110,000 visitors returned to the Phoenix Park for Bord Bia Bloom 2022
10,000 Irish plants were sold in the Quality Mark Plant Village over the June Bank Holiday Weekend
Print16 June 2022
More than 110,000 visitors, including 15,000 children, returned to Bord Bia Bloom in the Phoenix Park over the June Bank Holiday weekend.
Meanwhile, more than 10,000 Irish plants were sold in the Quality Mark Plant Village, and 78 awards were given to show garden designers, amateur postcard garden designers; nurseries and floral artists.
Following a three year break, visitors and exhibitors alike celebrated the return of Ireland’s largest gardening, food and family festival.
In keeping with the spirit of sustainability and waste reduction at Bord Bia Bloom, many elements of the show gardens will be relocated in the coming weeks and months.
- The Enable Ireland Respite Garden will be recreated at the charity’s Rathmore House Respite Centre in Arklow, County Wicklow and will be used as a template for other centres.
- All elements of Woodie’s Seomra Eile garden will be reused with the plants distributed to primary schools in the County Laois area.
- The plants and shrubs from Aldi’s Sustainable For-est Garden will go to Barnardos locations around Dublin.
- All planting and hard elements from The Shared Spaces Family Garden and The Nature Enthusiast’s Garden will be donated to the mental health charity Flourish in County Sligo.
- St Michael’s House Special School in Baldoyle, Dublin, will have their pick of plants from the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre’s Beauty & The Beast The Musical Garden.
- Elements of the Green Cities Europe Garden will be donated to Tidy Towns Meath.
- The heart sculpture from the Croí – The Cardiovascular Garden will go the charity’s headquarters in Galway.
- The Hit Pause, The Caragh Nurseries Garden will be reinterpreted at Barretstown children’s charity, in County Kildare, to include the planting, the water feature and the sculpture.
- Elements of Peter McVerry Trust’s Pathways to Home garden will be recreated at one of the charity’s homeless services in Kildare.
- The Sightsavers Gairdín na Gcéadfaí (Sensory Garden) will go to the Central Remedial Clinic’s office in Clontarf, Dublin, an organisation dedicated to the achievements, wellbeing and health of people with physical disabilities.
People’s Choice
The final day of festival marked the announcement of the People’s Choice Award which was voted for by visitors to the show over the five days. This year’s winner was Pathways to Home designed by Seán O’Malley and Oisín Griffin for Peter McVerry Trust. The garden, which was also awarded gold by the show garden judges, aims to prompt reflection on the work of the Peter McVerry Trust, which provides homes and wraparound services as part of the Government’s ‘Housing First’ model.
Great to be back
“The phrase I’ve heard repeated most over the past five days at Bord Bia Bloom has been “It’s great to be back”,” said Tara McCarthy, Bord Bia’s chief executive. “This has been reflected in the enthusiasm and positivity from visitors, exhibitors, show garden designers, volunteers and staff throughout the weekend. Not even the reliably unreliable Irish weather could dampen spirits in the Phoenix Park.
“Equally, we’ve welcomed new fans of the festival, many of whom gained a new appreciation for gardening and locally produced food over the past three years. This was another theme of the weekend – the multitude of benefits that gardening, horticulture, and outdoor spaces can bring to our lives, plus the importance of supporting local food and drink producers. We’re already looking forward to Bord Bia Bloom 2023 and the opportunity to once again showcase the best of Irish horticulture, food and drink to the Irish public.”
Plans and preparations are already underway for Bord Bia Bloom 2023. Bord Bia has confirmed that the festival will take place from 1 -5 June 2023.
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