working alongside Council employees to improve the city’s environment, encouraging others to get involved and showcasing the city in its best light.”
Three Pillars the Judges Score
Keep Scotland Beautiful runs Beautiful Scotland in partnership with the Royal Horticultural Society as Scotland’s arm of the wider bloom campaign. Groups are judged on three core pillars that shape every tour and every medal.
| Pillar | What Judges Look For | Dundee Angle |
|---|---|---|
| Horticultural Achievement | Year-round planting quality, colour, permanent schemes, biodiversity | Planters, wildflower panels, Slessor Gardens displays |
| Environmental Responsibility | Litter reduction, waste, climate action, resource use, habitat care | Take Pride campaigns, Clean Up Scotland, coastal dune work |
| Community Participation | Breadth of involvement across ages, groups, schools, businesses | Hundreds of volunteers, monthly open meetings, school sessions |
Some 2026 winners will advance to represent Scotland in the UK-wide RHS Britain in Bloom UK finals structure. The campaign has run in some form for 60 years and this edition carries a special People Power theme linked to the International Year of Volunteers for Sustainable Development.
The Network Behind the Four-Hour Window
Bonnie Dundee is not a single club. It is a partnership that co-ordinates Dundee’s City entry and draws in friends-of-parks groups, community gardens, schools, the council and businesses. The network’s own description stresses a “great sense of community and enthusiasm from the many organisations and hundreds of volunteers.”
They meet at 6pm on the last Tuesday of most months at 14 City Square. Sessions are open. The work never stops at the end of the judges’ visit. Current focuses include Union Street planters, Dundee Science Centre planters, Westport planters and the Slessor Gardens ‘Reflections of the Tay’ scheme, plus support for Take Pride in Your City and Clean Up Scotland, children’s competitions and plant sales. Full details of the monthly meetings and current planter projects sit on the council site.
- Community growing and biodiversity projects across neighbourhoods
- Litter and waste reduction linked to wider Keep Scotland Beautiful campaigns
- School sessions and outdoor Nature Schools work by countryside rangers
- Active travel path enhancements that also boost coastal grassland habitat
- Mapping tools for UN Sustainable Development Goals and ash dieback
These strands turn a short judging tour into a year-round pitch. Similar Keep Scotland Beautiful spring clean drives show how the charity’s other initiatives feed the same volunteer energy.
Medals That Built the Case
The 2026 entry rests on a long record. Bonnie Dundee reached the 2024 RHS Britain in Bloom finals and took a Silver Gilt medal in the City category. It finished against London Borough of Havering and winners Wrexham in Bloom. Ninewells Community Garden also collected the first RHS Health & Wellbeing Award that year.
- 2025: Certificate of Recognition for Bonnie Dundee
- 2024: Silver Gilt, RHS Britain in Bloom City category finalist; Ninewells Health & Wellbeing Award
- 2023: Wright Sustainability Award to Dundee City Council for Take a Pride in Your City and climate work
- 2022: Wright Sustainability Award again, highlighting electric vehicles, COP26 events and wildflower panels
- 2021: RHS Growing Communities Discretionary Award for Bonnie Dundee
- 2019: Wright Sustainability Award for cycling networks, electric charging hubs and dune restoration
The Bonnie Dundee network profile and past medals page tracks the progression. Chair Trudy Cunningham said after the 2024 result: “Judges highlighted the strong sense of community in Dundee, both between all of the many gardening and friends groups and the council. Everyone who has helped (and are still helping, the gardening never stops!), both volunteers and council workers, should feel very proud of their work and of our beautiful city.”
I want to congratulate everyone involved on their hard work. Our city is all the better for them and their continued efforts which they carry out tirelessly.
Cllr Lynne Short made that point on the day of the 2026 tour. The same partnership language runs through every award citation.
Sixty Years and the People Power Focus
Beautiful Scotland marks its diamond anniversary in 2026. It began in 1967 under the Scottish Tourist Board with support from the Scottish Women’s Rural Institute, originally focused on horticultural beautification. The three pillars now balance that heritage with environmental responsibility and community participation.
A one-off Celebrating 60 years of Beautiful Scotland, and People Power Award sits among the discretionary prizes this year. Projects that celebrate volunteering for a sustainable future are in the frame. The full list of category and discretionary awards also covers Community Horticulture, Jim Murdie Award for Sustainability, Garden for Life Biodiversity, VisitScotland Tourism, Young People, Horticultural Heritage and more.
For a city entry the theme fits tightly. Dundee’s post-industrial waterfront and dense neighbourhood fabric give the volunteer network concrete places to work: planters that soften stone streets, wildflower strips that feed pollinators, and clean-ups that support the council’s climate action plan.
What the Tour Saw
Judges received first-hand insight into the latest achievements rather than a polished show garden alone. The four-hour window compressed months of planting, litter lifts and co-ordination. Projects such as Slessor Gardens’ Reflections of the Tay and the Science Centre planters give visible colour while the Take Pride and Clean Up strands address environmental responsibility.
Stats that sit behind the walk include repeated Wright Sustainability Awards for the council’s electric fleet expansion, solar-powered charging hubs, dune restoration at Broughty Ferry and technology for mapping climate goals. School Nature Schools sessions and pollinator-focused seed mixes add the community and biodiversity layers.
- Hundreds of volunteers across the citywide network
- 19 years of continuous Bonnie Dundee partnership entries by 2024
- Multiple Wright awards for local-authority sustainability practice
- Silver Gilt at the UK finals as recent peak recognition
These numbers show why a short visit can still produce a competitive score. The everyday labour is the product on display.
From Scottish Medal to UK Finals Stage
Category winners and selected strong performers from Beautiful Scotland feed into the following year’s RHS Britain in Bloom finals. Scotland has a strong recent record in those UK contests, with class wins in most years since 2005 and four Champion of Champions titles between 2006 and 2019.
Bonnie Dundee’s 2024 Silver Gilt already proved the City-scale model works on the national stage. The 2026 judging tour is the next step in the same cycle. Results later this year will decide who carries the Scottish flag forward.
The same energy that fills planters also appears in wider Scottish greening. From Scotland’s scenic village beauty spots to city waterfronts, the bloom campaigns keep local pride visible and practical.
Dundee’s entry rests on that continuity. The judges have gone home. The volunteers stay on the streets, the gardens and the meeting room at City Square, preparing the next round of colour and care.
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