Gardens centred around recycling and circular economy take top prizes at Bord Bia Bloom as festival opens to public
While the overall medium garden category award was presented to The European Commission's 'Renewed Blooms' Garden, designed by David Negus.
All 21 show gardens showcased at this year's festival were designed with sustainability in mind and incorporate environmental measures.
Judges highlighted that these two gardens particularly emphasise strong sustainability messages for visitors to take home.
A total of 19 medals including eight gold medals, were awarded to show gardens in advance of the show opening to the public this morning.
The overall small garden winner was The Pot Gallery Garden, designed by Alan Rudden, which demonstrates how freestanding and vertical pots can create green spaces on terraces, roofs or balconies.
The overall concept garden winner was The Rainbow Brick Balcony Garden designed by Limerick artist, Gary Kirwan, as a tribute to LEGO.
It is constructed from over 800,000 pieces over eight weeks and will be reused at family-oriented events run by Brick Shows Ireland around the country.
Chief Garden Judge, Andrew Wilson said each year adjudicators come to Bloom the quality of the show gardens 'steps up an extra notch'.
'The judging panel has been delighted by the range of ideas, the creativity, and the quality of the gardens this year,' he said.
ADVERTISEMENT
"It's especially great to see sustainable ideas at the fore. We are seeing this with recycling, the choice of planting, and the reuse and repurposing of materials throughout the gardens. Visitors to Bloom will have a ball visiting the show gardens and are guaranteed to get some great ideas to take home.'
Meanwhile, in the Nursery Village, a total of 16 medals were awarded to new and returning plant nurseries.
This year's Postcard Gardens, which are small but perfectly formed gardens created by community groups received 11 medals.
Bord Bia Bloom opens to the public today and will continue for five days up until this Bank Holiday Monday.
Jim O'Toole, Bord Bia Chief Executive said: 'After months of hard work and planning, we are delighted to welcome our first visitors here this morning.'
"I would like to congratulate all the medal winners whose creativity and expertise has been justly rewarded. Now the public can appreciate their inspiring horticulture displays over the next five days,' he said.
Mr O'Toole noted that over 300 performances and demonstrations will take place across across seven stages over the next few days.
The festival will be officially opened by Bord Bia Bloom patron, President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, who will be accompanied by his wife Ms Sabina Higgins.
Other big names expected on opening day are leading Government officials including An Taoiseach, Micheál Martin; Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon and broadcasters Marty Morrissey, Áine Lawlor and Marty Whelan.
Also expected to attend are gardening experts Diarmuid Gavin, Adam Frost (BBC Gardener's World), chefs Trisha Lewis, Neven Maguire, Rory O'Connell and Edward Hayden; as well as food writers and content creators Lilly Higgins and James Kavanagh.
To discover the full event programme, visit bordbiabloom.com or follow @bordbiabloom on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Examiner
4 days ago
- Irish Examiner
Bernard O'Shea: Five things I've learned to pretend about in my 40s
1. I pretend I know how to fix things around the house In your 40s, you're expected to have this mystical ability to fix things. Dripping tap? No problem. Wobbly table? I'll just wedge something under it and call it 'stabilising'. Truth is, I have a toolbox that exists purely to intimidate daddy long leg spiders who I'm fairly sure have opened a gym under the stairs. Culturally, Irish dads are supposed to be part-man, part-shed. But I missed that apprenticeship. We all had fathers who could take apart a lawnmower blindfolded using only two spoons and some spit. I once tried to change a light fitting and we ended up in darkness for a few hours. I also once put up a shelf in the bathroom — of which I was massively proud — but my wife keep telling me anyone within earshot: 'He actually said it will be fine — just don't put anything on it!' A recent study (done by someone handier than me) says that self-perceived competence in DIY peaks at age 38 and then plummets sharply — probably around the time you realise there's a very fine line between 'tightening' and 'stripping the screw entirely'. 