3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Award winning Leitrim garden designer takes gold medal for unique entry at Bord Bia Bloom
Leonie Cornelius, an award-winning garden designer based in North Leitrim, has been honoured with a gold medal at the 2025 Bord Bia Bloom Festival in Dublin for her medium garden titled Nourish – The Caragh Nurseries Garden.
This is her sixth show garden for Bord Bia Bloom.
Leonie has won numerous medals and awards at Bord Bia Bloom, including a gold medal for last year's Óir, the Zarbee's Garden.
Her entry this year is a collaboration with Caragh Nurseries and the courtyard-style garden blends architecture with wild nature to reconnect us with ourselves and the rhythms of the natural world.
Drawing inspiration from Mediterranean living and ancient herbal traditions, Nourish features a sensory apothecary room surrounded by climate-resilient, edible, and ornamental planting.
The garden invites visitors to slow down, restore, and rediscover pleasure in nature.
With a focus on sustainable design and emotional nourishment, this immersive space is a powerful response to the demands of modern life.
Showcasing bespoke elements from Caragh Nurseries and its outdoor brand, Finn & Elder, Nourish is both a visual and visceral experience – an inspiring blueprint for living in harmony, grounded in nature.
Leonie Cornelius is an award-winning garden designer, interior architect, and bestselling author whose work explores the deep connection between nature, design, and wellbeing.
Inspired by her childhood in Germany and time spent living on a Greek island and in the south of France, she blends Mediterranean influences with Irish landscapes to create soulful, sensory-rich gardens.
Her designs celebrate slow living, seasonal rituals, and emotional restoration.
Through her Nourish garden, Leonie invites visitors to reconnect – with themselves, each other, and the wild rhythms of the natural world.
After Bloom, Nourish garden's plants will be relocated to Caragh Nurseries' wellbeing garden after the festival, ensuring their continued growth and contribution to a nurturing environment.
Caragh Nurseries in County Kildare spans over 60 acres, offering exceptional trees, plants, and bespoke garden design, alongside exclusive pots, lighting, and furniture – creating complete, beautifully tailored outdoor spaces.
