THE TEAM responsible for managing the oldest botanic garden in the UK say they are so “proud” to play their part in Oxford’s bid to win the famous Britain in Bloom competition.

Staff at the University of Oxford garden are eagerly awaiting to hear how the city fared in the competition, with results due to be announced in October.

To celebrate the annual event, curator Tom Price gave the Oxford Mail a glimpse into the life of the Botanic Garden team and how they keep such high standards.

Mr Price, 34, said: “We are eagerly awaiting the results to see if Oxford pipped Dundee and Norfolk to the post and has won the city category.

“We don’t generally do a great deal more for the judging. We like to think the garden is kept to a high standard all year round. We did, however, do a quick tidy of the key areas.”

Fellow gardener 37-year-old Martin Deasy, who looks after the geographical collections in the walled garden, said it will be amazing if Oxford wins.

He said: “It will be great to have made a contribution. The garden was looking stunning this summer.”

The team is made up of three gardeners who work in the glasshouses, six who work in the gardens, and two who work as collection curators.

Mr Price said: “The team are a highly motivated and passionate bunch, who have such affinity with the Garden and truly believe in the ethos of what we do.

“When you work as part of a team such as this it really makes a huge difference. We are small, but work very well together and all have our particular strengths and areas of expertise.”

Mr Price, who lives in Summertown with his wife Kathryn and has been at the garden for 10 years, said he would “never want to work anywhere else”.

He added: “Working with plants and the people who care about them is all I’ve ever wanted to do. My grandad and I used to produce the summer hanging baskets for the family. I used to really enjoy combining plants and making, what I thought then, were superb colour combinations.”

THE BIG PRIZE

* Oxford is going up against Dundee and Norfolk in the city category of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Britain in Bloom UK Finals 2015.
* The city was selected from more than 1,000 entrants to take part and will be representing the Thames and Chiltern City category.
* Finalists represent the very best of community gardening in the UK.
* The University of Oxford Botanic Garden was judged as part of the city as a whole on August 5.
* The results will be announced in October.
* The presentation of prizes for Oxford in Bloom 2015, organised by the city council, will take place on Thursday at the Town Hall.