It’s all coming together for Mallow Home and Garden Festival
THE Cork Racecourse in Mallow will be in full bloom this weekend as green-fingered enthusiasts descend on the venue in their droves to savour the sights, sounds and aromas of the annual Hone and Garden Show.
An industrious team of experts have been busy over the past few weeks preparing for the event, one of the largest of its kind in the country and putting the finishing touches to the site to make sure that it looks ‘ blooming marvellous’ for the three-day extravaganza.
As ever, the beating heart of the festival will be the unique collection of permanently maintained, mature gardens each of what has been created and developed by an Irish gardener and is tended throughout the year by an expert team.
That does not mean the gardens are presented in the same style and format each year. In fact, as our pictures demonstrate, a huge amount of work goes in to revamping and reworking the gardens between each festival to ensure they look fresh and vibrant.
Once again some of the country’s top gardening experts will be on hand to share their expertise including free hourly lectures and presentations with Peter Dowdall, demonstrations by Margaret Mulchinock and flower arranger Charlie Wilkins, guided tours on demand and advice and tips form more than fifty of Ireland’s leading specialist growers.
There will be the usual flashes of brilliance with one of the highlights being a fairy themed garden created by designer Finbarr O’Neill, while renowned landscaper and festival curator Darren Drummond will be showing visitors how to make and manage gardens in shady places.
Designer Larry Lynch will once again create a display of unusual herbaceous perennials, while Ger Baker will be hoping to impress with some special fencing materials and the latest craze in lawn-making, synthetic grass.
With thousands of new and unusual flowering and foliage plants, garden equipment and furniture for sale at the home and garden zone there will be plenty to whet appetites and inspire visitors to transform their gardens, making them the envy of their neighbours and friends.
Other attractions across the weekend will include a pet show, vintage car collection, model boats show, active retirement talks, an artisan food market and the return of the popular Taste of North Cork Experience.
Admission to the festival, will be €15, with concessions for seniors and children getting in for free.
There will be ample parking on site and if you fancy avoiding the traffic and leaving the car at home a free bus shuttle service will operate from Mallow train station across the weekend.
For more information about the show visit www. exhibitionsireland.com.