A Bloomin Great Experience - Bloom 2023
Arriving in Bloom for the opening time of 9am, our first port of call was the AOIFA Flower Arranging tent to see some of the incredible flower arrangements of the finalists. We met The County Wexford Garden Club who were gold medal winners for their City Living floral design , depicting the future of Apartment Living and Small Garden spaces, see the full interview with Helen, one of their members here explaining how they made the winning design.
We also chatted with the gorgeous Dawn Hand from Naul Flower Club Who also won Gold in Class 3 Floral Art Competition. The selection of amazing designs by all participants, lets just say, I’m so glad we were not called on to be judges. Congratulations to all the participants in this competition.
And we chatted with the Fabulous Adrienne Flood from Portrane who is a member of Sutton Flower Club who used Phalaenopsis in her spectacular design that impressed the judges so much she won A Gold Medal and also Best in Show.
It was time to join our amazing colleagues from Network Dublin for a sunshine breakfast with other networks from Network Ireland, as usual this did not disappoint and we both made some great contacts even in the shot time we had to connect. Sinead the President of Network Meath gave lots of networking advise and we listened to her chosen speaker Ciaran from Boyne Valley Foods as he encouraged everyone there to get to know each other.
Our Network Dublin President Sarah Naylor as usual blew us all away with her encouragement and support. Below are just a few snaps we took.
Leaving the Breakfast we took in a few of the vendors, there was a huge variety of products and supplies available, top tip is the bring a shopping trolly in wheels, you will not be able to resist some of the offerings. We stopped by our fellow Network Dublin friend Feebee from Forager.ie to see her amazing products in the flesh, she had great show offers so needless to say we stocked up. Listen to her talk about her fabulous products here
We also got tipped off by Viv Bradford the Floristry Coach in the UK to check out Sallyanne Bags and we were not disappointed by her beautifully hand crafted bags and bandanas.
After a very refreshing Aperol Spritz in the Wine Bar, we made our way to The Marie Keating Foundation Gold Winning Garden and offered a few hours helping them man their fundraising stand and promoting the 100kin30days fundraiser. Wow what an emotional and humbling few hours speaking to people who had loved ones going through cancer treatment, people themselves going through treatment and those who sadly have lost loved ones to cancer. Everyone who came to the stand were only too happy to donate knowing the amazing work and support that the Marie Keating Foundation has and is presently doing for those effected by cancer.
We were delighted to show off the Gold Winning “Catching Cancer Early” Garden to everyone, what a sanctuary Robert Moore designed using fabulous plants. water and trees.
Not our first time to Bloom by any means but without doubt, one of the most fun, exciting and rewarding days, even if we did think we were going to have Breakfast with our Irish President Michael D Higgins, only to realise it was in fact the Network Ireland Presidents of Meath and Dublin. We all had such a laugh and did indeed go in search of Michael D and caught a glimpse of him at one point. We were trilled to chat with Marty Morrisey and the RTE crew and maybe you might get a glimpse of us on the highlights of the Bloom Show on RTE, Friday 2nd June at 8pm.
We met so many of our followers, past graduates and present students, we had sore faces from smiling and laughing so much, but what a good complaint to have. Everyone lover our flower crowns, we hope to have a reel on making them on Instagram soon, they were heavy and we had sore heads by the end of the day, next times instead of chicken wire and moss we would use strong carboard instead.