A fresh year dawns, and it's time for garden lovers to pencil some upcoming events into their diaries, writes Jane Powers.
One of the disadvantages of this small island on the edge of Europe is that our talent usually has to go abroad to gain respect at home. Garden design is no exception. A designer who has shown at one of the Royal Horticultural Society's events, such as Chelsea Flower Show or Hampton Court, is guaranteed an enhanced reputation. And - of course - more business: few clients are immune to the allure of a garden practitioner who comes gilded with a medal or two from the RHS.
In recent years, Bord Bia has helped fund Irish competitors across the water. But now, the Government's food and horticulture board wants to keep it all at home: which makes a lot of sense. It's all very well sending our horticultural troops off to garner medals for Ireland, but the benefit tends to stay with the individual, rather than the rest of the country. With this in mind, the people at Bord Bia have created Bloom.
The four-day event will take place from June 1st to 4th in the Phoenix Park, and will feature show gardens, nurseries and stalls selling horticultural sundries. An area known as Engaging Spaces will have "interactive, fun things", according to Bord Bia's Gary Graham, where visitors (both large and small) can experiment with smell, feel and taste. This last sense will also be indulged in the food market and food pavilion. Families who come for the day will be able to purchase picnics of fine Irish fare, and to wander off around the 70-acre site. Bloom will mingle Bord Bia's twin concerns of food and horticulture, promoting the best of both: "It's the most important thing that Bord Bia is doing in 2007," says Graham.
Seasoned show visitors will be forgiven for raising their eyebrows, shrugging their shoulders and expecting yet another less than thrilling garden event. With the exception of one or two occasions, our major garden shows have been heavy with commercial stands (often selling bazaar-type items such as bronzing make-up and go-faster floor mops), and deficient in decent garden-related displays. Lack of significant sponsorship, our relatively small population of gardeners, and (unfortunately) the greed of some organisers have nudged the focus of many shows away from quality horticulture.
But Bord Bia promises to change all that by giving us "Ireland's first world-class gardening experience". It won't be modelled on RHS's shows, but will include many of the same elements, and some of the names. Among the show garden designers are Paul Martin, Liat and Oliver Schurmann, and possibly Diarmuid Gavin. Nurseries will include Chelsea gold medallists Kilmurry Nursery from Wexford, and a clatter of British plants people. What more can I say, except that Bord Bia's people have been putting in the hours courting sponsors, wrangling designers and nurseries, and fine-tuning the event. So, weary garden-show-goers, let's give it a chance. Pencil the dates into your diary, and keep an eye on progress at: www.bloominthepark.com
One event that's always pretty classy is the Garden and Landscape Designers Association's annual seminar at UCD. This year's, the 11th such occasion, takes place on February 10th, and is entitled "Coming Full Circle: bringing nature back to the garden". Speakers include British designer Cleve West; James Hitchmough, professor of ecology in the Department of Landscape at the University of Sheffield; and international garden photographer Jerry Harpur. The fourth contributor is our own Matthew Jebb, curator of the Herbarium at the National Botanic Gardens. Don't be put off by Dr Jebb's dry title: he is one of the most entertaining speakers on plants you'll ever hear. (Tickets are €140 for non-members of GLDA; booking: 01-2781824; info@glda.ie).
One designer who won't be there is Diarmuid Gavin, as he is giving his own seminar on the same day, entitled Design your Garden at Powerscourt House in Enniskerry. Seminar cost, €145. Contact 01-8347211 or info@diarmuidgavindesigns.co.uk.
The month of February also brings a masterclass in organic gardening, entitled The No-Work Garden by Bob Flowerdew, who was part of the team on BBC television's Gardeners' World for years. The Norfolk man, who is a regular contributor to Radio 4's Gardeners' Question Time, will be in Dublin's Cultivate Centre for Sustainable Living in Temple Bar on February 23rd and 24th. The first evening includes a public lecture. (Fee for lecture, €25; lecture and intensive Saturday class, €175. Contact 01-6745773 and www.cultivate.ie.)
Organic gardening is all the rage now, which engenders a wholesome feeling among those of us who have been doing it for years. The Organic Centre in Co Leitrim has, as ever, a grand range of courses, from organic gardening for beginners and building a garden pond to permaculture and humanure composting (and if you don't know what that is, well, you probably don't want to take the course, yet). Outposts in Co Clare and Co Wicklow also offer a handful of Organic Centre courses (071-9854338; www.theorganiccentre.ie).
Still more organic courses are being offered by Klaus Laitenberger - the best organic teacher I know - at Milkwood Farm in north Co Leitrim. His first session, on January 28th, is entitled Planning your Organic Vegetable Garden, and should help gardeners avoid the gaps and gluts that are so common in the domestic patch. (071-9131855; k_laitenberger_1@yahoo.com). Laitenberger also gives a number of courses at Hunting Brook Gardens in Blessington, Co Wicklow, as do other garden luminaries, including owner Jimi Blake (01-4583972; www.huntingbrook.com).
The highlight of the year for all fashion-conscious gardeners, the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, takes place from May 22nd to 26th. This wonderfully over-the-top confluence of huge dosh and horticulture sets trends for plants and garden design for the coming year - and further. Flying Ireland's flag, for the fifth time, will be Diarmuid Gavin with a garden (sponsored by Westland Horticulture) for a "fictional, affluent, older couple who were prominent in the arts movement from the 1950s on. There are two interlinking studios. . . one to paint in, one in which to write or compose music, and then to get together in the evening, relaxing and watching wildlife around the pond" (booking: RHS members 0044 870 9063780; non-members 0044-870-9063781; www.rhs.org.uk).
Gardeners who wish to visit Chelsea in style, with coach transfers, a trip to Kew Gardens, and an overnight in a four-star hotel, might like to go with TravelQuest, and experienced garden tour guide, Frances MacDonald (053-9383349; www.thebaygarden.com). Among TravelQuest's other destinations this year are Madeira, Pennsylvania, the Italian Lakes and South Africa.