Giardino della Mostra (Large)
Giardino della mostra, translating generally from the Italian as “exhibition garden” or “garden of exhibits,” is a garden that encourages you to design your own garden to a strong theme whilst referring to the fact that a good garden is formed from the sum of its parts. The concept and layout are, in part, inspired by Ireland’s only permanent exhibition of show gardens at Gardenworld, Kilquade (the National Garden Exhibition Centre), Co. Wicklow. Here, a wonderful collection of individual gardens, arranged around the central avenue, collectively inspire and encourage gardeners at all levels to follow a design in their own gardens. The central avenue, with water features and arches are the main elements that are referenced in Giardino della mostra, along with Beech hedging that forms a soft backdrop to the garden. Moving through the garden areas of differing character are also seen. Although he is fortunate enough to work right across Ireland, Tim lives in Co. Wicklow, Ireland’s gorgeous Garden County, famed for its formal gardens and beautiful wild landscapes. Like all Irish people, Tim is very proud of his home county and so he has tried to capture some of its essence in this garden also. He is delighted that many of the people that are involved in the construction of the garden are also from Wicklow. Members of the Dry Stone Wall Association of Ireland have worked on the stone walling. The garden also features stone work by StoneArt and a bronze sculptural piece by Eamonn Ceannt along with a special seat designed by Colm O’Toole of Timmore design.
Designer: Tim Austen
Waterford Harvest ‘Venture into the Wild’ – Best in Large Garden Category (Large)
Gerard Mullen returns to Bloom this year with a contemplative modern outdoor living space set against the backdrop of a rural landscape. The garden promotes an appreciation for our native wild habitats, harnessing the beauty of the Irish landscape and evolving it into a modern peaceful outdoor space. The design explores a large rural site containing a wetland wild habitat near the Comeragh Mountains in County Waterford. The garden contrasts the landscapes rustic old tones and crumbling structures with a clean minimal architectural design style. The aim was to create a calm private space where the client can take time out, relax and establish a connection with nature and the wild.
Designer: Gerard Mullen
Love to Grow – Best in Medium Garden Category (Medium)
Love to Grow is a medium size space representing a section of a garden dedicated to growing fruit and other flowers. The garden has been designed for a lady gardener who enjoys growing some fruit and other plants, along with eating al fresco. The garden materials are a mix of traditional elements such as wicker, timber and fruit trees arranged in a rectilinear style. The eating area overlooks the garden and its raised planters. The boundary is a mock rendered wall accommodating Espalier Fruit Trees. A timber pergola is positioned in one corner, offering balance to the timber structure positioned over the eating area. The main timber structure offers dappled shade in the summer with Wisteria growing overhead. Five raised planters edged with a wicker support are positioned along the walkway, and shall be filled with a mix of strawberries and other fruit bushes.
Designer: Jane McCorkell
The Kerry Group / Concern Worldwide 1000 DAYS Garden – Best in Concept Garden Category (Concept)
There’s a 1,000 day window of opportunity – the time from a mother’s pregnancy to the child’s second birthday – which will allow us help families, communities and countries break the cycle of poverty. Focusing on nutrition during this time will help a child live a healthy and productive life. Kerry Group are supporting Concern deliver a programme realigning agriculture to improve nutrition, sustainably transforming the lives of thousands of people in Zambia. And what we learn from this project will help us influence national and international policies to make sure that everyone knows the importance of nutrition to lifelong health, in Ireland, Zambia and elsewhere. Award winning garden designer Paul Martin will deliver a dramatic Zambian landscape, growing Irish and African foods, which will tell the engaging story of 1000 DAYS and underpin the importance of kitchen gardens in feeding women – the world’s frontline hunger champions – and children.
Designer: Paul Martin
The Wizard of Oz Sanctuary Garden (Concept)
“It’s always best to start at the beginning” – Gelinda, the good witch of the North. ‘ The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’ was written in 1899 – 2 centuries ago by L Frank Baum, since immortalized in the 1939 Warner Bros film {thus it is in the public domain and out of copyright}. This garden is our homage, a magical interpretation which invites the public to follow the yellow brick road, recreating Dorothy’s ( and friends ) enchanting quest from the Kansas prarie over the rainbow, through munchkin land, via the cornfield crossroads, into a dark forest, by drousy poppy fields and on to the enticing vista of Emerald City.
Designer: Mark O’Loughlin
Journey on Earth – The Hospice Garden (Large)
Our garden reflects our belief that Palliative Care is not preparation for the end of life; it is rather an opportunity to celebrate one’s life and time on earth. The vital role played by our gardens in our patients’ spiritual and emotional journeys is echoed here with areas provided for social interaction or quiet reflection, both complimented by variety of gentle sensory experiences for our visitors. Our garden will move to a permanent home on the hospice grounds in Harold’s Cross after Bloom where it will be open to all.
