Galway won three medals at Bord Bia Bloom at the weekend.Oranmore Tidy Towns was awarded Highly Commended for The Bat Corridor Postcard Garden. Celtic Eye Art Group and Karst Farming Network from East Galway and South Roscommon was awarded a Certificate of Distinction for the Yellow Meadow Kingdom Postcard Garden.
Visitors to the Postcard Gardens, supported by Tirlán CountryLife, enjoyed glorious sunshine and clear blue skies as gardening enthusiasts gathered throughout the festival grounds, eagerly queuing to catch a glimpse of the 14 inspiring community gardens. ‘The Bat Corridor’ Postcard Garden attracted strong interest from visitors of all ages, combining education, conservation and creativity in a vibrant display designed to highlight the importance of protecting Ireland’s native wildlife and habitats.
Tirlán CountryLife’s support of the Postcard Gardens initiative at Bord Bia Bloom 2026 reflects its commitment to supporting communities across Ireland through gardening, biodiversity and shared outdoor spaces. Among the most popular attractions at Bloom, the pop-up Postcard Gardens are built in just one day and provide amateur gardeners, schools, community groups and local organisations with a small plot to creatively showcase their stories, causes and local pride through imaginative planting and garden design.
Community is at the heart of everything Tirlán CountryLife does and, through its long-running partnership with Bord Bia Bloom and network of 15 garden centres nationwide, it continues to help spread the inspiration, creativity and magic of the Postcard Gardens to an even wider audience.
As the gates opened on the 20th annual Bord Bia Bloom this morning, 11 gold medals were awarded to show gardens championing sustainability, mental health and innovative urban living. The overall large garden category award went to the ‘Recycled, Reused and Refilled Sculptural Garden’ sponsored by Repak and designed by James Purdy, while the overall medium garden category award was presented to The ‘Future in Mind’ garden, sponsored by the Mental Health Commission and designed by Joe Eustace. Both gardens reflect this year’s powerful theme of care - for the environment, for our communities and for our health and wellbeing.
A total of 19 medals were presented across the show garden category, including the ‘Most Sustainable Garden Award’, which went to the ‘Fingal Nurturing Communities Through Nature’ garden, sponsored by Fingal County Council and designed by Áit Urbanism + Landscape. The garden is among a number at this year’s festival demonstrating how thoughtful design and community-focused initiatives can help people in compact or high-density urban settings reconnect with nature and biodiversity.
Commenting on this year’s awards, Chief Judge Andrew Wilson said it wass wonderful to be back at Bloom to celebrate its 20th anniversary and to witness its evolution over those two decades as the world of garden and planting design has progressed.
"With the climate pressures we are faced with, we need sustainable ideas and solutions, planting that is resilient and materials that can deliver more than once. Happily, there are gardens at Bloom 26 that reflect these concepts while providing inspirational ideas and messages that prove the value of this show which remains relevant and responsive.”
The overall concept garden award went to ‘Shared Roots, Common Shade’, sponsored by the European Commission and designed by Oliver and Liat Schurmann. The ‘I Can Create That Garden with Q102’, designed by Carleen Osborne, received the overall small garden award, while the overall balcony garden award was presented to ‘The Birdwatcher’s Balcony Garden’ sponsored by RTÉ Radio 1 and Mooney Goes Wild and designed by Barry Kavanagh.
In the Nursery Village, a total of 17 medals were awarded to new and returning plant nurseries, recognising excellence in horticulture and plant production.?Meanwhile, this year’s Postcard Gardens, which are small pop-up gardens created by community groups from across the country, received a total of 14 medals.
