Bord Bia honours garden sector with Amenity Horticulture Awards

Bord Bia has presented prizes to 28 garden centres, three ornamental growers and 16 landscape service providers at its Amenity Horticulture Awards for the garden industry yesterday in Dublin.

The standards are set out in Bord Bia’s Quality Assurance Programmes.

The year’s overall category winners were: Large Garden Centre, Arboretum Lifestyle & Garden Centre, Co Carlow; Small Garden Centre, Cois na hAbhann, Enniscorthy, Co Wexford; Landscape Business, Thomas J Crummy Landscaping, Co Sligo; and Ornamental Grower, Young Nurseries, Co Limerick.

Bord Bia CEO Aidan Cotter said: “The commit- ment to excellence of these recipients inspires confid- ence in the sustainable economic future of a sector, worth €45m annually.”

Bord Bia’s marketing assistance programme provided assistance worth over €200,000 to amenity horticulture companies from 2009 to 2013. Its supplier development programme helped five participants secure new business and boost supplies with multiples to a value of €2.4m.