Bord Bia Bloom Postcard Gardens, supported by Tirlán CountryLife
Our small, but perfectly formed Postcard Gardens, which are proudly supported by Tirlán CountryLife, are one of the most popular visitor attractions at Bord Bia Bloom.
Created by amateur gardeners from community groups, schools, and training groups from across Ireland, they showcase their locality or highlight the issues that matter to them. There are 13 gardens to view this year. You will find them next to the main entrance to the festival.
Pocket Forests Postcard Garden by Pocket Forests
This postcard garden has been created by Pocket Forests, the award-winning social enterprise which helps communities bring nature back into towns and cities. Featuring native trees, shrubs, groundcover plants, a wildlife pond, and a worm hotel, this garden showcases the beauty of gardening for nature.
Pocket Forests is committed to reusing waste materials in its projects. The mini pond was created by Gilly and Brian from Wildacres Nature Reserve and has been designed reusing an old garden trug. The inground wormery has been constructed from a mayonnaise bucket, highlighting how people can compost easily at home.
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The Cloak and the Oak by Mr Dunne’s Fifth Class, St Brigid’s Primary School, Kildare Town
St. Brigid’s Primary School students, in collaboration with their community of teachers, have crafted this garden in tribute to their patron saint on the 1500th anniversary of her passing. Led by Mr Dunne and 25 fifth class children, the project embodies values of teamwork, creativity, and historical appreciation.
This garden, a symbol of reverence and unity, reflects the school’s deep ties to St Brigid. Located near the historic Curragh, it is within a stone’s throw of the monastic site where her teachings began.
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Grian Árd by Granard Motte Community Enterprise CLG, Longford
Grian Árd reflects the response of rural Ireland to the global issue of climate change. Designed by artist and community activist, Déirdre Orme, this postcard garden portrays how the peatland landscape has transitioned through time.
The wooden decking is inspired by tales of the ancient causeway ‘Slige Asail’ and Warrior Queen Méabh. The guardian stones frame the garden, providing the illusion of glimpsing through a time portal to a sacred place.
The name ‘Grian Árd’ references the old Gaelic term for Granard, County Longford, where the sun was once worshipped; a beacon hill connected to Uisneach, the sacred nave of Éireann.
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Domhain Bheaga na gCuimhní Cinn – Little Worlds of Memories by Sheila and Carole in association with The Alzheimer Society of Ireland
This garden honours the memories of loved ones who are no longer with us and those who have forgotten their memories. It tells their stories in little pottery worlds where solace can be found through senses of sound and smell. Here the past can be re-experienced and happy memories recalled, transporting us back to familiar times.
Our little worlds depict familiar stories; Barry walks his dog, Agnes bakes bread, Stephen loves KC, Billy plays music to Bridie, Eddie calls Bingo, Sandra falls in love, Barry and Rose dance, Sean rows on the Shannon, JP digs spuds, and Kathleen writes letters.
Green Booth – A Sustainable Urban Green Space for a Liveable/Thriving Future by Powerscourt Estate, Wicklow
Green Booth is a concept for a grow space in an urban setting. It can be used as a strategy for greening and supporting biodiversity in urban communities.
Green Booth is created from salvaged and recycled materials found in Powerscourt. Plants are pest-repellent, disease-resistant, and pollinator-friendly, ensuring it is a sustainable space that lessens urban communities’ impact on the planet.
Green Booth is to be a strategy of education as well as a sustainable source of food/plant production and biodiversity in urban settings.
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The Nurture Room by Sacred Heart Junior School, Killinarden, Tallaght, Dublin
This postcard garden, created by the pupils in the Sacred Heart Junior School in Killinarden, Tallaght, Dublin, is a celebration of all things nurturing. It is inspired by the school’s Nurture Room which is a place of calm, kindness and safety; a safe space for all.
The garden represents the four zones in the nurture space – a chill out zone, play zone, snack zone, and quiet zone. Every child in the school has planted and nurtured a flower to decorate the garden. These will return to the school garden after Bord Bia Bloom.
sacredheartjns.ie | Instagram: @sacredhearthscl
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The Fibonacci Sequence and the Golden Ratio in Nature by St Louis Grammar School, Kilkeel, Newry
Pupils from St Louis Grammar School in Kilkeel, Newry, examine the Fibonacci number sequence in this mathematical postcard garden, which measures nature’s beauty using the Golden Ratio, Phi (Ø).
Introduced in 1202 by Italian mathematician, Leonardo Fibonacci, the sequence follows a simple pattern generated by adding the two preceding numbers to get a third and so on. These numbers are bountiful in the natural world, the solar system, and beyond.
