Courses, festivals and fairs - the diary is filling up fast, writes Jane Powers
Ireland has finally, after years of trying, given birth to a decent garden festival. Bloom, which took place in the Phoenix Park in Dublin over the June bank holiday weekend last year, was a great day out, or rather several days out - aside from the torrential rain and parking problems. The latter of these little hiccups will, no doubt, be soothed away this year, and as for the weather - well, they're working on it.
It was the weather, say the organisers of last year's other new garden event, that killed off the International Garden Festival at Emo Court in Co Laois. It closed early, in some disarray. But its poorly-maintained gardens surely speeded up its demise.
But let's get back to happier topics: Bloom. Last year, the festival attracted 50,000 visitors to its 30 gardens, its nursery displays and garden sundries and food stalls. This year, Bord Bia, which is hosting the festival, is hoping to bring in another 10,000 bodies. There will be added elements of arts and crafts, fashion, and health and wellbeing. Bloom is also planning to become a carbon-neutral event, which, I hope, will mean more than just buying a few carbon offsets. A more meaningful gesture might be to follow the lead of the Royal Horticultural Society's shows and ban products based on peat.
Among the designers presenting show gardens this year will be Susan Maxwell, Jane McCorkell, Fiann O Nuallain, Colm Doyle, Sheena Vernon and Gerard Mullen. This last designer, who is from Waterford, presented his first two show gardens at Bloom and at Emo Court last summer. He is a man to watch, as he combines whizz-o design, an eye for detail, excellent organisational skills, and a love and understanding of plants - a coalition of qualities that is rarely found in one person. His offering for this year's Bloom features a naturalistic, drought-tolerant, maritime planting with a minimal and austere terrace backed by rammed earth walls. Bloom will run at the Phoenix Park, Dublin from May 29th-June 2nd; see www.bloominthepark.com.
The year offers much else for gardeners who are eager for a bit of respite from the moiling and toiling in their own plots. The start of spring has been marked for the past decade and more by the Garden and Landscape Designers Association's annual seminar, which always proffers a tasty menu of international speakers. Taking the podium on February 9th in UCD, Belfield, will be Australian artist and designer William Martin; Italian banker-turned-garden designer Luciano Giubbilei; German landscape architect and urban water specialist Gerhard Hauber, and Dutch designer Luc Engelhard. Tickets cost €155 for non-members of GLDA, information from: GLDA, PO Box 10954, Dublin 18 (01-2940092); www.glda.ie.
May brings the annual Rare and Special Plant Fair, an event that moves to a different venue each year (www.rareandspecialplantfair.com). On the 11th of the month it will be pitching camp at Larchill Arcadian Gardens, Kilcock, Co Kildare. The day will also bring hundreds of fowl fanciers to a poultry breed competition, and foodies will be able to sample the fare at a farmers' market.
May is the month that hosts Chelsea Flower Show in London (May 20th-24th), the world's most venerable, over-the-top, and extravagant horticultural event. Tickets are on sale already (www.rhs.org.uk). The only Irish competitor of whom I've heard so far is Diarmuid Gavin, who will, yet again, be going for that elusive gold medal for his show garden. I hope he gets it.
Those who wish to travel to Chelsea with a group might like to hook up with Bay Garden Tours (053-9383349, www.thebaygarden.com) for a two-day trip, which also includes an afternoon at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew. Bay Garden Tours, which is led by Frances MacDonald and her husband, Iain (he'll be tackling Chelsea), is travelling to 14 other destinations this year, among them Cornwall, Pennsylvania, Monet's garden and Paris, Chatsworth and the Peak District, the Italian lakes, and Japan. For gardeners who wish to keep their carbon load down, there is a trip to Donegal, which includes Gerry Robinson's beautifully-restored Oakfield Park, and Elizabeth Temple's atmospheric Salthill Gardens.
Good gardeners are always learning, so going to classes, lectures and workshops are all part of the horticultural year. The National Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin, Dublin 9, continues its programme of workshops in essentials such as rose pruning, propagation and composting. There are also lectures and tours, including guided walks around the arboretum at Kilmacurragh, Kilbride, Co Wicklow (01-8570909, or see www.botanicgardens.ie). Also in Wicklow is Jimi Blake's increasingly interesting garden, Hunting Brook. It is the venue for a series of gardening and lifestyle classes. This year's star guest is Fergus Garrett (August 23rd and 24th), head gardener of the late Christopher Lloyd's Great Dixter Garden in east Sussex. (01-4583972; www.huntingbrook.com).
The Organic Centre in Rossinver, Co Leitrim has a huge range of educational offerings, from one-day classes to full-time programmes. Courses include organic gardening for beginners; how to make the most of one acre; a three-day polytunnel course; gardening for wildlife; reedbed systems, and a host of other horticulturally and sustainably-minded subjects (071-9854338; www.theorganiccentre.ie).
Finally, the Irish Seed Saver Association in Co Clare (061-921856, www.irishseedsavers.ie) is offering 60 different courses and workshops this year. If you are interested in apples, then this is the place to go - for classes in matters such as creating an orchard, pruning and grafting.