The Bloom Bank Holiday Weekend has begun!
2nd June 2011: Bloom, Bord Bia’s gardening, food and family festival opened to the public today for the fifth consecutive June bank holiday weekend. The event, which has gone from strength to strength each year, features 27 spectacular show gardens; over 50 floral displays; a new Bord Bia Food Village showcasing the best of the Irish food industry including an artisan food market with 48 producers and five days of live entertainment for all ages.
Bloom Medal Winners
A total of 78 medals were awarded this morning to garden designers, nurseries and floral artists. For the first time since Bloom’s inaugural staging, all of the 2011 show garden designers were awarded with a medal by the independent judging panel comprised of garden experts from Ireland and the UK. The overall large garden category award went to To The Waters Edge, a visually striking garden featuring a sunken seating area, designed by Oliver and Liat Schurmann, Mount Venus Nurseries, Dublin 16.
Chief Bloom Judge, Andrew Wilson said “This year’s Bloom show gardens are some of the best we’ve seen in the history of the event and the quantity of medals this year shows is testament to the fact that the show is improving year on year. The good weather has resulted in some great gardens that the public will really enjoy”.
The overall category winners for Bloom 2011 were as follows
* Large Garden: To The Waters Edge designed by Oliver & Liat Schurmann from Mount Venus Nurseries, Dublin
* Medium Garden: The Hidden Cube Style Garden with Arnotts designed by Gary Hanaphy & Colm Quinn, from Kwik Fit Gardens by Rockstar & Jasper, Dublin
* Small Garden: River Run Dublin UNESCO City of Literature Garden designed by Mary Ann Harris from Dublin City Council
* Engaging Spaces: Portach designed by Rita Higgins & Paul Quirke from Anu Green and Peter Little from Hortisculptures, Cork
* Best Nursery: Paul & Orla Woods, Kilmurry Nurseries, Gorey, Co. Wexford
· AOIFA Floral Art Competition: Marie Dodrill, Portmarnock Floral Club
More to Bloom….
This year, Bord Bia welcomes its first international showgarden to Bloom. The Ire-Su Garden designed and constructed by the Suzhou Garden Bureau, who is responsible for the management of nine UNESCO listed World Heritage Site gardens in Eastern China, will provide Bloom with a unique and rare example of classical Chinese garden design dating back to the Song Dynasty. A team of gardeners arrived in Ireland on the 8th May to complete the construction of the 200 sq m garden. All plants have been sourced via Irish nurseries and many have been prepped for use in the garden using cold room refrigeration. Some of the gardens elements will also be relocated to St. Annes Park, Raheny to coincide with Dublin’s twinning with Beijing in 2012. During Bloom, the garden will host a dazzling display of Chinese cultural activities and entertainment throughout the event.
The show garden area at Bloom is complemented with features covering all aspects of the broad floral and horticultural sector including the Nursery and Floral Marquee; the new AOIFA (Association of Irish Floral Artists) Stage and the Garden Expert Stage.
New to Bloom for 2011 is the Bord Bia Food Village which features many of the elements of Ireland’s thriving food and drink industry in one central area including the food market, artisan caterers, the Bloom Inn, and Love Irish Food. Bord Bia has invited Irish food trade buyers to visit the Food Village to meet some of the food producers. At the centre of the new Food Village is the Chef’s Summer Kitchen which will present a daily programme of cookery demonstrations by a number of Ireland’s well known Celebrity Chefs. The Farming For Life; Best in Season and Field to Fork features demonstrate to visitors the origins of our food and how the raw materials are used to produce world-class ingredients. Bord Bia has invited Irish food trade buyers from the retail and foodservice sector to visit the Food Village to meet some of the food producers.
There are a range of family activities (kids go free) including entertainment on the Outdoor Stage; Craft Demonstrations and Workshops from the Crafts Council of Ireland; the ICA Bootcamp; the Arnotts Style Garden with Brendan Courtney and Sonya Lennon; the Bloom Kids Zone sponsored by Hamleys and a host of wildlife features and demonstrations.
Sponsors
Key sponsors and event partners for Bloom 2011 include: the OPW, Failte Ireland, Love Irish Food, Irish Times, Growise, Woodies DIY, Nissan Leaf, Craft Council of Ireland, An Post, Irish Rail, LUAS, Laurent Perrier, Volkswagon, Viking, Lyric FM and Glenisk.
Bloom opens daily from 10am-6pm. For further information visit www.bloominthepark.com.