The garden looks at how the sequence is generated in numbers and spiral form throughout nature and encourages visitors to calculate their own beauty using the Golden Ratio.
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3:30:300 by Lennoxvale Tree Nursery and Malone Gateway, Belfast
The 3:30:300 garden evokes the aspiration to have three trees visible from every home, 30% tree canopy cover in every neighbourhood, and every citizen living within 300 metres of the nearest public green space, as quoted in the 2023 Tree Strategy of Belfast, which is a World Health Organisation Healthy City.
The meadow pathway leads across a Pool of Reflection to an idyllic refuge created by Lennoxvale Tree Nursery (LTN) and Malone Gateway volunteers. Every element in this garden will be reused or donated for reuse after Bord Bia Bloom.
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Ode to an Irish Bog by Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP) Fairgreen Resource Centre Tinahely Gardening Group, Wicklow
Ode to an Irish Bog demonstrates the important contribution our native boglands make to biodiversity and highlights the value of preserving these special wetlands. It showcases native Irish bogland species, bordered by a neat dead hedge which forms a fertile habitat for invertebrates. The dragonflies featured in the design have been handwoven from willow.
The garden has been created by members of the Fairgreen Resource Centre Tinahely Gardening Group in Wicklow who hope to inspire more people to plant a bog garden within their own outdoor spaces in order to encourage biodiversity.
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Ballyfoyle Community Garden – Our Sense of Place by Ballyfoyle Community Group, Kilkenny
This garden is inspired by the surrounding landscape and local history of Ballyfoyle, County Kilkenny. It incorporates local historical features, including a depiction of a Norman moat, of which there are three in the area.
The planting scheme encourages biodiversity and all materials, apart from the planting and paint, have been sourced locally. The rockery was collected in local fields and the timber has been upcycyled from crates and furniture.
The garden is designed by the Ballyfoyle Community Group, which is committed to caring for the environment. It will be replanted in Ballyfoyle’s Memorial Garden after the festival.
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Forget Me Not by Cluain Lir Community Nursing Unit, Mullingar
Forget Me Not is a calming and engaging outdoor room designed and created by the residents and staff of Cluain Lir Community Nursing Unit in Mullingar, County Westmeath.
Cluain Lir is home to 44 men and women availing of full-time care. The garden aspires to positively impact the wellbeing of Cluain Lir residents who live with many aspects of ageing, including dementia.
The old style traditional ‘potager’ garden displays a combination of the residents’ own visual art and a planting scheme of flowers, fruit, and vegetables that serve to evoke memories and stories.
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Magic of the Kingdom That Lies Beneath and Above Through the Power of Brigid by Uí Máine Kingdom, Ballinasloe
Ui Máine Kingdom group has collaborated with the Irish Wheelchair Association and St Hilda’s Services in Athlone to create this postcard garden which celebrates the unique karst landscape in South Roscommon.
It combines recycleable material and art to display the workings of the karst landscape, culture, heritage, ecology, water, native wildlife, plants and mythology. Native plants such as ferns, moss, wood sorrel, gorse, dandelions, wild thyme, and the region’s unique orchids, among others, are expressed through artwork. The plants are essential for biodiversity and the local ecosystem and highlight the need to protect this special landscape.
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Let’s Talk about the Elephant in the (Garden) Room by Dublin Samaritans
A play on the well-known phrase ‘the elephant in the room’, this postcard garden raises the importance of talking about mental health issues and not avoiding them. It highlights the benefit of talking to a trained Samaritan Volunteer on the 24-hour freephone helpline, 116 123. The helpline is there for anyone who may be struggling or in distress.
The centrepiece of the garden is a symbolic elephant dedicated to Dublin Samaritan’s loyal friend, Charlie Bird. The elephant was hand-painted by well-known artist Niall O’Loughlin and specially signed by President Michael D. Higgins.
Postcard Gardens Sponsor
As Ireland’s second-biggest garden centre retailer, Tirlán CountryLife is proud to be 100% owned by farmers. It sources 90% of its plants from local Irish growers and nurseries and offers an in-house, qualified horticulturist in its garden centres, providing helpful tips and advice to novice and seasoned gardeners alike. Community is at the heart of everything at Tirlán CountryLife and it is delighted to take its long-running relationship with Bord Bia Bloom to the next level with its new sponsorship of the Postcard Gardens. With a network of 15 garden centres, all of which operate in local communities, it is working with Bloom to spread the magic of the Postcard Gardens to an even wider audience.
