The standard is set. The Bloom festival is sure to flourish as an annual event.
It was no surprise that Paul Martin's Dragonflies and Flutterbies won the best large garden at the recent Bloom show in Dublin's Phoenix Park. The Dundalk man, a veteran of several Royal Horticultural Society shows (Chelsea, Hampton Court and Tatton Park), has a razor-sharp sense of proportion and geometry, and a superhuman attention to detail. His gardens are always pleasing to the eye and impeccably constructed, and his planting schemes get better and better each time. His design featured a sleek outdoor living area with a fireplace and reflective pool, and some rather nice planting. Grey-green and glaucous-leaved species dominated parts of the garden, with Melianthus, blue fescue, lavender and olive throwing a pleasingly chalky blanket of foliage over the space.
Also taking gold in the large garden category were Elma Fenton's "Harmony with Nature", with its serpentine swimming pond; and Jane McCorkell's "Keelings Naturally Fresh Show Garden", a clean-lined and contemporary space offset by delightfully frothy herbaceous planting.
Medals at such events are curious things, and don't necessarily reflect how likeable a garden actually is (but don't get me wrong: all the above were handsome plots).
The judges must consider factors that are not immediately apparent to visitors - such as the quality of construction and how closely the design brief has been followed. Thus, some real howlers may receive medals (as happened at Bloom, in my opinion), and equally, gardens that are deeply appealing may receive no medal, or a medal that seems inadequate.
I was disappointed that my favourite large garden, Naomi Coad-Maenpaa's and Miriam Matthews's "Baltic to Burren" garnered only a bronze. I don't know where this creative pair were wrong-footed: perhaps one of the reasons was because many of the plants were from neither the Baltic nor the Burren. But that didn't bother me: I liked the simple timber-clad building with its tufted green roof, and the interesting sprinkling of drought-lovers in the sun-drenched scree. But most of all, I loved the soft billow of ferns, Alchemilla mollis, foxgloves and other wildy woodlanders underneath the stark white-trunked birch. It was the kind of garden picture - borrowed from nature, but not quite natural - that makes the heartstrings (well, mine anyway) go ping.
Another garden that gave me a ping - but not the judges apparently, for they awarded it merely a bronze - was Liz Houchin's "What's in a Name", a teeny space celebrating the 300th birthday of Carl Linnaeus, the man credited with sorting out the binomial system of plant names. Houchin's refreshingly simple space, with a lone cork oak and a pretty gathering of perennials, was punctuated with substantial, native oak posts.
The latter were importantly inscribed with the Latin names of the plants, beautifully executed by west Cork wood carver Ben Simon and his son, Nick. An ethereal, wicker fence that danced around the perimeter was woven by Greenmantle in Co Tipperary. The sympathetic use of such exquisite, bespoke craftwork made this little nook shine out.
The judges and I were in full agreement (at last) regarding the merit of another of the small gardens. Gerard Mullen's "Inner Space" was a petite, serene niche, layered with foliage plants: bamboos, ferns, grasses, moss-like Sagina subulata and some well-chosen shrubs.
The designer, who has just completed a degree in horticulture at Waterford Institute of Technology, displayed a nice attention to detail, with carefully-laid cobbles (from which peeked a miniature fern or two), and a rustling mulch of leaves under the green-stemmed bamboos. A big, bloated orange chair beckoned weary bones, and completed the mood of total relaxation.
Sheena Vernon's "Kelloggs Wake up to Breakfast" patio garden was also awarded a gold. Her three-metre-square space was a jolly place for the first meal of the day, with a water feature of eye-opening lapis lazuli blue, and some clever positioning of food plants, including banana, hazel and grape.
I particularly liked the stretch of winter wheat and barley, threaded through with clear blue flax flowers, at the back of the garden. (Wheat and barley are wonderfully ornamental, and don't mind being grown in large pots or window boxes - something I've been doing for the past couple of years. You can sprout the whole grains that you buy in a health food shop.)
There were plenty of other fine gardens at Bloom's inaugural year, including Bernadette and Eamonn Doran's romantic "A Taste of Memory", which won both the designers' choice and the people's choice awards. The floral pavilion, with the nursery displays, was difficult to access on press day, so I caught only a glimpse and a smell of its delights.
As a show, Bloom was head and shoulders above any other garden event that Ireland has seen in recent years. There were teething problems, but there always are. And there were a couple of gardens that shouldn't have seen the light of day, but that's understandable. Some seasoned designers were wary of partaking in an entirely new show - and spaces had to be filled. Next year, I hope, the organisers (Bord Bia) will winnow out the chaff, and perhaps more garden designers - including one or two from abroad - will want to be involved. But for this year, if I were giving out medals, I'd award Bloom a silver gilt.
CHARITY GARDEN OPENINGS THIS WEEKEND
Today: Saturday, June 23rd, 2-5pm, the garden of Carmel Duignan (associate editor of Garden Heaven magazine) is open in aid of the Blackrock Hospice. 21 Library Road, Shankill, Co Dublin. Admission: €5. Raffle and refreshments.
Tomorrow: Sunday, June 24th, noon-6pm, the garden of Harry and Sheila Brown at Mountain View, Chapel Place, Lismore, Co Waterford, is open in aid of the Renal Dialysis Unit at Waterford Regional Hospital. Admission: €6. Rosamund Henley from Anne's Grove Plants will have plants for sale; and Harry Brown will answer all your composting questions.