Garden festival reaches full BLOOM
From a budding event for those with only the greenest of fingers ten years ago, Bloom has certainly branched out and now has something for everyone
AS French painter Henri Matisse said, ‘There are always flowers for those who want to see them’. And if you want to feast your eyes on the best gardens in the land, next week’s Bloom Festival in Dublin’s Phoenix Park is the only place to be. Dubbed the Irish Chelsea Flower Show, the five-day event is in its 11th year and begins on Thursday. Bloom flourished despite the recession and this year will showcase plenty of green shoots of recovery. So, here’s what to expect at this extravaganza of flowers, food, fashion, music and more.
SUPERGARDENS
THE FESTIVAL is the brainchild of ‘Mr Bloom’ Gary Graham, a judge on RTE show Super Garden. He came up with the idea 13 years ago, eventually convincing his employers Bord Bia to set aside a budget for the first Bloom in 2007. Gary studied horticulture with Diarmuid Gavin in the Botanic Gardens in the 80s — the pair once even had a business together — so his festival highlight is no surprise: ‘Listen, I’m a gardener, so for me it’s always going to be the show gardens. We have about €1m worth of show garden this year so you know we’re in changing times,’ he adds, of Ireland’s rebounding economy.
‘We have some big investment sponsors and product placement.’ Putting the event together during the recession years was tough but interesting because ‘it forced us to be very creative. If you’ve got problems you can throw money at it. But if you haven’t money, you have to be very clever. I’ve visited these sorts of shows all over the world, and I can honestly say, we have probably some of the best garden designers in the world in Ireland.’
GARDENING BY NUMBERS
THIS YEAR’S festival features 22 show gardens, 15 postcard gardens of 2m by 3m and six doorstep gardens created by passionate amateur gardeners from around the country. The sculpture garden promoting Irish art and sculptures is also worth a look, as is the Floral & Nursery Pavilion, which features over 30 of the country’s best plant nurseries. The 70-acre Bloom site is located beside the Visitors’ Centre, Áras an Uachtaráin and the Walled Garden.
GETTING THERE
MANY people drive to Bloom so they can fill the car with gardening loot — and there are two ‘massive’ temporary car parks. For those who wish to use public transport, there is a free shuttle bus service from Park Gate Street. Over 21,000 people availed of this handy service last year and the €5 parking charge is used to cover this cost. PS: no dogs except guide dogs.
COST
WEEKDAY tickets cost €20 or €16 with concession; weekend tickets cost €20 or €17 with concession; two-day tickets are €35 or €29 with concession; season tickets for all five days are €60, or €50 with concession.
RAIN OR SHINE
GOOD weather always boosts crowds at Bloom but with Ireland’s largest marquee they are prepared for the worst. The festival has over three acres of marquees so ‘no one should get wet’, says Gary. ‘But if the sun is shining and you’re sipping something good and eating ice-cream or strawberries and cream, it adds to the experience and people will stay longer’.
CHELSEA JUDGES
BLOOM show garden judges arrive in Dublin straight from the Chelsea Flower Show. ‘They’re always blown away by the standard at Bloom and the word I hear from them most often is “humbled”. When you haven’t the massive budgets they have at Chelsea, you have to pool your resources and be clever and creative. And we’re very good at that,’ says Gary.
MORE THAN FLOWERS
UNLIKE other flower shows where almost every visitor can speak fluent latin plant names, Bloom has something for everybody — the aim is to introduce people to the joys of gardening, but But crowds attend as much for the food, music, fashion and crafts.
BLOOMERS KIDS’ ZONE
ENTERTAINING kids can be an expensive business but at Bloom all children up to the age of 16 go free. The Budding Bloomers Kids’ Zone has plenty to keep kids ‘from toddlers to fifth classers’ entertained. Apart from myriad toys and activities, there is a Children’s Stage, where magician Billy Bubbles performs throughout the day and Scientific Sue shows how, for example, exploding vegetables are used to power cars. RTE’s Paddy C Courtney of children’s TV show Dig-in Diner teaches children how to garden in a fun, interactive environment. Meanwhile, huggable cartoon character Carton Man will remind little ones about the importance of recycling. For some quiet time, Children’s Books Ireland will host a Book Clinic, recommending books for different ages.
KID-FRIENDLY GARDENS
TO COINCIDE with the release of the film there will be a Despicable Me 3 garden, where kids can meet villains like Dru Gru. A foil to the cartoon baddies is the Dogs Trust garden with its cute puppies.
DECK OFF
GROWN-UP gardeners will be fully versed in the latest trends after a stroll around Bloom. We are reliably informed this year’s show gardens have more water features than usual. Not only does water add aesthetic drama by reflecting the skies above, it also entices wildlife such as birds and dragonflies.
