From food producers and nursery growers to garden designers, educators and community projects, Bord Bia Bloom is a weekend that not only brings horticulture, gardening and producers to life, but it also brings joy to more than 100,000 people who attend.

Behind the polished show gardens, bustling food villages and family-friendly features is a story of persistence, research, risk-taking and, above all, people who have worked over the last two decades to build Bord Bia Bloom into what it is today.

Few understand that better than Carol Marks, sector manager for horticulture at Bord Bia, who has been a driving force behind the event since its inception.

“It was the brainchild of the horticulture team. And my colleague Gary and I were tasked to work on Bloom, to bring it to fruition,” recalls Carol.

Across six months in 2005, Carol and her colleagues worked intensively on the event, from scoping out locations to formulating and, most importantly, choosing the time of the year. Rather than picking a random weekend and hoping for the best, Carol did a deep dive to pick the best weekend.

“I looked at the weather forecasts, the historical weather forecast for the previous 10 years, and that showed us that the June bank holiday weekend was the best weather of all the bank holiday weekends. So that’s why we chose that,” she says.

The Phoenix Park was another carefully weighed choice.

“We had visited a few locations – but when we looked at the Phoenix Park, we had meetings with the OPW, who were very amenable. And how beautiful is the Phoenix Park?”

From the outset, Bord Bia Bloom was not just a flower show; it was designed as a full-sector platform – spanning show gardens, food producers, nurseries, small specialist growers and feature gardens.

From 40,000 visitors the first year to over 100,000 visitors today, the garden festival has continued to grow over the last two decades.

Alongside the visitor growth, the site itself has expanded.

Show gardens spilled beyond the walled garden; the food area is a major draw for Irish producers; and nursery displays evolved from a single floral marquee to multiple pagoda tents, changing how visitors interact with growers.

Carol points to standout features over the years, such as the recreation of Michelle Obama’s White House kitchen garden, which tapped into a growing public interest in homegrown food and provided a tangible, educational focal point.

“People were starting to become more interested in growing their own food, so they could see then how the plants should look,” says Carol.

Another milestone was the Horticulture is Life feature in 2019, which used 3D video and immersive displays to bring visitors inside glasshouses and production units, showcasing fresh produce and ornamental plants side by side.

Carol has also been involved in bringing horticulture to the wider public through television programmes, showing consumers and the general public the work that goes on within the industry. She started RTÉ’s Home Grown and is now a judge on Super Garden.

Television has given Carol some unexpectedly personal moments. She recalls being stopped by a group of children taking part in the Incredible Edibles initiative, a healthy eating programme for primary schools.

“Next of all, they go, ‘Are you the judge from Super Garden?’ It was a bit of a pinch-me moment,” she says, with a laugh.

For her, their excitement about vegetables and growing at home captured what Bloom and associated programmes are striving for: curiosity, connection and confidence around plants and food.

Anniversary highlights

For the 20th anniversary (it didn’t take place for two years during the pandemic), the team is determined to give visitors something fresh while preserving the elements visitors return for year after year. One highlight is a new twist on a concept she previously developed: Dream Gardens.

Originally, Bloom was a suite of show-garden-style layouts that people could recreate at home, complete with plans, planting schemes and plant lists available on the website, but that too has evolved.

“To celebrate 20 years of Bord Bia Bloom, we’re doing a celebrity Dream Garden with Brendan Courtney, designed by Declan McKenna,” says Carol.

Beyond individual features, the deeper impact of Bloom lies in how it supports and reflects the sector. Carol notes that, in farmgate value terms, horticulture ranks among the most valuable sectors in Irish agriculture, with producers who are highly skilled.

“The people in it [the sector] are probably the most resilient people I have ever met. They are just so passionate about what they do that they deserve to have a profile,” she explains.

When asked to pick a favourite part of Bloom, Carol says she couldn’t single out one garden, marquee or attraction. For her, the essence of the event is the people who are working behind the scenes.

“It’s all the people in horticulture: the growers of ornamental products, garden designers, landscape gardeners, the nurseries, the small specialist nurseries, the people who build the postcard gardens with passion, the fresh produce growers and the people who bring Bord Bia Bloom to life.”

Pauline Kennedy, events and exhibitions planning manager at Bord Bia, has also been involved from an operational perspective since day one. Reflecting on some of her favourite memories, she says, “We had a lot of rain in the very first year, and the nursery pavilion was within an area of the park that had bad drainage.

“At one stage, two or three areas were sinking because of the rain. It was a huge learning curve. Looking back on the 20 years ago, it has been an amazing achievement, bringing all the elements together.

“The oven breaking during Donal Skehan’s demo on the Quality Stage last year was another funny moment. Working in operations, we have a team behind us to deal with anything, and we were thinking on our feet.

“Funny queries from exhibitors and visitors also happen, but there is always a huge sense of pride. The horticulture journey over the last 20 years has been incredible, but also in the food village, and how the producers and the area have evolved.”

Jane McCorkell is an award-winning landscape architect who has won over nine gold medals at Bloom. She has come full circle now as a show garden judge.

“The first garden was the Keeling Naturally Fresh Show Garden in 2007, and that was a big learning curve. The show opens on Thursday, and I only had my perennial plants delivered on the Saturday beforehand; you learn you need more time to do these things. It was a great experience. We were in a walled garden, so it was completely different.”

Over the years, Jane has enjoyed working on different gardens, one of her favourites being a collaboration with Fingal County Council.

“They were fantastic – from Kevin Halpenny, who is in charge, to those who build it. I have done quite a lot of gardens with them.

“From the start – from the brief, it was so much fun, they came up with great ideas. The challenge is creating something different every time, which is hard for a designer to do, as they all have their own style.

“I tried to do something different and really enjoyed My Garden in 2012, which was sponsored by Bord na Móna.”

See bordbiabloom.com