Designer: Eileen Nolan (Head Gardener, Our Lady’s Hospice), Dr Mary Toomey (Botanist, Gardener, Author and Lecturer) & Adrian Eggers of Living Design
A Love Letter to The West (Medium)
‘A love letter to the west’ is a garden in homage to the beautiful west of Ireland. The design offers a modern, personal take on the joy of living in this beautiful part of the world and aims to capture the spirit and atmosphere to be found in the calm deep waters, unique wild planting and gentle woodlands of county Leitrim. The garden is split roughly into three sections with the highest back layer being a collection of native trees in front of a dark fence, serving as a tall dense backdrop for the garden. At the heart of the garden and providing shelter from the rain is a modern hut created from burnt timber, in reference to the beautiful bog oak of the West’s boglands. This central hut is surrounded by wild meadow inspired planting and allows the user to enjoy a 360 degree view of the garden. The hut is a space for contemplation, for drinking tea and for laughing with friends. The soft, natural planting becomes lower towards the front and after the subtle stone path, it dips into the third and last part of the garden, a dark pool of still water with waterside planting.
Designer: Leonie Cornelius
A Cranberry Gathering, Inspired by Ocean Spray (Medium)
We aim to create an open-air living space to represent the Ocean Spray brand by exploring the possibility of using different levels and perspectives. The design will be bold and strong; constructed using both rustic and modern materials. A split level contemporary garden with sunken breakfast courtyard and elevated hideaway.
Designer: Alan Rudden / David Ryan
Riverside Calm (Medium)
‘Riverside Calm’ The aim of this garden is to create a contemporary suburban garden for relaxation and entertainment. The ‘Riverside Calm’ theme takes the elements of a riverside and combines them in a contemporary fashion. Elements such as water, pebbles and grass plants to the foreground are combined with a rich planting scheme of mid green tones beneath trees to the rear of the garden, signifying a woodland beyond the river. There is one entrance to the garden across a deck walkway, which leads you over the riverside water feature to the central seating area. A firepit sits at the centre point of the seating area where visitors can sit and enjoy all that the garden has to offer. Recycled glass particles in coloured render add a splash of colour to various features such as the upper water feature, feature cube wall and raised planters. The garden is designed for breathing space yet with depth for stimulating the senses.
Designer: Michael Carroll & Kevin Dennis
Destination Bloom (Concept)
With bloom 2013 being a signature event of the gathering it is worth noting that the Irish diaspora and the throng of home-grown gardenistas are not the only ones visiting… The inspiring gardens team, Fiann Ó Nualláin and Lisa Kelly, return to bloom with witty b-movie interpretation of Ireland’s alien invasive species dilemma… a crash land garden with some of Irelands worst invasive culprits. Yet it is a real dilemma and they urge gardeners across Ireland to be plant wise and proactive. Learn more at http://invasivespeciesireland.com/what-can-i-do/be-plant-wise. The garden is designed to generate some smiles and Fiann and Lisa hope to see some retro 50s outfits and cosplay at bloom this year in support of the Garden and the idea of gardening as fun and interactive. So geek chic and ray guns galore. The main aim is to raise awareness to some of Irelands most problematic invasive plants and garden escapees and to promote the work and support systems offered by invasive species Ireland (http://invasivespeciesireland.com) and the National biodiversity data centre (http://www.biodiversityireland.ie). The garden will seek to engage with the public on reporting alien sightings, and supply tips in how to play a role in the war on the weeds, garden escapees and accidentally introduced species, in a fun and dynamic manner and be a visual spectacle in its own right. Fiann hopes to find a permanent home for the spaceship post bloom so suggestions on a postcard please.
Designer: Fiann Ó Nualláin
Woodies Garden Area – “Neighbours” (Concept)
The design for the same plot can vary so such depending on an individuals taste and preferences. The intention is to show people how even a limited space has potential, and that by manipulating and shaping their exterior space, outdoor rooms can be created and furnished with the same flair, imagination and attention to detail that people often associate only with interior spaces. The concept is based on three similar standard back gardens and two relatively small front gardens. The objective is to illustrate choice and possibilities through varying designs, themes and materials. As the leading Irish owned DIY multiple in Ireland, Woodies supply a range of hardware, paving, accessories and plants which people use in their gardens. The concept is to offer inspiration, using a range of Woodies products, so people can pick up ideas for elements and concepts for particular areas in their own space.
