Nine Kildare Bloom medal winners announced

Nine Bloom Medals have been awarded to garden designers and floral artists from Co. Kildare.

The announcement was made at the opening of the prestigious Bloom flower and food festival in the Phoenix Park.

Kildare based landscape architects Kieran Dunne and Anthony Ryan have been awarded a Silver-Gilt Medal for their show garden for Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin. 

The garden – a composer’s retreat – is owned by a successful classical and film-score composer who is also a keen plants person. Having a particular love for tranquil and peaceful surrounds, the owner relishes the chance to reflect on compositions while undisturbed during summer evenings. 

The garden serves as a place of creativity – to be inspired, to relax and to collaborate with invited colleagues within the tranquil garden environment surrounded with lush planting and the gentle sound of water.

Additionally, Paul Dunne from Paul Dunne Landscaping in Naas teamed up with garden designer Tunde Szentsei from Wicklow to create the Marie Keating Foundation Heroes of Hope Garden which was awarded a Silver Medal.  The garden brings to life the positive stories of 14 men who have survived cancer. 

The garden has flowers in different shades of blue and a crossword theme which portrays some of the key words representing the cancer journey. The blue ribbon path represents the journey that men take from diagnosis to recovery. The garden also features an outdoor exhibition where visitors have the opportunity to read the heroes stories and meet them in person. 

Other Kildare Medal Winners are:

Nursery Pavillion, Silver Medal: Garden Direct, Naas.
Nursery Pavillion, Bronze Medal: Flannerys Nurseries Donadea and Irish Plants, Naas
A.O.I.F.A Floral Art Competition, High Summer Category Gold Medal: Margaret Murphy, Sallins
A.O.I.F.A Floral Art Competition, High Summer Category Silver Medal: Bernadette Cullen, Monasterevin
Botanical and Floral Art Silver Medal: Kathrine Geoghegan, Straffan for her entry ‘Wheat Field, Castlewarden’
Botanical and Floral Art Bronze Medal: Kathrine Geoghegan, Straffan for her entry ‘Barley Field Bodenstown’

The festival runs until Monday, June 5. 

Speaking about the awards, Gary Graham, Bord Bia’s festival manager said, “Before Bloom opened its doors to the public this morning, each of the show gardens, nursery displays, floral artistry and postcard gardens were adjudicated over two days by an independent panel of judges. We are delighted to be awarding more than 100 awards this morning which is testament to the high standard of garden design, nursery and floral artistry available in Ireland. After more than 30 days building the site here in the Phoenix Park, we are excited to finally be able to share these stunning displays with the public.”

The judging panel for Bloom 2017 comprised of 14 Irish and international horticultural experts, who  awarded more than 100 awards to show garden designers, amateur postcard garden designers; nurseries and floral artists including 28 Gold, 18 Silver Gilt, 21 Silver and 21 Bronze medals.