Oranges growing all over the centre of Edinburgh? No it is not a sign of climate change – the city is sporting an overgrowth of fake flowers and foliage.
The “Ivy” on the Square
While some restaurants and hotels are still decorated with real flowers, others have decided to go with massive displays of the artificial kind. Close to the real greenery of St Andrews Square, it is very easy to spot that the archways at the Ivy on the Square are not the real thing – and the same goes for the Groucho and the Refinery. Even Wagamama’s green shrubs are fake.
At the other end of the street, however, Tiles bar and restaurant has window boxes flowing with real flowers.Manager Mark said: “Ours are real, we have a watering system so they get watered every day. I think some of the restaurants have gone a bit far. It’s too much. It is OK to have a few artificial flowers – we have some in our doorway because of the lack of light.”
Manager Mark outside Tiles Bar and Restaurant
Dishoom also has some real shrubs and a few flowers – rather cast into the shade by the virulent pinks and purples adorning the neighbouring hostelries. Who looks after their plants? “I honestly don’t know – I think they just grow,” a waiter said.
At the Balmoral Hotel, the florists had just been and the doorway and window boxes were in full – real – bloom. But a few doors along at the summer bar and food area above Waverley Station flowerbeds bristle with plastic oranges on sticks, while triffid-like constructions stretch their tendrils down from the frame, a bit reminiscent of the John Wyndham horror classic.
Fake tendrils hang over the Festival Village
Real flowers at the Balmoral next door
What is going on? It is not hard to grow things in Scotland. There is usually plenty of rain. Real flowers provide aroma and habitat for birds and insects. Plastic ones probably take centuries to disintegrate into microplastic. Perhaps many people don’t notice? I saw a young girl having her photo taken outside the Ivy among the flowers – for social media purposes it may not matter if the flowers are real.
Glasgow doesn’t seem to suffer to quite the same extent – there are a few fake flowers here and there such as these washed-out tragic-looking sprigs which hang from the from the otherwise grand entrance at the Citation bar in Glasgow’s former Sheriff Court.
The Citation bar in Glasgow’s Merchant City