Record opening day crowds have attended Bloom, the garden festival now in its fourth year at the Phoenix Park.
Bloom organisers say opening day numers are up 50 per cent on last year because of the good weather.
They are hopeful that this year's festival will surpass the record attendance of 60,000 who turned up last year for the festival, with ideal weather conditions forecast right up until the Monday at the earliest.
There were already lengthy queues this morning for the opening with the early arrivals taking advantage of the warm weather.
President Mary McAleese, who opened the festival, said the festival engendered tremendous “loyalty and enthusiasm” from the public. “It is hard to believe that this is only its fourth year, it feels like it has been here forever,” she said.
"Inspired by Bloom, we started growing our own vegetables in Roscommon. I have actually got the men in my life to do straight potato drills. That took a while, but it is now working incredibly well,” she quipped.
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 and renew are sense of pride. We can see what team Ireland is like when it goes to work,” she said.
The best in show award was won by Co Meath-based landscape gardener, Jane McCorkell, who won gold medals in 2007 and 2008.
Her “Rain Garden” was inspired by the floods in November where she reflected on how we seem to have an abundance of water, yet water shortages in dry conditions.
The garden features a number of steel guttering which channel water into a central reservation where it can be pumped back into the system to provide “grey water” for homes.
The Chinese ambassador Liu Biwei visited the Chinese garden designed by Frazer McDonagh. The winner of the RTÉ Super Garden competition will be announced this evening.
