Episode: 1 Bloom Garden show special, Ireland
Title: About Bloom
Broadcast: Aug 18th
Presenter: Trevor Cochrane

Join Trevor as he takes a walk through Dublin’s world famous Bloom Garden Festival. Perhaps there’s even an idea or two for your next garden project!

• This festival is run by the Ireland Food Board, celebrating amazing gardens and fantastic local food. First run in 2007, primarily as a way to promote horticulture, this festival has exploded into a giant showcase for plants, garden design, construction and the garden hobbyist.
• Run by Bord Bia, the Irish food board, the idea of Bloom is to celebrate, promote and market the quality of the Irish food, drink and horticulture industry. Border Bia’s mission is to create commercial success for what is some world class Irish products.
• The event is held at the centre of Pheonix Park, a few kilometers outside of Dublin City and runs every year just towards the end of spring. It’s 5 days worth of garden displays, local crafts, nurseries and local Irish food.
• Phoenix Park itself is actually home to the Irish President and boasts 1752 acres of lush land (although Bloom only takes up 70 of these acres!), full to the brim with local flora and fauna. It was initially kept as a private hunting ground, but has been a park to the wider public since the mid-1700’s.
• There are 25 show gardens on display, all with an incredible array of floral variety, and not always native to Ireland. There are many displays inspired by environments quite different to the typical Irish garden and are used to inspire and excite the public about gardening and garden design.
• The festival is packed full of nurseries, with rare and unusual plants, and experts brimming with knowledge.
• Bloom is not just for the garden enthusiast either. There are plenty of stalls displaying sculpture and artwork, plus food and drink stalls to keep everyone satisfied. You can meet with Ireland’s top chefs and cooks and learn more about and experiencing Irish fruit, vegetables and potato production

www.tourismireland.com