Also, you read it here first: the
days of the deck are gone. The only time you’ll see anything like decking at this year’s Bloom is when it is really high end — made with handsome hardwood or a modern composite of wood and recycled plastic. As well as being cost-effective, this type of decking doesn’t rot or become lethally slippy in the rain. The third big trend is for low budget, DIY garden rooms. We’re not talking simple gazebos here these have lighting, heating, even kitchens and dining spaces. Al fresco dining is more popular than ever in the back gardens of rainy Ireland — hence the need for good shelter and fireplaces.
BACK TO EARTH
ANOTHER post-Celtic Tiger trend is for gardens to be less showy and more productive. There is a widespread return to growing our own fruit, vegetables and herbs. You don’t even need a big garden — pots or small raised beds will do. Waterford food movement GIY (Grow It Yourself) has its own, very busy stage at Bloom. Along with Bord Bia, the Irish Food Writers Guild, Cully & Sully, Energia and innocent Drinks will bring together over 40 of Ireland’s leading food writers, chefs, nutritionists, healthcare experts, academics and journalists.
Topics up for discussion will include school lunches, food in a digital age, the rise and fall of clean eating, the growing takeaway culture,and the booming interest in gut health.
FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD
AS YOU might expect from a festival organised by Bord Bia, the food at Bloom is on a level several stratospheres above the humble chip van. The Bord Bia stage in the Food Village hosts some of our best-known chefs, commentators and health experts, including Neven Maguire, Catherine Fulvio, Edward Hayden, Rory O’Connell, Paul Flynn, Roz Purcell, Donal O’Shea, Aoife Hearne and Paula Mee, who will participate in over 80 live talks, debates, workshops and cookery demonstrations.
TO MARKET, TO MARKET
THE FOOD Market will showcase 64 of Ireland’s best smaller, local and organic producers including jam makers, bakers, sauces, confectionery, farmhouses cheeses and home-produced juices. They will include a mixture of regular exhibitors and new enterprises who will be using the experience to bring new brands to the consumer.
EGGING ON THE HEROES
IRELAND’S Olympic rowing heroes Paul and Gary O’Donovan visit Bloom on Friday June 2 to launch Bord Bia’s 2017 Eggs Campaign. Eggs are an important part of the brothers’ protein-rich diet and they will cook up delicious recipes with food blogger Roz Purcell at the Quality Kitchen Stage — and no doubt have audiences in stitches with their deadpan observations.
IN LIKE GIN
OUR nation’s current gin fetish looks in no danger of abating soon. Bloom has 33 new food and drink exhibitors this year and a range of new product launches, including the introduction of six new Irish gin products — from Gunpowder Gin, Mor Irish Gin, Listoke Gin and a trio of Gins from James Joyce Gins.
MUSIC
LAST YEAR, music summit and festival youbloom hosted a dedicated music stage at Bloom for the first time, where bands like The 4 of Us reflected the growing demand for nostalgia acts. This year, youbloom is back with a series of informative masterclasses and talks from people in the music industry, including Today FM DJ Ed Smith and singer Eleanor McEvoy. There are also performances by a host of emerging acts such as LemonCello, Danny C and Niamh Crowther.
SHOP TILL YOU DROP
AT BLOOM, each of the vendors is hand-chosen by the Design & Crafts Council of Ireland. Some of our finest jewellers, designers, retailers and gallerists will be there showcasing their wares — and some offer workshops to boot.
MONEY, MONEY, MONEY
IT MAY surprise you to learn that Bloom ‘doesn’t make money at all’ according Gary. ‘We’re still investing in it every year.
‘If we were in the events business, you wouldn’t be doing free kids and you’d be charging more for food and tickets. We’re not in it to make money. For us it’s a promotion, a way for people to see what we are doing. It’s a very efficient way for us to get people in to taste, sample, smell all that we have to offer. It’s event marketing and it’s a great shop window for everyone involved’.
STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER
CELEBRATE Strawberry Week takes place in conjunction with Bloom and strawberry samples will be offered at regular intervals throughout the event. The Strawberry Beds Garden is inspired by the Strawberry Beds Road on the banks of the river Liffey, where strawberries were first grown in 1750. Modern fruit farmers Keelings will bring a growing tunnel and children can plant their own strawberries in the Love to Grow learning zone.
FASHION
A FASHION show at a flower show? Yes, twice a day on all five days. Debenhams has a catwalk in the dedicated fashion pavilion and will showcase trends and looks for summer 2017 from a range of exclusive designers.
They will also host a Style Clinic with their personal shopper team and beauty partners Lancôme and Viktor & Rolf. Meanwhile, Solus Brightest at Bloom will be searching for the best dressed visitor — so you might want to reconsider the wellies and gardening gloves.
BLOOM FRINGE
THIS is Bloom’s younger, irreverent cousin, which will be ‘greening the streets of Dublin over the June Bank Holiday Weekend’. Apparently, we need to watch out for pop-up forests and street art brightening up neglected city spaces.
Bloom 2017 takes place in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, from June 15, for more information and to see the full list of exhibitors, go to : bloominthepark.com