Garden inspired by winter floods carries all before it

A GARDEN inspired by the floods of last November has won best in show at the Bloom Garden Festival in the Phoenix Park.

Landscape architect Jane McCorkell’s first considered the idea of the Rain Garden when she contemplated the puzzling paradox of regular warnings about water shortages in a country seemingly awash with rainfall.

The courtyard-style garden is designed to carry water away from house gutters, depositing it in a central reservoir where it can be recycled and used as “grey water” for flushing the toilet or using a dishwasher.

In the spirit of sustainability, most of the planting is native trees and flowers along with Irish sandstone and brick. “Just because a garden is functional does not mean that it can’t be beautiful,” she said.

Ms McCorkell (35), a mother of three young children, won gold awards in 2007 and 2008.

She now wants to use her success as a lever to get to the Chelsea Flower Show which she described as the “Olympics” of garden festivals.

Rain Garden cost between €60,000 and €70,000 to develop with help from the Sap Group. But a garden at the Chelsea Flower Show would cost a multiple of that to develop. “I’m very competitive. I really want to go to Chelsea.”

Many of the show gardens reflect the straitened times we live in. The Grow It Yourself Edible Garden seeks to prove that the humble vegetable patch can be aesthetically pleasing as well as money-saving. Ronnie Nevin’s Patterns of Change also has “grow your own” at its heart.

The Chinese ambassador Liu Biwei attended the China Garden in the company of the Earl of Rosse who supplied many of the Chinese flowers from the garden of Birr Castle in Co Offaly.

There were long queues at the opening of the show as visitors took advantage of near perfect weather conditions.

President Mary McAleese toured the show gardens and said it was remarkable how popular the festival had become in just three years since it was opened in 2007. Mrs McAleese said the success of Bloom reflected the fact that the economy was beginning to recover thanks to the sacrifice of people. “We all need a good time at the moment. We need something to lift our hearts and our mood . . . We can see what team Ireland is like when it goes to work.”

The Bloom Garden Festival is open in the Phoenix Park Visitor Centre all weekend, including Monday.