1. home and garden

PRESS RELEASE:
We’re Back in Bloom!
Bord Bia launches 9th annual gardening, food and family festival
Bloom 2015 Phoenix Park, Dublin May 28th – June 1st
Peter Pan, stiletto heels, WB Yeats, home brewing and botanical beauty
provide just some of the inspiration for this year’s Bloom show gardens
IMAGES WILL BE SYNDICATED BY ROBBIE REYNOLDS 086 3836212
Wednesday, 6th May 2015: Bord Bia today launched its plans for Bloom 2015; a five day annual
event packed full of gardening inspiration, gastronomic delights and good old fashioned family fun!
Now in its 9th year, the Bord Bia festival has firmly established itself as one of the most anticipated
social events of the year, not just for those with green fingers, but for all who enjoy a fantastic day
out in the beautiful surroundings of the Phoenix Park in Dublin. Attracting a nationwide audience –
with over 106,000 people attending last year – this year Ireland’s largest garden, food and family
festival will run from Thursday, 28th May until Monday, 1st June 2015.
Gary Graham, Bord Bia spokesperson, said; “Bord Bia is delighted to launch the 9th annual Bloom
festival, once again taking place in the magnificent Phoenix Park in Dublin this June bank holiday
weekend. Our flagship horticulture and food event provides the ultimate platform to showcase our
incredibly talented garden designers, food producers, chefs and crafts and design people. Visitors to
the event are once again in for a real treat, and can expect to see 25 breath-taking show gardens,
sample some of Ireland’s finest food, enjoy wonderful entertainment and witness the passion of
some of Ireland’s most skilful craft workers.”
This year’s show will include 25 captivating Bloom show gardens, often referred to as the jewel in
the crown of the Bord Bia festival. The designers have continued the tradition of repeatedly raising
the bar on previous years, to develop beautiful, imaginative and thought provoking designs.
Organisations such as Pieta House, The Ronald McDonald House, GOAL, The Atlantic Youth Trust, ITB
Blanchardstown & Fingal County Council have also teamed up with designers to create gardens with
powerful messages around social and cultural issues.
This year’s bespoke garden creations will include; Yeats Secret Garden in Sligo, which is part of the
2015 celebration of WB Yeats, and is based on his well-known poem, ‘The Lake Isle of Innisfree’,
Beauty Full, a wonderful garden creation from Bloom veteran Fiann Ó Nualláin which aims to
highlight the amazing botanical and plant based beauty treatments which can be found in the
garden, Water In The Air, a ‘dry aquarium’ which will give visitors a unique underwater feeling whilst
coming alive with colour at night, Saison, a garden partnership between designer Breffni McGeogh
and master brewer Alex Lawless inspired by the current trend towards craft beer, Footfall, a concept
garden which will see over 144 pairs of stiletto heels used to dramatic effect and The GOAL Garden –
What you call a slum, I call a home!, a garden created to present a ‘slum’ from a different
perspective that highlights the work and intitiatives of aid agency GOAL.
Returning to Bloom is designer Niall Maxwell, who will create The Pieta House Garden – Darkness
into Light, to shine a light on attitudes towards mental health issues. Husband and wife Liat and
Oliver Schurmann will create The PAN Garden, inspired by the upcoming Peter Pan movie by Warner
Bros.
The gardens will vary in size from large, medium and small gardens, each developed with a unique
theme and style to inspire those who wish to create their own garden at home (for a full list of
details on the gardens, see Notes to Editor). For the third year, Bloom will also feature a number of
Postcard Gardens designed and constructed by passionate amateur gardeners from all around the
country. This year the gardens will once again be judged by experts renowned in the world of
horticulture. They include Andrew Wilson (award-winning garden designer, lecturer and writer),
Mark Gregory (winner of 55 Chelsea medals), Karen Foley (landscape architect and educator) and
Paul Maher (curator of the National Botanic Gardens). They will be joined by guest judges, awardwinning landscape architect and garden designer Feargus McGarvey, Francis MacDonald, a regular
columnist with Irish Gardening Magazine and shadow judge Sally Brown, a landscape architect and
garden designer based in New Zealand.
A new feature at this year’s festival will be Bloom in Transition (BIT), showcasing the creative
expression of transition year students via installation/projects in the fields of agriculture, food
science, horticulture, environmental and ecological management, human health or societal issues.
Facilitated by ongoing mentorship of Fiann Ó Nualláin and a number of experts associated with the
project, the aim of the scheme is to promote the areas of horticulture, agriculture and health with
15-17 year olds and to create a space within Bloom for them to explore concepts in garden design,
gardening as pastime, economic botany, food, nutrition, health, biodiversity, climate change, food
security from a teenage perspective.
The Banter at Bloom marquee is another new and exciting feature for this year’s festival. At Banter,
they talk... a lot! Chaired by Jim Carroll, the Banter marquee will host a series of discussions, talks,
and conversations on topical issues around food, sustainability, agriculture, and everything in
between.
