Parklea Branching Out

20/08/2026

Our Saltire Garden from above! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿💜🌿
Willie & David from What About came in last week and took some footage of the garden with their drone! 📷
Considering we had to miss out 3 of the original 18 segments to keep our main pathways clear, we were amazed how clear the Saltire design looked from above! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
The plants from the 3 spare segments have already been planted up by our grounds team into parts of our site that needed some softening. Don't you think the plant selection looks like it was chosen specially for us?! We just love it! 💜🌿
The garden will stay set up in its Saltire shape for at least another couple of weeks, so if you want to come and experience it up close, we would love to share it with you before it gets replanted into our borders!
We are open Monday-Friday 9am-4pm or call us on 01475 744516 if you have any questions!


Thank you Jamie Butterworth for creating it , to Paul John English for thinking of us, and to Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games for gifting us this amazing legacy!

18/08/2026

𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐒𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐂𝐚𝐟𝐞́ ✏️

We are delighted to announce that a new Life Skills Café block will be starting on 11th September! 🔜

Hear from Callum at Parklea Branching Out and John from Morton in the Community as they tell you a little more about what the Life Skills Café has to offer 🎥

If you're interested in taking part, you can register your interest using the link below:

https://bit.ly/45sqscT

Thank you to Acorns to Trees for their continued support in funding this project 🤝

16/08/2026

Both cafe & plant sales are open as usual, Monday-Friday, next week! 🌿
We also still have the beautiful nature garden from the Commonwealth Games Opening ceremony laid out in its Saltire shape that you can come and wander through to see up close, as well as looking at how we have started to plant some of it up in our own borders! 💜

13/08/2026

We wish to express our sincere thanks to the Gourock Rangers Supporters Club for their kind donation of £600. Donations like this are greatly appreciated and provide valuable support for the work we carry out within the community. We are very grateful for their kindness and generosity, and for the difference their support helps us to make.

A big thanks to Chairman Colin McBeth and Tickets Convenor Davy Byrne who presented us with the donation and can be seen pictured here with PBO’s Sharon Gemmell and Jordan Byrne.

09/08/2026

The news broke on Friday that PBO was the beneficiary of the Scottish Nature Garden that took centre stage at the Glasgow 26 Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony at the Hydro. 🌿
We had had to keep it top secret since we first found out just 3 weeks earlier!
We had been approached by Editor in Chief, Paul English to see if we could be its permanent home after the games. He hails from Inverclyde & knows our project well.
After a day of swinging from "yes we can" to "no we can't" & back again,we realised it was an opportunity we couldn't turn down, & from that moment things happened very quickly! 💜
There were calls with events organisers, logistics managers, haulage companies, as well as Jamie Butterworth who was one of the co-creators along with designer Amalie White.
Because of the enormity of the project both in scale, and in secrecy, we had to close to the public temporarily last week to get the garden on site. It was wild seeing the 4 curtain sided artic lorries & 2 forklifts working in tandem to get the 18 huge sections off!
Then came the manpower. 💪🏻 We cannot praise our team enough! They worked SO hard pulling together & moving the modules into & around the site. Although they are all on castors, they are heavy beasts & our backs certainly know it!
On Thursday we welcomed Jamie up to PBO, and while a host of cameras & publicity people took photos & videos & did interviews (!) he helped us piece together the massive jigsaw that mostly had lost their identifying numbers by now! Honestly, he was a joy to have around as well as absolutely crucial, or we might still have been piecing it together now! 😄
This garden is going to be such an asset to us. We will keep it in its [almost] Saltire shape for a few weeks (we had to miss out a couple of sections due to size and restricting the paths... this garden is big!) We will start replanting it out into our borders in late summer/early autumn, where it will be a source of learning & education for those who are part of PBO, both now & well into the future. These plants will be such a valuable resource to teach about maintenance, propagation & general plant care.
It is also going to be such a benefit for our environment, not only providing a unified sense of cohesion & calm to our gardens, but also so good for the wildlife! So many species of bees are loving it already - the biodiversity it will bring is amazing! 🐝
You are welcome to come & see the garden! 🌿 Please do! We are so proud of it! 💜
We are open Monday, Wednesday & Friday this coming week. Closed to the public Tuesday & Thursday. We are doing this as at the moment we don't know what demand or footfall this may bring. We also have a duty to our clients, it is their garden to enjoy too and we need to make sure they are included & protected as they are first & foremost in everything we do ❤️

07/08/2026

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyeg6ln4l3o
......THE SECRET IS OUT! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🌿💜

The garden of 2,400 plants was where King Charles and Queen Camilla emerged from a Tardis at the start of the Glasgow 2026 opening ceremony.

29/07/2026

We have a big project being undertaken next week, where, due to heavy plant machinery moving around on site, we will need to close to the public temporarily.
We will be open as usual on Monday 3rd August, but then there will be no public access for the rest of the week.
We will keep you updated as far as reopening is concerned and hopefully have some exciting news to share very soon! 💚
Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause if you were planning to visit us next week.

24/07/2026

Beautiful selection of perennials & shrubs in stock now in every colour of the rainbow! 🌈
• 1 litre pots usually £6.50
• 2 litre pots usually £8.50
• 3 litre pots usually £10.00
Open Monday-Friday 9am-4pm

22/07/2026

Parklea Branching Out, including Branches Café, will be CLOSED tomorrow, Thursday 23rd July for a private event.

We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause if you were planning to visit, but will be open as usual on Friday 24th July. 🩵