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World-famous tourist attraction to honour daily’s 200th anniversary

A world-famous tourist attraction is set to honour a daily newspaper’s 200th anniversary with a floral tribute.

Edinburgh’s floral clock will be redecorated to mark The Scotsman’s bicentenary following a collaboration between the paper and Edinburgh City Council.

The working clock, in the city’s Princes Street Gardens, will feature a 200th anniversary-themed plant pattern paying tribute to The Scotsman’s founders’ commitment to “good sense, courage and industry”

A similar display was previously put together at the clock for the paper’s 175th anniversary in 1992.

Scotsman 175

The clock, created in 1903, has previously marked events including the Queen’s Coronation and the 100th anniversary of Robert Louis Stevenson’s death with similar decorations.

Scotsman editor Frank O’Donnell said: “It is a great honour to have the floral clock, located in such a fantastic location in the city, commemorating our 200th anniversary.

“The fact that we are the first organisation to be chosen twice, initially in 1992 and this year too, is a double honour in our bicentenary year.

“I am sure the many visitors to the gardens will enjoy looking at it and feel pride in Scotland’s national newspaper which has been read by generations in print and now also online.”

It will take gardeners more than a month to plant the clock’s 35,000 flowers and plants, which will be in bloom from July until October.

Plants used for the clock vary but usually include golden moss, lobelia and echeveria, and takes five weeks to plant.

David Jamieson, the council’s parks and greenspace manager, said: “The Scotsman newspaper is a journalistic institution so it’s great to be working with them to celebrate our 200th anniversary in the design of this much-loved Edinburgh landmark.

“The floral clock never fails to impress, thanks to the hard work of our parks team, and I’m sure everyone is looking forward to seeing the fruits of their labour.”

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  • June 8, 2017 at 3:39 pm
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    I would disagree with the Scotsman being the national paper of Scotland, sales are less than 19,500 a day, of which 88.3% are paid for (July-December 2016 figures). Other papers in Scotland sell more, they may be linked to cities like The Herald, but you can purchase that paper in a wide area in Scotland. Distribution and returns costs of the 17,218 paid for papers will be huge.

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