BLOOM 30th May – June 4th 2019
Brian Burke, Woodie’s Garden and DIY expert judge on RTE’s Super Garden, and former Bloom gold and silver medallist, unveils his Bloom Garden today which is guaranteed to inspire, excite and stimulate the thousands and thousands of visitors, particularly the children at this year’s Bloom.
Brian’s garden is sure to strike a chord with parents and families the length and breadth of the country, with his Woodie’s garden’s theme of ‘Connectivity’. The way our children live now is all about digital connectivity, never away from their screens, laptops, iPads and phones and as a father of five Brian know only two well.
The future of our planet is all about Connectivity of a different kind, a connection to nature. The garden aims to nurture this connection to the natural world by promoting outdoor time as Brian provides a stimulating and enjoyable experience, with multiple play opportunities and challenges in the garden, both physical and mental, with not a mobile phone in sight!!!
Brian offers them an alternative to ‘screen time’ and puts them through their paces in the garden with a series of challenges physical and mental, such as problem solving as they try to figure out how to cross, the moat, or the energy required to scale the swing rope ladder. The enjoyable experience with multiple play and socialisation opportunities is a way of showing how achievable this is in a domestic setting – it is not necessary to go to the local park or playground for stimulating play opportunities.
Familiarity is also key to encourage engagement and immersion for kids, thus the trees that Brian uses in the garden have been chosen for their familiarity and ease of recognition for primary school children. His own children plant a new apple tree every September at the beginning of the new school year, apple trees have a special magic for young children, hence his choice of apple trees. The flowering plants that populate the garden will also be familiar and recognisable to younger children e.g. Marigold, geranium, lily, iris etc.
As with last year the garden is sponsored by Woodie’s.
As in previous years all the structures, play elements and plants will be donated to deserving institutions upon the conclusion of the show
The Woodie’s Plant Crèche
With thousands of plants for sale, allow us to save you the burden of having to carry your plants around, keeping them safe and intact, as you enjoy Bloom.
The Woodie’s Plant Crèche is a free of charge. It’s basically a cloakroom for plants, where people get to drop their plants in free of charge while they go on to explore the food stands or whatever else.
Woodie’s are sponsoring 2 plant crèches (one beside the organisation tent and one beside the Plant marquee) the crèches handle 10-15k plants during the show and have over 50 people involved. They also supply 15 wheelbarrows to the plant crèche for the kids to drop the plants to cars .This is run by Castleknock youth club (mostly transition year students) and managed by 6 to 8 adults. They also have a team of Horts (3) each day at the Show Garden giving out free planting advice.
