'We no longer see a garden as a patch of green space outside the window'

Fresh from Mallow Home & Garden Festival, Peter Dowdall is at Bord Bia Bloom this weekend and looks forward to an inaugural celebration of the room outside in Killarney event in June 

Jack Hedigan, horticulturalist in an outdoor bathtub at The Pavilion show gardens at the Mallow Home & Garden Festival. Picture: Larry Cummins

There was a time when gardening festivals were very much for gardeners only — anoraks like myself who went along looking for plants, perhaps a new tool, maybe a bit of advice from a specialist grower and if you were lucky, a cup of tea and a scone before heading home with the boot of the car full of shrubs and perennials wrapped in newspaper.

But something has changed over the last number of years, and I think the launch of the inaugural Killarney Home and Garden Festival this June says quite a lot about how our relationship with gardens in Ireland is evolving.

Many people’s perception of the garden itself has changed in modern Ireland, and what was once just looked upon as a patch of green space outside the window which needed no thought given to it, is now seen as an increasingly important part of the home and more and more, people are beginning to see it not as a separate outdoor space but as somewhere they actually want to spend a lot of time.

You can see that change very clearly in events like Bord Bia Bloom and Mallow Home & Garden Festival. Both have grown enormously in popularity in recent years, and both now attract people who would never once have described themselves as “gardeners”. 

They go for inspiration, for ideas, for food, for atmosphere, for outdoor living and increasingly because gardens themselves have become part of how people imagine their lives, whether that’s on Instagram or in reality.

Garden design pro and 'Home' garden columnist  Peter Dowdall. Picture: Larry Cummins

That changing perception is seen throughout the world of gardening; we see it in the way people talk about gardens and the products being sold. Garden rooms, outdoor dining spaces, fire pits, modular buildings, and outdoor kitchens would have been the stuff of fantasy in the Ireland of 30 years ago, but more and more we are seeing them now as gardens become that important “outdoor room”.

Killarney Race course will be the location of Killarney Home and Garden Centre on June 14 and 15.

The new Killarney festival, taking place at the Killarney Racecourse on June 13 and 14, seems to have tapped into that zeitgeist very successfully. 

Built around the theme of “making a house a home”, it is clearly aiming to be far more than a traditional plant fair. Yes, there will be plants there — and thankfully plenty of them by the sounds of things.

Some excellent independent Irish nurseries and specialist growers are featured in the line-up. That alone is enough to get many gardeners like me interested because there is still nothing quite like buying directly from the people who actually grew the plants themselves.

Growers such as Shady Plants, Crooked Boot Farm and Nursery, Tantalus Plant Nursery and Flower Farm, Shandrum Nursery and Mara Botanics will all be there, giving visitors a chance to discover unusual plants and talk directly with the growers who truly understand our climate and conditions.

But apart from the plants, there will be modular homes, outdoor living ideas, artisan food producers, crafts, design features and family entertainment all mixed together in the one space.

A full modular home by Jovin Projects will be showcased on-site, and there will also be demonstrations and talks covering everything from interior design and flower arranging to cooking with fresh garden ingredients and practical advice on solar energy grants.

Lisa Rauch and Anne Krey of Peppermint Farm Glasshouses, Minane Bridge, Cork, exhibiting at Mallow Home & Garden Festival. Picture: Larry Cummins

In many ways, that tells the story of modern Irish gardening perfectly because the boundaries between home, lifestyle and garden have become increasingly blurred as the garden has become part of how we live rather than simply something we maintain.

I think covid probably accelerated that shift and reminded many people just how important outdoor space really is. Even the smallest garden or balcony enabled many people to begin to reconnect with gardening, outdoor living and the natural world again.

Since covid, life has become increasingly busy again, noisy and filled with screens, and gardens provide us with a place to slow down for a while. In Ireland, I think we are rediscovering something we have always had a natural connection to because our climate and landscape lend themselves beautifully to gardening, and Kerry is probably one of the best examples of that.

Anne Krey and Lisa Rauch of Peppermint Farm Glasshouses exhibited at the Mallow Home & Garden Festival. Picture: Larry Cummins

The soft Atlantic air, the moisture, the richness of growth, the mosses, ferns and woodland plants all create a landscape that feels naturally alive. It makes complete sense that a festival celebrating home, garden and outdoor living would find a natural home there.

I’m always talking about the importance of independent Irish growers and producers, and events like this are their lifeblood. In a world increasingly dominated by mass production and online shopping giants, the opportunity to meet and talk to the people behind the plants is not to be missed.

There is now far greater awareness around sustainability, pollinators, soil health and working with nature, and that will be strongly reflected in the Killarney festival too, with beekeepers, mushroom specialists, organic growers and artisan producers all there for the weekend.

We gardeners love talking to one another, sharing cuttings, advice, stories, successes and failures. Festivals create spaces where that happens naturally, and perhaps that human connection is part of why these events are having something of a moment again.

Leia White of Green Art flower producers, from Holland, with a bunch of alliums at Mallow Home & Garden Festival at Cork Racecourse. Picture: Larry Cummins

I will be speaking and taking gardening questions at the festival on Saturday afternoon at 3pm. Thankfully, the conversation around gardening is gradually moving away from perfection and towards balance as people are asking how to create gardens that feel good to spend time in, gardens that support wildlife, gardens that work with Irish conditions and gardens that become part of everyday life rather than simply something viewed through the kitchen window.

Of course, there will still be people arriving home from Killarney with boots full of plants and probably a few purchases they had not planned on making — some things never change — but increasingly, events like this are no longer simply about what we plant; they are about how we live.

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