Offaly Show Garden awarded silver-gilt medal at Bloom

The popular Bord Bia Bloom festival got underway on Thursday May 30, where Offaly-based Louise Checa was the recipient of a silver-gilt medal in the small Show Garden category.

Louise, originally from France, is a landscape architect and a chartered member of the Irish Landscape Institute. She holds a Masters from the INSA Ecole Nationale Supérieure de la Nature et du Paysage in Blois, France.

She was awarded this medal for her show garden called 'A Space for Possibilities: The Modular Container Garden'. This was her first show garden at Bord Bia Bloom. Louise is one of only eight first-time designers at Bloom to be awarded medals this year.

Louise's design demonstrates that anything is possible when it comes to creative garden design and even the smallest of plots can be transformed into versatile spaces through clever, adaptable modular features. Following a hexagon pattern inspired by bees, this garden can be fully customised at the design stage. Many elements within the design are mobile and can be easily moved to suit the needs of the owners, whether that is to follow the sun through the course of the day, to change with the growing needs of your family, or to be transported to a new garden when moving homes.

The judging panels for Bord Bia Bloom includes 13 Irish and international horticultural and design experts, who judge show gardens, postcard gardens, nursery displays, AOIFA Floral Art and botanical and floral art.

Visitors to the show are invited to vote for their favourite show garden using the unique text number located at each garden, with the winner announced at 1pm on Monday June 3.

Bord Bia Bloom continues in the Phoenix Park until Monday June 3. Tickets are available here.