A Year In Redwood

You’d probably have to be half dead not to know that Bloom was on in The Phoenix Park this weekend.  Farmer Alfie and I have spent a day at Bloom each year since it opened.  This is it’s 5th year, and it has just got better and better each year.

This year I was doubly lucky.  Farmer Alfie and I were scheduled to go yesterday (Saturday), but then Yvonne at Hey Pesto! won two tickets to attend on Thursday and invited me to join her.  How could I resist?  So while Farmer Alfie tiled Yvonne’s hallway for her, the girls headed off to Bloom for a very civilised day out!

Hey Pesto! reporting from Bloom

Yvonne has reported on the food people we met, but I was blown away by some of the gardens!  Oh, to have such green fingers!

Since we’ve been here in Redwood, I have concentrated on growing vegetables and it is only in the past week that I have started a ‘flower’ garden!  When I lived in Donabate it was the other way around, all flowers and a few vegetables.  It was interesting to note that so many of the Show Gardens this year had incorporated vegetables extremely cleverly in their spaces.  Here are some of my favourite gardens….

RTE Super Garden winner

This was an urban garden that included a substantial vegetable plot and even a duck pond and 4 ducks!

More like my space!

This, I think, was the garden sponsored by Bord na Mona.  It was completely populated with wild flowers – foxglove, aquilegia, cow parsley… it was delightful!

An aspiration!

Could we have a water feature like this!

An end of the day space?

Now wouldn’t it be nice to have a space like this to chill out in at the end of a day in the garden?

Farmer Alfie and I were scheduled to head off to Bloom again on Saturday, but he wasn’t feeling well enough to travel so I headed off on my own and joined my brother, Seamus and his family at the show for my second visit!

Definitely going on a weekday is better if you really want to see the gardens. Saturday was busy.

But then it was a different day out as my two nieces were along (aged 6 and 8). They wanted to do different things – Daisy had daisies (of course!) painted on her arm.  Juliet had remembered operating the pottery wheel last year, so had brought along her snowman made of playdoh to show the pottery lady!  The pottery lady was very impressed and showed both girls how to make turtles which they were able to bring home with them!

On both visits the sun blazed down and we were able to have picnics on the lawn.

I resisted the temptation to purchase any plants at all on both visits…. but I did buy these silly ‘flower’ things that you attach to a hose.  One for here to water my vegetables while I go feed hens, ducks, etc. (Although, Farmer Alfie is suggesting it would be great to keep pigs cool on a hot day!)  And one for the girls – which they thoroughly enjoyed and had hooked up to the hose within 5 minutes of getting home!

Definitely two days out to be recommended.

Thank you to Yvonne, Seamus, Patricia, Daisy and Juliet!