Designer: Anthony Ryan with Woodies Horitculturists – Lorraine Martin, Theresa O’Grady & James Brady
Garden of Plenty-Sustainable Living (Concept)
The Garden of Plenty is an interpretative and productive garden based on the award winning design featured in the 8th Festival Internacioanal de Jardins de Ponte de Lima 2012, Portugal. It was voted best design by an overwhelming majority of the 100.000 visitors. The concept underlying this garden is multi-layered, like the very soil that feeds it and the sustainable wood that encloses it. There is a poetic, educational and sensory dimension in its design and realisation. Its form and organic foundation draw on cyclical themes of seasons and growth as well as the natural systems on which the edible productive garden depends. Wood in various forms is used as a support and an enclosure for a rich diversity of edible planting, celebrating sustainable lifestyle in balance with nature. These are revealed through a series of outdoor rooms, creating a microclimate and heightening the experience of the garden. The sustainable element includes the maintenance of soil for healthy crop growth and the returning of organic matter to the soil.
Designer: Eugene Boyle
‘Past Times’ – A 70s Retro Garden (Medium)
The concept of this garden evolves from holidays we have had in recent years, due to cut backs as a result of the recession. The idea is to create a space that can allow you to travel back in time to the Seventies. This was a period when most of us spent our holidays in a caravan – not a holiday home or even a mobile home. It was cramped and mostly wet at times, but was also a time of great fun. We hope that when the public visit this garden, it will evoke memories of their own . We chose this the Seventies because it has that great retro feel to it and also it was a time before mass importation of plants from across the globe and before low maintenance gardens.
Designer: Francis Doyle
Zip Into Bloom (Medium)
This garden is a space to celebrate the invention of one of the most useful items ever invented in the fashion industry: “The Zipper”. One hundred years ago, in December 1913, Swedish born Gideon Sundback introduced his idea for the “Hook-less Fastener No. 1” and later patented what would become the modern zipper. Ever since, the Zipper has been used for all types of garments, including boots, clothing, accessories etc. The Purpose of the garden is to provide a space for a fashion show within the context of an outdoor setting. The garden consists of a globe shaped canopy from where models are invited to start their cat walk, a curved path with a turning point at the end where fashion judges will sit to observe the fashion show and a pond with a fountain as a central feature of the garden. The rest of the garden is covered with planting material. A metal sculpture of the zipper is placed among the planting to highlight the theme of the garden
Designer: CFE DUNDRUM – STUDENTS OF GARDEN DESIGN 2012-13
Eco Tango Garden – Best in Small Garden Category (Small)
Our “Eco Tango Garden” – brings together two great passions – Gardening and Argentine Tango. Our design concept is to illustrate how people can create a greener garden from recycled materials on a small site. They can grow food and have a lot of fun in a sustainable way. We’re eating, playing, exercising-relaxing, and dancing Argentine Tango in our garden! In our fresh approach to garden design we’re delivering a stylish garden that uses resources efficiently and at the same time we save time, money, effort, and materials. We look for techniques to find the greenest solutions. We are creating a sustainable garden without compromising on design. We are also reusing materials in a creative way, like the rain harvesting canopy from melted recycled plastic, the vertical garden from pallets or a dancing floor from used scaffold planks..
Designer: Tünde Szentesi and Svaja Vaicula
Calor Gas Garden (Small)
The Calor Garden is a modern, urban space, using contemporary and recycled materials, the garden’s fluid, organic layout however takes inspiration from nature. The garden is designed to show Calor’s new portable grill off to it’s best advantage as a modern, fun, dynamic and portable product. The garden is suited to a range of lifestyles and ages, with the emphasis on fun and enjoying the outdoors. Two patio areas are encircled and linked by a sinuous wall, the wall undulates in height providing informal seating and an outdoor kitchen area. The larger patio, two inter-twining deck circles is primarily a space for cooking, eating and entertaining, the smaller, including a circle of grass, provides a quiet, secluded space for relaxing. A series of colourful, fun, flag like timber uprights weave through the garden around the patio areas, they echo the colours of the natural planting and provide screening both within the garden and from neighbouring gardens. To complete this unique space, boundary fences and a bespoke water feature are constructed from panels of recycled corrugated steel.
Designer: Linda Mc Keown
Fairy Garden – Create Magic! (Small)
Bringing back those sweet memories of your childhood this garden is representing the inner world, which is concealed inside all of us. It is our mind that determines our intentions and actions and by changing our attitude and vision we can change the world around us. The concept of the garden is best described by Jim Cumberland: “If you learn to see the beauty in every plant then your garden will never have weeds If you learn to find the joy in every stone then your garden will always have a path And if you learn to hear the blessing in every curse then your garden will always have fairies…” Encouraging you to be creative miniature landscapes are featured in the garden – tiny fairy houses and habitats.
