Sustainability and the circular economy main themes of Bloom 2025
Sustainability and the circular economy are among the main themes at this year's Bloom event, which gets under way at Dublin's Phoenix Park today.
Now in its 19th year, over 100,000 visitors are expected to attend what is the country's largest gardening festival across the next five days.
Bloom is hosting 21 show and feature gardens, with issues relating to climate change, the environment, and sustainable living featuring strongly.
This includes 11 'Postcard Gardens' created by community groups from all over the country, 16 environmental and conservationist groups in the conservation area, as well as 17 Irish plant nurseries and floral artists exhibiting.
Over 100 food and drink companies are exhibiting at the event, which also includes live talks, demonstrations, and musical performances.
Sponsored by Bord Bia, Bloom is aiming to be the most sustainably operated large-scale event in the country.
Organisers say that last year over 21,000 litres of water were used to refill reusable bottles at hydration stations, two tonnes of used coffee grounds were collected and donated to the OPW for use in composting, and over 20,000 visitors travelled to the event using public transport.
President Michael D Higgins, a patron of Bloom, will officially open the festival with an address this afternoon.
The event runs from 9am to 6pm daily until Monday, 2 June.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Independent
25 minutes ago
- Irish Independent
Artist Domino Whisker: ‘I have been living in my mum's house for the last six months as renting in Dublin is simply not a possibility for me'
From the Palm Springs desert and her collection of weird chairs to embroidered prints made by her grandmother, the Irish creative shares some of her favourite people, places and things Today at 21:30 Favourite places: The Palm Springs desert holds a special place in my heart. There is magic in its vastness alone, the drive there from LA is almost meditative for me. The mid-century nostalgia that hits you when you get into the heart of the city, the colour palette of the buildings and the phenomenal backdrop of the San Jacinto Mountains and multicoloured sunsets — there's no place like it. I also love Greece, the island life there and the slow pace and friendliness of the locals. Despite it being 2025, it can be difficult travelling as a vegetarian but Greek cuisine excites me; I am never let down. I recently visited Hydra, a place for Leonard Cohen and cat lovers. The only thing better than a perfect sunset while on vacation is a perfect sunset with a Greek beer and a local cat in your lap.
Irish Examiner
2 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Ireland does not satisfy international standard for election observation, group claims
The Government has been called on to reassess legislation around election observing after reported issues during the general election. Non-governmental organisation Democracy Volunteers sent a group of observers to Dublin and Kildare to observe but said that while the Government and "many individual returning officers" are welcoming, some were not. The group claimed Ireland does not fully meet the international standard for election observation as, in the case of a general election, observation is only possible where each individual returning officer gives their approval for it to go ahead. As a result, election observation can, and sometimes is, prevented by local returning officers, said director of Democracy Volunteers, Dr John Ault. "This is not an ideal situation as, despite the clear benefits of election observation, which the Irish Foreign Ministry contributes to around the world, as part of the EU and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) states, it does not fully allow observation of its own elections," said Dr Ault. "We therefore call on the Irish Government to reassess its legalisation regarding election observation to allow domestic and international observers full access to the voting process." Minister for housing and local government, James Browne, said his department actively seeks to facilitate the attendance of observers at any election or referendum whenever such requests are received. Mr Browne said requests from Democracy Volunteers have been facilitated in the past, including the most recent general election. The OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights undertook needs assessment missions in advance of the last four general elections, Mr Browne noted. However, on these occasions it did not deploy full election-related missions with the last full mission taking place ahead of the general election in March 2007. Responding to a question from People Before Profit-Solidarity TD Paul Murphy, Mr Browne said there are no plans at present to amend electoral law regarding election observation. "The legislation is kept under ongoing review and my department will continue to engage with all organisations involved in observing elections with a view to facilitating any future requests to observe at Irish elections," said Mr Browne.
The Irish Sun
4 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Three Irish EuroMillions players win life-changing 6-figure sums as punter narrowly misses out on massive €238m jackpot
THREE Irish punters are celebrating after winning big in tonight's EuroMillions draw. While one player was only one ball off the massive main prize of over €238 million, two players won €500,000 in the Plus 2 There was no winner of the EuroMillions jackpot tonight Credit: Alamy Over 60,000 players in Ireland won prizes in the One lucky player matched five numbers and one lucky star, winning an eye-watering €212,330. And the winning ticket was sold in Co There was no winner of the EuroMillions jackpot tonight, which was sitting at €238,816,941 - and rolls over to €250m for the next draw. Read more in Money The numbers in the main draw were 11, 13, 25, 27 and 40 and the two lucky stars drawn were 5 and 7. The numbers pulled in the Plus draw were 1, 3, 9, 10 and 12. Two Irish players matched all five numbers to win €500,000 each. The winning tickets were sold in Most read in Money And 75 players matched four of the numbers to get €2,000. It comes after Wexford-based Ballingly Joinery syndicate arrive at Lotto HQ to collect their €1,000,500 Lotto Plus Raffle prize The EuroMillions player has scooped a whopping €225,000. The The winning Quick Pick ticket was purchased on the day of the draw from Duffy's Service Station on Turlough Road in Castlebar, Co The winning raffle number in last night's The Mayo winner has claimed Ireland's ninth and final The limited series of special EuroMillions draws was designed to guarantee nine players a huge prize of €225,000 for all nine draws, every Tuesday and Friday during May. The previous winners were from A spokesperson for the National Lottery, Emma Monaghan, said: "While there was no winner of last night's EuroMillions jackpot worth €218,316,095, over 81,000 players in Ireland won prizes in the EuroMillions and EuroMillions plus games. "This includes one Raffle Ticket winner: I- SDZ-53784 from Castlebar, Co. Mayo, who scooped a life-enhancing €255,000 in our special EuroMillions Ireland Only Raffle draw." While there were no winners of the EuroMillions jackpot in last night's draw, which could have made someone €218,316,095 richer. The EuroMillions numbers drawn in the main draw were 4, 7, 14, 33, 36 with 1 and 5 as lucky stars. Only one player managed to match four numbers and two stars, winning themselves a huge prize of €1,557. 2 Three Irish punters are celebrating after winning big in EuroMillions in tonight's draw