2. I pretend I still know what music is cool Spotify recently informed me I had streamed Sigur Ros 483 times in one month. That wasn't even a sad month. That was just... a Tuesday. There comes a point in your 40s where all new music sounds like someone trying to sell you protein bars while shouting over a tumble dryer. You nod along when someone mentions Doja Cat, but deep down you're thinking 'Wasn't she in The Animals of Farthing Wood?' In my 20s, I prided myself on my music taste. I had opinions about B-sides. Now I just want something I can hum while I unload the dishwasher. Historically, every generation reaches a musical cutoff. For me, it's somewhere between Arctic Monkeys and whatever the hell hyperpop is. Psychologists refer to this as 'reminiscence bump' — we emotionally bond most with the music from our teens and early 20s. Which is why I nearly wept the last time Teenage Dirtbag came on in a petrol station. 3. I pretend my back is fine There's a specific moment in a man's life — usually just after he's bent down to tie his shoe or retrieve a rogue Lego — when his entire body goes 'No'. I threw my back out recently reaching for a grape. Not a box of grapes. One. Single. Grape. I made a noise like a fax machine being punched (I'm complete aware that anyone under the age of 35 won't know what a 'fax' is) But when asked 'Are you okay?' the only acceptable answer (as a man in his 40s) is: 'Ah yeah, just a bit stiff. Grand though.' Bernard O'Shea: "Culturally, Irish dads are supposed to be part-man, part-shed. But I missed that apprenticeship. We all had fathers who could take apart a lawnmower blindfolded using only two spoons and some spit. I once tried to change a light fitting and we ended up in darkness for a few hours." We lie through gritted teeth while walking like John Wayne in wet corduroy. Historically, men haven't been great at acknowledging pain. Our ancestors fought wolves and famine. I got winded bringing the shopping in. Medically, back pain becomes increasingly common after 40 due to something called 'disc degeneration' — which sounds like a bad DJ name but is actually just ageing bones throwing in the towel. To overcome the pain I just say to myself. 'I'm not old. I'm just… compression sensitive.' 4. I pretend I know what my kids are talking about Modern parenting is like being dropped into a video game you didn't know you downloaded. There are words, abbreviations, trends — and somehow, I'm always the villain. I try to stay up to speed. I read the odd TikTok trend breakdown. I ask careful questions like 'Is Riz good or bad?' But mostly I just smile, nod, and hope someone doesn't point and roar 'He hasn't a clue!' Historically, parents have always been uncool. It's practically our job. But in this age of memes and livestreams, the speed at which you become irrelevant is faster than a teenager slamming a door. According to one study, kids think their parents are officially 'cringe' from age 12 onward. Which is deeply unfair, because that's exactly when I got good at wordplay. 5. I pretend I'm in control of money On the outside, I look composed. Inside, I'm three receipts away from yelling 'WHY DID I SPEND €6 ON KOMBUCHA?' Knowing full well that it isn't going to solve my 'bloating'. (It's possible my large stomach is caused by repeated ingestion of salted caramel ice-cream. However without more scientific study this cannot be 100% proven.) In your 40s, people assume you have a grip on money. You nod at mortgage rates, you say things like 'we'll revisit that in Q3', and you pretend your pension is something other than a shoebox with old Bus Éireann vouchers. Financial adulthood is just constant juggling. Kids, bills, petrol, insurance. Your life essentially becomes a series of direct debits. You're always 'just after paying something off'. As a self-employed person for most of my life I'm still trying to get my head around invoicing. Culturally, Irish people were never raised to talk about money. We were raised to say things like 'Ah, sure we'll make do' while sweating through a budget spreadsheet written on the pack of a till receipt. According to behavioural economists, money shame is real — especially in midlife when you're expected to have it all sorted. But guess what? No one really does. Even your man with the campervan and the laser-cut grass. He's stressed too.
