When Bord Bia needed someone to co-ordinate the floral marquee at Bloom, they did the right thing and picked a person with years of experience. Orla Woods (with her husband Paul) is a consistent winner of medals – mostly gold – for their Kilmurry Nursery, in Co Wexford, both at Irish shows and at Royal Horticultural Society events in Britain. She is also a person who is able to do a hundred things at once – and do them all well.
This year, not only is she wrangling the 50-plus nurseries, floral artists and educational stands in the “Be Free” Floral Display Marquee, she and Paul and are also putting on their own nursery display, and are supplying specially grown plants to two of the show gardens, those designed by Rosa O’Connell and Dominick Cullinane. And, did I mention that they are also constructing two show gardens? Their “Honest 2 Goodness” vegetable garden will be a miniature allotment, and will, no doubt, perfectly capture the spirit of enterprise, hard work and community of the newly reborn allotment movement. And their garden for Keelings, the fruit growers and importers, will be a “cross between Willy Wonka and the Wizard of Oz” says Orla. Designed by Paul, it will be full of tricks and diversions, including “a tree with apples, that is not an apple tree”, a blackcurrant waterfall and a giant smoothie machine. Sounds delicious.
www.kilmurrynursery.com