My bloom journey is underway!
I am all of a flutter about Bloom 2013 having just uploaded the details about my show garden on to the official Bloom in the park website and apparently there are only 30 days to go before the event opens!
Giardino della mostra or “garden of exhibits,” – I think it reads wonderfully in Italian and I look forward to hearing it enunciated by Italian visitors to the show – is a County Wicklow inspired garden supported by Gardenworld, Kilquade (the National Garden Exhibition Centre). The garden references some fabulous formal gardens that can be found in the Garden County and the wonderful natural landscapes, too.
I hope with this garden to encourage people to design their gardens to a strong theme, whilst acknowledging that a good garden is formed from the sum of its parts. So there should be elements of exhibition in the garden, but they need to be selected carefully and well placed within the overall composition – that is one of my messages anyway!
We will be starting construction on site on the 7th May so this week we are busy finalising our logistics, materials and plants (it’s been a very difficult season for plant growers so far) etc. before we take it all to the Phoenix park.
I will post simple updates on progress as we go without giving away too much (I hope), as I would love it if you would come and visit the finished garden, have a chat and take your own photos.
Some of my previous Bloom related posts can be found by clicking on the following links:
Building a show garden at Bloom in the park
Bloom in the park, Ireland’s largest and most diverse gardening show
Janice
Hey Tim, I read your introduction/about section in the sidebar and was wondering if you could write about the differences between Irish garden design and traditional English garden design. They seem very similar to me, but I’m sure there are distinct differences that I’m missing. Thanks!
timausten
This sounds like a topic for a blog post Janice.
Currently the approach to garden design in Ireland very broadly follows garden design practises derived in England and the rest of Europe but we are also open to design influences from across the world. And although we have a relatively short garden design history (with the excpetion of garden design in stately homes), we have a specific climate and personality here in Ireland that I think quite strongly influences our approach to garden design and which makes us unique. Just check out the designs for this year’s Bloom in the park festival and see the variety of designs on display!