This is the journal of my endeavours to grow a range of fruit, veg and flowers from seed, grow organically, and my attempts to create a personal paradise with 1/2 acre of maintained gardens and 1/2 acre wild meadows. Northern Ireland's average daily high temperatures are 18 °C (64 °F) in July and 6 °C (43 °F) in January. Soil type: Clay

Friday 8 May 2015

Garden Show Ireland: fun-tastic displays

This weekend is Garden Show Ireland at Antrim Castle Gardens and it's a fantastic show this year! I'm attending over three days (volunteering) and had a fab time today enjoying the atmosphere (no plant purchases yet). I enjoyed some fab food, superb jazz music, and, of course, looking at the garden designs.

Left: A garden designed by ReConnect, a charity that supports adults with acquired brain injury, has brought some magic to 'the office' under the design theme of 'Colourful Garden'. More on the design concept can be read below. I love their creativity and the fact that they up cycled so many items and only spent about £80. (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Above: Also on the theme of 'Colourful Garden' the North Coast Integrated College design makes outdoor life and gardening look much more appealing to young people with its bright colours and creative use of materials. More on their design concept can be read below.

Above: If you're a gardener, you're likely to be a fan of wellies! Nowadays there are great looking wellies for all occasions (easily ordered online) and don't they look great recycled with some wildflowers (part of the Grow Wild display)!

This is only a little snapshot of some of the eye catching, fun focused displays at Garden Show Ireland taking place at Antrim Castle Gardens this weekend. More on the show later. I'm loving the buzz and excitement of the activities - and Saturday Monty Don is visiting!
Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.

5 comments:

  1. Hope that you got to meet Monty and gave him a few tips :)

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  2. I like it when used items are genuinely upcycled, but all too often Show Gardens use things which are blatantly new, which invalidates the idea completely! You are certainly doing your bit for society these days, Kelli - volunteering a lot.

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  3. I'm enchanted with the office/garden! How clever! In the second display, I love the idea of a place to sit, eat, visit and enjoy the garden...I think it is so much more enjoyable to get to sit in your creation! The Wellies planted up are so cute..makes me want a whole roll of them in my garden as a fence! And the signs telling about the organizations are very informative. I wish I were there to see the whole show. Keep sharing with us, Kelli, and have a fun weekend.

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  4. So much fun. Look at all of the color. I finally have wellies this year: pink with white polka dots. My husband got them for me last winter and boy are they handy especially with all the rain that we have been having. Looking forward to more photos from the garden show. What fun.

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  5. It looks like a great show. I love those wellies, so colourful.

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