Bloom in the Park 2012

Bloom in the Park is an annual gardening and food event held in the largest public park in Europe the Phoenix Park which is located in central Dublin. It was its sixth year this year, covers 70 acres and attracts about 100,000 visitors. I went for the first time last year, and was impressed. It's no Chelsea but there is lots to do and see for anyone interested in gardening and food ....HELLO!  There are nearly 30 show gardens, produced on a fraction of the budget of a Chelsea garden, but great for ideas. I find its always good to see what you don't like as well as what you do like, so even the mediocre ones are worth a look.

This was the winning garden. Entitled simply 'My Garden' It was nice because it was real.

'Green House' was my favourite. The details of window, gravel, cobble were all just  to my taste.
The planting was perfect. It just looked like a lovely place to sit and chill.

The herbs planted above a cupboard for the bins was a nice idea, as long as your bins  aren't too rancid.

Of course at any of these kind of events there are endless opportunities to shop.(Which i kept to a minimum)

Gardening products galore.

Some of the more interesting products....

.....were ridiculously expensive ...€125!!! for a painted  birdhouse!

Nice, but i'm glad i married a carpenter.

These were lovely, cast iron i think, on a long spike and probably hand painted.

The Grand Pavillion housed the floral displays of plant and bulb sellers from around the country and also over from the UK.

 The smell from these lilies was to die for. 

I love alliums.

Onion envy.

There is a whole are dedicated to Irish Craft. The Irish Crafts Council run workshops for children throughout the 5 days. Demonstrations of woodturning and blacksmithing and 24 retail tents from Irish Crafters. The best in the retail area were a milliner called Rebekah Patterson who created this beautiful silk chiffon headpiece, as well as a whole host of other vintage inspired headwear.

A really lovely girl heads up Karo Art Ceramics, delightful ceramic buttons, garden markers, artwork and tiles. She had adorable little bowls in gorgeous colours, that i was so enamored with i forgot to take a photo, but are available on line in her Etsy shop here . Lovely stuff, really nicely presented. 

This grass design ceramic tile was so incredibly  life-like my poor photography really doesn't do it justice.

The third and last of my nominees in the craft area was an artist called Belinda Northcote 

Very cute little mouse prints.

She also had a butterfly theme. Very pretty.

This was a musically correct version of Dolly Partons 'Love is Like a Butterfly' substituting the musical notes for butterflies.

I took absolutely no photographs in the food area, far too busy sampling and drooling. It was a lovely day out even though the sun didn't shine. We got parking in the park and passed the Presidents residence on the way back to the car.

Aras an Uachtarain - the official residence of the President of Ireland.

Linking to Penny Worthy Project and Coombe Hill