Bord Bia Bloom

     I first started visiting Bloom a few years back, but this time was a bit different for me since I was  featured as a designer on RTÉ's Super Garden for 6 weeks leading to Bloom, and I also got to work on it a tiny bit behind the scenes. This is one of my favourite Irish mainstream festivals thanks to its lively atmosphere, the location (Phoenix Park, the largest walled park in Europe), indie musicians on stage, great food (shout out to Killua Castle), arts & crafts village, thousands of plants on sale, etc. The highlight of the festival each year must be the show gardens. People from all over the island eagerly flock here to see what new landscape design wonders have been prepared for them. 

    This year, I was quite impressed with three show gardens: A Space for Possibilities: The Modular Container Garden (Small Show Garden Category), Citroën Floating Lounge Garden (Medium Show Garden Category) and In Perspective by the European Commission (Concept Show Garden Category). 

    "In Perspective" show garden (third photo) was trully mesmerising. The way the mirrors were used felt like looking into an infinite forest. This had to be seen in person as photos simply don't do it justice.

What I would like to see more of in the coming years is variety, both in the planting schemes and in the materials used in garden designs. I understand that foxgloves, lupins and aliums are in bloom this time of year and look really attractive, but it's always nice to see more out of the box thinking. There you have it, my short review of Bord Bia Bloom. Hope the photos help convey the spirit of the festival. I'm already looking forward to the next one.