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City's floral clock celebrates 200 years of braille

City of Edinburgh Council The floral clock is made up of thousands o flowering plants which are green and purple.City of Edinburgh Council
More than 35,000 flowers and plants are used in the clock, which will be in bloom until October

Edinburgh's Lord Provost has officially opened the newly completed floral clock in the city's West Princes Street Gardens.

This year the landmark celebrates the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) and 200 years of braille, the tactile code allowing blind and partially sighted people to read by touch.

Lord Provost Robert Aldridge was joined by RNIB representatives and visually impaired members of the community to mark the completion of the new design, which takes three gardeners six weeks to create.

More than 35,000 flowers and plants are used in the clock, which will be in bloom until October.

City of Edinburgh Council The Lord Provost is crouching down beside the clock, which is made up of green and purple flowering plants. There are the shops of Princes Street in the background. The Lord Provost is wearing a blue suit, glasses and his badge and chain of office. He is bald and smiling.City of Edinburgh Council
Edinburgh's Lord Provost Robert Aldridge at the floral clock in Princes Street Gardens

Plants in the clock include antennaria, crassula, echevaria, sedum and saxifrage and annuals such as pyrethrum, begonias and geraniums.

Mr Aldridge said he hoped the clock's design would give people pause to reflect on how important braille is to all those to use it.

The RNIB is the UK's leading sight loss charity which offers practical and emotional support to blind and partially sighted people, their families and carers.

This year, the RNIB is marking the 200th anniversary of the invention of braille, a code based on six dots used to represent the alphabet and numbers.

James Adams, director of RNIB Scotland, said it was a great honour that RNIB had been chosen for this year's floral clock.

He said: "It marks the 200th anniversary of the invention of braille which opened up opportunity for blind and partially sighted people to be able to access the written word, and with that came the liberation of being able to also receive information that is taken for granted by wider society."

"Braille is a system that endures, and continues to transform the lives of blind and partially sighted people, offering them privacy, independence, and opportunity."

The floral clock was first created in 1903 by then Edinburgh Parks superintendent, John McHattie, and is the oldest of its kind in the world.

It initially operated with just an hour hand, with a minute hand added in 1904, followed by a cuckoo clock in 1952. Until 1972 the clock was operated mechanically and had to be wound daily.

Since 1946 it has been designed in honour of various organisations and individuals, including the Girl Guides Association, Robert Louis Stevenson and the Queen, for her Golden Jubilee.

In the clock's centenary year in 2003 it won a gold medal at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.