Postcard Gardens

Postcard Gardens – supported by Tirlán CountryLife 

 Our pop-up Postcard Gardens, which are proudly supported by Tirlán CountryLife, are one of the most popular visitor attractions at Bord Bia Bloom each year. Built in one day by amateur gardeners in community groups and schools, they highlight the issues that matter to them.

Edible and Accessible

Created by: Service users of Belcamp and Riverside Adult Day Service Centres, with the support of St Michael’s House

Edible and Accessible is a functional garden designed to improve accessibility for people with disabilities. Created by service users from St Michael’s House daycare centres, it demonstrates the full growing cycle.

Key features include a wide wheelchair-friendly path, an adapted raised bed, ergonomic tools, vertical planting walls, sensory elements, and Lámh, and audio labels. Artistic contributions from service users enhance its educational value.

The garden promotes hands-on engagement, allowing individuals to grow and harvest food independently. By addressing common barriers, it highlights practical solutions for inclusive gardening, ensuring everyone can experience the joy of growing fresh produce.

You can learn more about St Michael’s House at smh.ie 

The Comfort Garden: A Sanctuary of Care and Connection 

Created by: Comfort Keepers Carers Team 

This peaceful space celebrates the compassion and support that carers provide. A Path of Kindness features stepping stones engraved with words like “Compassion”, “Dignity”, and “Joy”. A Memory and Reflection Corner with a cosy bench offers a quiet retreat. The Sunshine Circle blooms with sunflowers and daisies, symbolising warmth. A Tree of Companionship invites visitors to hang wooden hearts with messages of gratitude. The Healing Touch Garden features soothing plants like lavender and chamomile, encouraging relaxation.

This garden embodies the love, care, and dignity that the Comfort Keepers team brings to those they support.

You can learn more about Comfort Keepers at comfortkeepers.ie

Connection 

Created by: St Mary’s and St Gerard’s National School, Enniskerry, County Wicklow

Designed and created by 4th class students, this postcard garden embodies the school’s ethos of caring, connection and the love of learning. It highlights the connection between the school, its pupils, their parents, grandparents, Tidy Towns and the local community, building on a recent collaboration to plant borders outside classrooms and a new outdoor classroom.

The planting is a mixture of edible, medicinal, and textured plants. All materials used in the garden are upcycled and repurposed as the garden has been designed in line with the school’s commitment to protect the environment as a Green School.

You can learn more about the school at enniskerryns.ie 

Coolmine Inspires

Created by: The Coolmine Inspires Team, Dublin

Coolmine Inspires is a garden of hope, created by the men and women from Coolmine TC CE Scheme in Dublin.  

The garden flourishes from a dark, barren area into beautiful flowers and growth via a simple pathway that leads to a portal. The mirrors in the portal allow us see ourselves in a better place, with one mirror reflecting our image and two angled mirrors highlighting the flowers and life within the garden.

The garden represents the journey of recovery and self-reflection, incorporating some of the mantras used by the creators to keep them strong each day.

You can learn more about Coolmine Therapeutic Community at coolmine.ie 

Bloomin’ Diversity Grow and Cook-book

Created by: St Kevin’s Community College, Clondalkin, Dublin 22

Transition year students in St Kevin’s Community College have collaborated with clients in Stewarts Care in Palmerstown, and the school’s art, woodwork, and home economics departments to create this edible garden. It showcases their book, ‘Bloomin’ Diversity Grow and Cook-book’, where students of 36 nationalities shared their recipes, cultures and growing skills.

The garden is designed with sustainability and biodiversity in mind, with a recycled table and chairs nestled on a bed of wildflowers. The variety of herbs, vegetables, and fruit-bearing plants, which feature in the book’s recipes, are grown in recycled containers and pots sourced from the community.

You can learn more about St Kevin’s at stkevinscc.ie

Turning Back Time in our Garden

Created by: Ballyfoyle Pastoral Group, County Kilkenny

The backdrop of this garden, created by the Ballyfoyle Pastoral Group from Ballyfoyle, County Kilkenny, offers windows into the past and highlights the importance of giving time in the garden.

The plough symbolises turning back to a time before the use of plastics and chemicals, and before people became distanced from nature. Emphasising the importance of gardening with the seasons, the display pays homage to gardens of old which were self-contained, closed-loop systems that were almost self-sufficient. After Bord Bia Bloom the garden will feature in a proposed Sensory Garden in Ballyfoyle.

The Stephen Moylan Nurture Garden

Created by: The Stephen Moylan Foundation

This garden symbolises The Stephen Moylan Foundation’s commitment to supporting bereaved children and young people, while promoting the healing power of nature. It features illuminated steps representing the five stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance), leading to a circular “rondel” that signifies the ongoing cycle of life.

Transparent fluorescent acrylic boxes expose the growing roots, while butterflies represent transformation and renewal. The garden demonstrates how miniature memory gardens can be reproduced in the smallest urban setting. It creates a reflective space that encourages healing and awareness of the Foundation’s purpose.

You can learn more about the Foundation at thestephenmoylanfoundation.com

The TY Sensory Transcendence

Created by: Our Lady of Mercy College, Beaumont, Dublin 9

With a textured path, vibrant sun catchers, musical wind chimes, fragrant lavender and thyme, a fun bubble machine, and a multi-textured floral mural, this sensory garden is designed to engage the five senses of sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch. It is a relaxing environment which highlights the necessity of creating safe spaces, such as sensory rooms and gardens.

The garden has been created by Transition Year students in Our Lady of Mercy College who wanted to create a safe, accessible place where students can take a break from overwhelming environments. It will relocate to the school following Bloom.

You can learn more about the school at mercybeaumont.ie

Mending the Cracks

Created by: Dublin Samaritans

This year’s postcard garden from the Dublin Samaritans is inspired by the ancient Japanese art of Kintsugi which features in its recent award-winning awareness campaign. Kintsugi is the practice of repairing a broken piece of china or pottery with gold, restoring it carefully, therefore increasing its value through effort and input.

The garden’s backdrop features a large mural of a face filled with cracks of gold. It signifies how talking to Samaritans can help mend the cracks. The campaign’s mural by artist Joe Caslin and poem by Darragh Fleming were displayed on a building in the heart of Dublin.

You can learn more about the Dublin Samaritans at dublinsamaritans.ie 

Music in Mind and Place

Created by: Seedability

Music in Mind and Place is designed for people with acquired brain injuries, helping regeneration by providing a sustainable space to relax and enjoy music. It brings users on a sensory journey through a blend of ethereal reality and optical illusions.

The soothing sound of the breeze through grasses creates a peaceful atmosphere. Graffiti, crafted from layers of Irish moss, symbolises creative regeneration and adaptability. The garden feels like a dreamscape, blurring the lines between reality and imagination. It is a wonderland that invites exploration and sparks curiosity, creating an experience for the senses to truly enjoy.

You can learn more about Seedability at seedability.co.uk

Athlone GAA Green Clubs Garden

Created by: Athlone GAA

This display celebrates the GAA’s Green Clubs Programme, which supports clubs to take sustainability action in their grounds and activities. It represents the programme’s themes of water, biodiversity, waste, energy, and travel and transport.

Native wildflowers flourish, attracting pollinators and supporting biodiversity. A rain collector and birdbath reflect a mindful use of water. A display highlights how plastic bottles are recycled at the club, alongside a jersey and kit swap that encourages reuse. As evening falls, solar lighting softly illuminates the space. A pathway encourages walking, while a sculptural bike stand and carpool sign offer quiet prompts for sustainable travel.

You can learn more about the club at athlonegaaclub.com