The Irish Sun
6 days ago
- The Irish Sun
I saw ‘home of the future' at Apple HQ where redecorating takes seconds and costs NOTHING – and it's just months away
WHAT if you could redecorate your home instantly? And without paying a penny? Well, it's not sci-fi – it's just months away. This is the hi-tech future that Apple showed me at its California HQ just last month. Advertisement 10 Later this year, you'll be able to add virtual decorations to your real home Credit: Apple 10 You can even peer through this window into a vast digital panorama – as if you were looking out through real glass Credit: Apple 10 The Sun's tech editor Sean Keach has been using the Vision Pro headset to explore the virtual world Credit: Sean Keach / The Sun Back in 2024, Apple launched the So if you want to sit back and watch Ted Lasso on a massive The world isn't blocked out: you'll still see your kids playing with Lego on the floor, or your cat demanding its third breakfast. Now the company is preparing to roll out a major update that not only upgrades the headset…but your home too. Advertisement Read more on Apple A VISION OF THE FUTURE Right now, most of the apps that you use on a Vision Pro headset float in the air in front of you. Spooky. It's neat if you're on an airplane, as you can block out your surroundings and find a bit of peace in economy. But in the real world, you don't normally have important stuff just hovering mid-air. You wouldn't typically stick your telly in the middle of the room, or covering a window. It gets in the way. In the Advertisement Most read in Phones & Gadgets You could chuck a virtual clock up on the wall (and save money on having a real one). Or you could drop the Weather app just by the front door, so you know whether you need to grab a coat. EXCLUSIVE Apple's Tim Cook shares exactly how he uses Vision Pro headset every day as millions finally get chance to buy Ditch picture frames and slap the Photos app on the wall for a nice carousel of your favourite snaps. Or even add Reminders right next to the fridge, so you've always got your shopping list in plain sight. Advertisement There's even a very cool (and optional) effect that insets the widget into the wall. So it feels as if it's built directly into your home. You can even add beautiful images that sit behind the wall, and then you can lean left and right, or forwards and backwards, to almost peer into a magical world that lives beyond your room. 10 The Apple Vision Pro headset is a "spatial computer" Credit: Apple Of course there's nothing behind there. Except maybe dust and spiders. Advertisement But it allows for something that wouldn't physically be possible with a normal wall. No amount of money can buy this in the real world. This is redecorating like never before. 'When it's inset into the wall, it has to just be perfectly aligned with the wall to have that feel satisfying,' said Jeff Norris, senior director at Apple's Vision products group, speaking to me at Apple Park. 'You have to understand the surfaces in the room.' EYE TRY I tried this Advertisement It looked like these widgets were right there, as embedded in the wall as a door or window frame. And as I moved around the room, they'd stay stuck in place. I couldn't trick it, no matter which way I turned or walked. This isn't very easy to achieve, Apple tells me. 10 You can easily customise the widgets that you're adding to your wall Credit: Apple Advertisement 10 It works using the Apple Vision Pro smart goggles Credit: Apple 'It needs to remember the room,' Jeff explained. And it needs to do that even if the lighting conditions change significantly. Or if things get moved around in the room a little bit. 'We have to be able to do that, and do that for many different rooms. Advertisement 'Meaning that feature you saw, it'll work for your home office and your office at work. 'It will remember both of those rooms, and remember what you put in both of those places. 'So that moment you walk into your office at home, we have just a fraction of a second to say: 'Okay, what room are we in? Let's remember everything that was in that room, exactly where it was. And while we're at it, let's never lose track of where we are in that space'.' They're not just stiff images either. Advertisement You can walk right up to them and interact with them. Change a photo or tick off a reminder. 10 Change the colour of a visionOS 26 widget to suit your room Credit: Apple And if you don't like one clock style, you can swap it out for something else. 'It's amazing that you can have a digital object like a widget that feels like it's right there in the room with you,' Steve Sinclair, who is in charge of Apple Vision Pro marketing, told me. Advertisement 'Even though your brain knows it's not, it feels like it is. And you can interact with it as if it's there.' Right now, the only way to view these virtual redecorations is to don the Vision Pro headset. VISIONOS 26 – WHAT ELSE IS NEW? Here are some bonus features coming in visionOS 26: Look to Scroll Redesigned Control Centre Ability to unlock iPhone while wearing Apple Vision Pro Relaying calls from iPhone Folders on Home View Improved quality for Personas Picture Credit: Apple And that means only you're seeing them. No one else. SHRINKING BIG But you can imagine a future where maybe the Vision Pro has shrunk to the size of glasses, and everyone in your house has a pair. Advertisement Apple rival Meta has shown off this kind of futuristic gadget – albeit only as a prototype – in the form of the The Apple Vision Pro serves up immensely greater visual quality. But it's a big headset and, ultimately, Sadly Apple hasn't confirmed any plans for smaller or cheaper 'spatial computing' headsets. And glasses-style mixed-reality specs that don't cost mega-money are years away. 10 You can inset widgets into the wall for a very cool effect Credit: Apple Advertisement But this is a glimpse at the future of what homes might become. You can imagine one day being able to change the colour of your wallpaper or sofa in an instant – and add a nice rug, if you'd like. But for now, Apple is only adding the ability to add widgets to the walls. Still, it's a step in that direction. It's not a huge stretch to imagine a future where we all don specs that aren't much bigger than regular glasses. Advertisement This would give us all access to a digital world that lives all around us – rather than being squeezed into our eyes through the tiny window of a smartphone screen. And swiping a new photo onto your wall is a lot easier than hanging a frame. I'm rubbish at DIY, so this can't come soon enough. 