The Next Step
The Next Step
Joe Eustace
Garden Sponsor
About the Garden - Small Show Garden
This garden, created by Bord Bia Bloom’s inaugural Cultivating Talent winner, Joe Eustace, is designed to be as unpredictable as life itself. It features a number of undulating paths and destination points which challenge the user to find the correct step to take next, but the secret is there is no right or wrong way to go.
Throughout the landscape, users encounter obstacles that represent the journey of life. At the garden’s heart, a large steel plunge board is nestled in a valley framed by three Betula pendula ‘Spider Alley’ trees. Painted in a bright, metallic red, a colour synonymous with fear and intimidation, the board balances over a glistening pool of water that evokes a feeling of calm. The juxtaposition of the two elements creates a tension in the design and signifies the leaps of faith we must often take in order to progress in life.
About the Designer
Designer Information
Joe Eustace is the winner of Bord Bia Bloom’s inaugural Cultivating Talent competition, a programme that supports emerging talent in Irish horticulture by providing one Bloom newcomer with an opportunity to design a show garden at the festival.
Joe combines studying for a degree in landscape architecture in UCD with running Online Garden Designs, Ireland’s first web-based landscape design service, which he co-founded in 2020. As well as winning Cultivating Talent, he has received two awards in the Garden & Landscape Designers Association Student Competition. At 21, he is one of the youngest designers to create a garden at Bloom.
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