This year’s Floral & Nursery Pavilion will showcase the very best of plant nurseries in Ireland. The
marquee will will house over 50 exhibits from some of the country’s top floral artists. The AOIFA
Floral Art Stage also returns to Bloom, offering advice and demonstrations on the techniques and
artistry required to achieve a perfect floral display at home. For those with green fingers, the Garden
Expert Stage will provide a comprehensive range of expert advice from leading experts in
horticulture, gardening and floristry. Speakers will include Gerry Daly of Irish Garden Magazine and
Michael Kelly of GIY. Guests can also enjoy live entertainment at the Picnic Area and visit an Irish
Craft Village hosted by the Craft and Design Council of Ireland. Following its recent launch, GroMór
experts and Ambassadors will host gardening expert talks daily from the Plant Village podium.
GroMór experts will also be on hand throughout each day to answer your questions and help you
get the most out of your garden space.
Bloom has always been popular with children, and this year will be no exception! ‘Budding
Bloomers’, as the children’s area is called, will host a vibrant mixture of family friendly features to
keep children entertained and active, from toddlers to fifth classers. We want children to play, learn
and grow at Bloom. There is no entry charge for children under 16 years of age.
Home to even more gastronomic delights and palette pleasers, the Food Village at Bloom will offer a
wide range of artisan produce on sale and onsite dining options. Guests can also dine at Bistro
Bloom restaurant, café and seafood bar, or visit the all new Country Crest Food Fayre, a 370-seater
restaurant. Visitors can also try a wide range of tasty handcrafted Irish beers and spirits in the Bloom
Inn.
For those in need of foodie inspiration, the Quality Kitchen stage is a must, with a number of
cookery demonstrations taking place throughout each day with Ireland’s top chefs, including Neven
Maguire, Catherine Fulvio, Rory O’Connell, The Lazy Chef Simon Lamont, David and Stephen Flynn
(The Happy Pear) and Fiona Uyema, to name but a few. They will be demonstrating their culinary
genius and showcasing exciting new recipes made from Bord Bia Quality Assured products and the
best of local ingredients. Well-known TV personality Ella McSweeney will act as MC and will also
introduce Bloom visitors to some of Ireland’s top food producers live on stage. There will also be
daily competitions in the Quality Kitchen, with visitors encouraged to drop by from 10.30am each
day for the first demonstration to be in with a chance to win daily prizes.
For more information and tickets, visit www.bloominthepark.com –kids go free!
Follow Bloom on www.facebook.com/bloominthepark or join the conversation on Twitter
@Bloominthepark @bordbia and #bloom
-Ends-
Media Accreditation: The eligibility details and the online application form can be found here:
www.bloominthepark.com/press. The deadline for media accreditation is 5pm on Friday,
22nd May.
For further press information:
Mark Kilbride (0863966338) or Kristin Fox @ Wilson Hartnell: 01 669 0030
[email protected] / [email protected]
NOTES TO EDITOR:
Show Garden Breakdown
Large Gardens
 Yeats Secret Garden in Sligo, sponsored by Glen Dimplex and designed by Lorely Forrester
 Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital Crumlin Garden, brought to you by Kildare Growers, designed
by Anthony Ryan with Kieran Dunne
 Our Origin was Green, sponsored by Savills and designed by Jane McCorkell
 Santa Rita Moments, sponsored by Santa Rita Wines and designed by Ingrid Swan
 Sculpture Garden, designed by Ingrid Swan and Ruth Liddle (Concept)
Medium Gardens
 Saison, sponsored by White Label Brewing Company and designed by Breffni McGeough
 A Contemporary Expression, designed by Declan McKenna
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Super Garden Winner 2015, sponsored by Woodies and Cuprinol (designer revealed at show
opening)
The GOAL Garden – What you call a slum, I call a home!, sponsored by GOAL and designed by
Joan Mallon
The PAN Garden, sponsored by PAN and designed by Liat and Oliver Schurmann
Specsavers Garden designed by Karen Butler
The Solus Garden of Light, sponsored by Solus and designed by Alan Rudden
The Pieta House Garden – Darkness into Light, sponsored by Pieta House and designed by
Niall Maxwell
Freddy Buttons Garden, sponsored by Glenisk and designed by Fiona Dillon and Outside Options
Irish Country Magazine Garden, designed by Fiann Ó Nualláin and Lisa Kelly
Ronald McDonald House Garden, sponsored by Dawn Meats and designed by Anthony Ryan
(Concept)
Atlantic Youth Trust, designed by Annmarie Bowring (Concept)
Footfall, sponsored by John West and designed by Hugh Ryan (Concept)
Small Gardens
 Beauty Full, designed by Fiann Ó Nualláin
 Beech Park Gardens, sponsored by Fingal County Council and ITB Blanchardstown and designed
by Gemma Carr
 Connect, sponsored by Schram Plants and designed by Karen Butler
 Urban Oasis, designed by Nathalie Markiefka of Blackrock Further Education Institute
 Cetriz Summer, sponsored by Cetriz and designed by Christopher Byrne (Concept)
 Calor’s Coast Garden, sponsored by Calor and designed Dawn Aston (Concept)
 Water in the Air designed by Tünde Szentesi (Concept)