Improving air quality, tackling food waste and highlighting how children benefit from outdoor play in the natural world are among the many themes which will be explored at Bord Bia Bloom 2023. Ireland’s favourite festival of flowers, food and fun, returns to the Phoenix Park, Dublin, this June bank holiday weekend (June 1st-5th) with another vibrant mix of thought-provoking show gardens, delicious local food, and interactive entertainment for visitors of all ages.
Bord Bia expect to welcome more than 100,000 visitors to the show over five action-packed days. Speaking at the launch of this year’s event, Jim O’Toole, CEO, Bord Bia said, “Bord Bia Bloom was created to offer a world-class, uplifting and engaging showcase for Irish horticulture, food and drink. Now in its 17th year, the show provides an invaluable platform to highlight important societal issues such as climate change, sustainable production and health and wellbeing. We are proud to see how Bloom has evolved into a unique festival experience, with nature and sustainable living at its heart, while also continuing to offer our horticulture, food and drink clients the opportunity to showcase their latest products and innovations.”
Glorious Gardens
At the centrepiece of Bord Bia Bloom, a total of 22 small, medium, and large show gardens and feature gardens will provide a colourful demonstration of the latest trends and innovations in garden design. One of the stand-out themes for 2023 is that many of the gardens focus on spaces for children and young people. These include “The Know, Act, Prevent Garden” by The National Poisons Information Centre (NPIC) at Beaumont Hospital, in collaboration with the Health and Safety Authority (HSA); the “First 5 Garden of Wonder and Discovery” by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth; the “Rise Garden” by Oberstown Children Detention Campus; and the “The Raising Amazing Garden by Tusla Fostering”
The impact of climate change and making better use of the outdoors also feature as recurring themes in the 2023 show gardens including “A Breathing Space for Fingal” by Fingal County Council, the National Dairy Council’s “Embracing the Elements” garden; Citroën Power of One alternative urban front garden by Citroën, and the Green Cities Europe “Greening our Cities” garden. Many of this year’s showstopping gardens also feature reclaimed and upcycled materials and will be relocating after the festival as permanent gardens elsewhere.
Along with a dazzling display of show gardens, gardening enthusiasts will find plenty of inspiration in the ever-popular ‘Postcard Gardens’, which include nine small but perfectly formed pop-up gardens that are designed and built by community groups, schools, and training groups from across Ireland. There will also be five days of gardening talks, a bustling Nursery Village featuring some of Ireland’s leading nurseries, floral displays from the Ireland’s finest floral artists and a botanical art exhibition.
Click here to view the Show Gardens.
Inspire, Educate and Entertain
According to Laura Douglas, Head of Bord Bia Bloom “this year’s festival will be a truly immersive experience, designed to inspire, educate and entertain visitors in equal measure. Bord Bia Bloom continues to adapt and evolve, and we are delighted to introduce a number of new and exciting features for 2023 including a redesign of the popular Food Village, the introduction of the Funky Food Fleet which will bring a collection of Ireland’s tastiest food trucks to the festival for the first time, and Grafton Street’s best buskers will join us to entertain the crowds. Meanwhile, we have an increased focus on sustainability content with a larger-than-ever Conservation Area and a new ‘Sustainable Living’ stage with five days of talks planned to cover everything from food waste and beekeeping to biodiversity and GIY. We look forward to warmly welcoming visitors in just a few weeks’ time!”
In addition to live cookery demonstrations from some of Ireland’s leading chefs including Neven Maguire, Catherine Fulvio, Rory O’Connell, Fiona Uyema, JP McMahon, Edward Hayden, Brian McDermott and Shane Smith, the Quality Kitchen stage will host interviews with more than 40 Irish food producers.
There is also plenty to do for all the family with live entertainment on the Main Stage, while the ‘Budding Bloomers’ area promises to keep children engaged and entertained with willow weaving, planting games, toddler play area and much more! RTÉjr will also be central to this space with daily storytelling, a kids disco and magic shows.
Finally, RTÉ lyric fm is back for with what is shaping up to be their biggest presence to date with great music, lyric fm favourites and exclusive events for Bloom visitors.
Tickets
Tickets are on sale here priced from €25 per person and two children under 16 can attend for free with every adult ticket purchased.
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Bord Bia Bloom Show Gardens 2023
Large Gardens
- “A Breathing Space for Fingal” designed by Jane McCorkell, sponsored Fingal County Council
- “First 5 Garden of Wonder and Discovery” designed by Oliver & Liat Schurmann, sponsored by the Department of Children
- “The Coastal Garden – Easy Steps to Dream Gardens” designed by James Purdy, sponsored by Bord Bia
- “Embracing the Elements” designed by Benny Magennis, sponsored by the National Dairy Council
Medium Gardens
- “Savills Sanctuary” designed by Alan Rudden, sponsored by Savills
- “As I Live and Breathe” designed by Brian Burke, sponsored by Woodie’s
- “Marie Keating Foundation’s ‘Catching Cancer Early’ Garden” designed by Robert Moore, sponsored Astra Zeneca and MSD
- “Citroën Power of One” designed by Nicola Haines, sponsored by Citroën Ireland
- “Looms & Blooms – 300 Years of Avoca” designed by Kevin Dennis, sponsored by Avoca
- “GOAL’s Global Garden” designed by Tünde Perry, sponsored by GOAL Global
- “Rise Garden” designed by Eugene Higgins in collaboration with the young people at Oberstown, sponsored by Oberstown Children Detention Campus
- “The Raising Amazing Garden by Tusla Fostering” designed by Linda McKeown, sponsored by Tusla Fostering
- Super Garden Winner – To be announced
Small Gardens
- “The Next Step” designed by Joseph Eustace, sponsored by Cultivating Talent initiative – Bord Bia
- “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory The Musical Garden” designed by Tom Leavy, sponsored by Bord Gáis Energy Theatre
- “Green Cities Europe Show Garden: Greening Our Cities” designed by Daibhi Mac Domhnaill in collaboration with Dublin City Council, ALCI and O’Brien’s Landscaping, sponsored by the EU and Bord Bia
- “The Know, Act, Prevent Garden” designed by Declan McKenna, sponsored by The National Poisons Information Centre (NPIC) at Beaumont Hospital in collaboration with the Health and Safety Authority (HSA)
- “Virtual Haven” designed by Darragh Collopy, sponsored by Krittiya Yoga
- “Out of this World” designed and self-funded by Joe Kelly
Feature Garden
“Sculpture in The Park” designed by Ruth Liddle, sponsored by Currys
