Fruitful

A few days ago when looking for something on the Ordnance Survey app on my phone I came across the Gorbals Rose Garden. I had heard about and had visited Gorbals New Park in the past, but hadn't heard of the Rose Garden, so a trip into Glasgow to investigate was my plan for Sunday afternoon.

It has to be said that the Rose Garden left me completely underwhelmed. While the grass in this relatively small park had been cut, and fairly recently by the look of it, the flower beds looked not to have been tended for some time. They were overgrown with weeds and such roses that were on show were somewhat few and far between.

However, one side of the garden had been turned into a community orchard, and it was abundant with ripening apples and damsons. A real surprise and more than made up for the disappointment of not seeing the expected display of roses.

A little bit of digging (no pun intended!) revealed that the orchard was first planted in 2004 and now contains over 75 fruit trees and 100 fruit bushes. It is looked after by people in the local area. The Gorbals Rose Garden also has a memorial sculpture to a Victoria Cross holder, James Stokes, killed in action in March 1945.