Designer: Kate Kurevleva
Urban Clearing (Concept)
‘Urban Clearing’ is an interpretation of an urban landscape clearing. It is an abstract, stylisation of the primary elements – the enclosure, the ground plane, the sky and the clearing. People have an intuitive connection with clearing type spaces, they can placate, disarm, offer escape, warmth, promise and solitude. The intended use of the garden is to escape from the urban jungle for rest and solitude. Visitors to the show will be engaged with the garden by their own curiosity. Curiosity about what lies inside the enclosure. Where the path leads to. A couple of openings in the clearing will allow a glimpse of what lies beyond. Not revealing everything but just a little will be more intriguing. Curiosity and imagination can heighten the experience. Another engaging factor will be the detail of the planting colours and textures working in contrast and harmony with each other, eg: the colour of the Prunus serrula bark is picked up by the Aquilegia, reddish hued ferns and other detail planting.
Designer: Anne Whelan, SCD
The Jack and Jill Foundation Garden (Large)
The garden is a contemporary garden incorporating the concept of a journey. A simple exciting and fun garden for kids, a deeper more reflective theme for adults. A controlled subtle softening with an extensive planting framework. Echoes of a journey, delicacy, fragility, an embracing theme, a warm endearing image. The Jack & Jill Foundation provides nursing care and support for children with severe neurological development issues, as well as offering some respite to the parents and families. Jack & Jill also provides direct funding to families, enabling them to buy home respite care to give them a break. The essential core of the support that the Jack and Jill foundation provide, relates to one of our most primal and touching instincts. The power and strength of coming together to provide support is counter balanced on the other hand with the delicacy and fragility of life. This essence resonates with people of all ages, and is the inspiration for this garden.
Designer: Kildare Growers in Assoc. with Peter O’Brien Landscapes
Saolre (Concept)
The design aims to poetically characterize through kinetic and sculptural form the ‘life cycle’ using planting from the bog lands and wetlands of Ireland to display the interconnectivity of different elements within the cycle. For example – the fire burns in the centre, powering the revolving sculpture and the growing matter on the sculpture is in turn fed by the water that pours down around the centre. The ponds are representative of two important environments that aim to characterise an important part of the Irish landscape with the sculpture also symbolizing these. The selected planting is based around plants commonly found, not necessarily indigenous but widespread in these two essential natural environments within Ireland, the wetlands and bog lands, and complimented by similar ornamental planting.
Designer: Peter Little
Blossom with every breath (Medium)
”Blossom with every breath” has been designed to reflect the impressive pace of innovaton and treatment of Cystic Fibrosis over the past year. It is an expression of the optimism and hope that many people have that CF will benefit from these and forthcoming exciting new therapies. Primarily designed to appeal to children, it depicts kids running around, playing without a care in the world. This is the second year that Erika has teamed up with sponsor, Dundrum Nurseries to build a garden for Cystic Fibrosis Ireland, this year creating an awareness amoung our younger generations.
Designer: Erika Reeves
The Aspire Garden (Small)
This Garden is made for Aspire, The Asperger Syndrome Association of Ireland. The concept of the garden is the difficult relationship between individuals with Asperger’s Syndrome and the world around them. People with Asperger’s syndrome can feel lonely and they want to be part of society but they have to protect themselves against a world which can be overwhelming at times. The seat in the garden, ressembling a chestnut, is protecting and isolating the visitor. The metal framework that forms the boundary represents the overstimulation of the outside world. The centre of the garden is a peaceful and an inviting retreat.
Designer: Colette Lemaire-Brady, SCD
The Flower of Life Garden (Small)
The Flower of Life title alludes to the geometric pattern in the patio design. Here you will find Art in a garden setting inspired by ancient civilizations. The Romans for example built urban gardens that often included frescoes and mosaics. ‘The Flower of Life’ garden is Dawn’s homage to the past with her contemporary mosaics, modern fresco, geometric patio, and planting combining to create a garden with texture, form and colour. The garden incorporates modern technologies. Addaset Resin Bound gravel supplied by Redlough Landscapes ensures that the patio is fully permeable and therefore environmentally friendly. A weatherproof digital panel of one of Dawn’s paintings provides a modern take on a traditional fresco painting. The mosaics in the garden were created by Dawn who is working in partnership with Dominic Loughran of Dream Gardens to build her show garden.
Designer: Dawn Aston
Source: Bloom – Winner 2013 Show Gardens