10 Apps usually float in front of you on the Vision Pro, but widgets can be attached to your wall Credit: Apple 10 The Vision Pro headset lets you see virtual objects as if they were in your real physical space Credit: Apple Advertisement
The Irish Sun
16-07-2025
- The Irish Sun
Major Legoland theme park to launch new space-themed land next year with rollercoaster and ‘cosmic' rides
LEGOLAND is set to launch an out-of-this-world new attraction — with a space-themed land opening next year . The major new expansion promises to take visitors on an intergalactic adventure, as the family-favourite theme park gears up for a stellar 2026 launch. Advertisement 2 LEGOLAND is set to launch a space-themed land opening next year in California Credit: Legoland Packed full of rollercoasters and cosmic rides for thrill-seekers of all ages, a brand-new space-themed land set to launch at its California resort in early 2026. The out-of-this-world expansion will blast families off on an interstellar What rides will it have? A groundbreaking indoor 'This isn't just a coaster – it's a full-on Lego galaxy," said Advertisement more on theme parks 'We're mixing the creativity of Lego with the wonder of space to bring families a totally new kind of adventure.' Visitors can look forward to two additional cosmic rides, offering wannabe Younger guests can get in on the action too, with a Junior Astronaut Training Zone designed especially for little space cadets to enjoy imaginative play. There'll also be out-of-this-world food and drink options to refuel between missions, along with a galactic gift shop selling space-themed gear and souvenirs to remember the adventure. Advertisement Most read in News Travel Exclusive The new area is being built opposite Fun Town's Driving School and will be included in general park admission and So, whether you're training your toddler for launch or hunting for alien bricks, this brick-built universe is set to be Legoland's most stellar expansion yet. Popular Legoland ride returns following year-long closure LEGOLAND Windsor is gearing up for summer Meanwhile, The popular theme park promises a season packed with rides, live entertainment and hands-on adventures, including a brand-new Lego City live show guaranteed to keep kids buzzing all day long. Advertisement Ramesh Ganeson, vice president of Legoland Windsor Resort, said: 'This summer, we're cranking up the fun at Legoland Windsor. "With thrilling rides, splashing adventures, and the new Lego Insiders Clubhouse, there's something to spark every imagination. "We can't wait to welcome families for a season bursting with laughter, excitement, and unforgettable brick-tastic memories.' The Lego Insiders Clubhouse invites guests to become official play testers, completing four interactive challenges to earn exclusive access to the Lego Vault — where they'll get a sneak peek at upcoming Lego sets and behind-the-scenes content. Advertisement To cool off, families can head to Drench Towers and Splash Safari, where giant tipping bricks and water slides promise a refreshing break from the action. Younger visitors can enjoy the Duplo-themed water play zones featuring animal figures made just for them. Thrill-seekers can take on the Minifigure Speedway, the world's first Lego duelling rollercoaster, or dive into adventure on the Lego City Day tickets start at £39 and must be booked in advance online. Advertisement Kids under 0.9m tall go free — making it the perfect time to plan a summer day out full of bricks, splashes and smiles. Where is the world's biggest LEGOLAND? Spread across a whopping 318,000 square metres in Shanghai's Jinshan district, the mega resort features a theme park, hotel, and a mind-blowing 85 million Lego bricks bringing the place to life. The park is split into eight themed lands, including favourites like Ninjago, Lego Friends, and Monkie Kid, with over 75 rides, shows and attractions on offer for families. Advertisement At the heart of the park is the stunning Miniland — a brick-built replica of It took 168,000 hours and over 20 million Lego bricks to build. Leogland Shanghai will also boast several world firsts — including the Big Lego Coaster, the park's biggest-ever thrill ride, and a 60-metre-tall Legoland Observation Tower offering stunning views of the sprawling brick paradise. The Legoland Hotel also includes 250 Lego-themed rooms. Advertisement 2 The new attraction will be packed full of rollercoasters and cosmic rides for thrill-seekers of all ages Credit: Legoland Use these tips on your next theme park trip Next time you visit a theme park, you may want to use our top tips to make the most of your adrenaline-inducing day out. Go to the back of the theme park first. Rides at the front will have the longest queues as soon as it opens. Go on water rides in the middle of the day in the summer - this will cool you off when the sun is at its hottest. Download the park's app to track which rides have the shortest queues. Visit on your birthday, as some parks give out "birthday badges" that can get you freebies. If it rains, contact the park. Depending on how much it rained, you may get a free ticket to return.
