Local schools to showcase ‘postcard gardens’ at Bloom

Local schools to showcase ‘postcard gardens’ at Bloom

By Mary Dennehy

THE community of South Dublin County will be well represented at Bloom this weekend, after three local schools and a community centre were chosen to plant their seeds for thought in ‘postcard gardens’.

Sacred Heart JNS ASD unit in Tallaght, St Joseph’s NS in Clondalkin, Kishoge Community College, Lucan, and Walkinstown Greenhills Resource Centre were among 14 finalists chosen out of hundreds of entrants nationwide to take part in the Postcard Garden project.

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Sacred Heart garden will be showcased at Bloom this weekend

The miniature ‘postcard gardens’ consist of compact 2m x 3m plots, with entrants asked to create a showpiece that represents them, their locality or wider community.

In Tallaght, pupils at Sacred Heart JNS created a garden called Commotion in the Ocean.

According to teacher Gaye Healy, this miniature garden, which uses recycled materials, aims to highlight the dangers posed to the ocean and its wildlife from pollution.

It also hopes to highlight to children in the school’s ASD Unit how the world can be “a big scary place and can be like a vast deep ocean of uncertainty”.

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However, according to the school’s garden summary, “as they move on in the world it is like taking a big jump into the unknown waters, but the creatures of the ocean (family and friends) will be there to help them on their way.”

In Kishoge Community College, pupils called their garden the Birds and the Bees – which promotes the importance of having a safe space that nourishes the mind, body and soul.

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Kishoge’s garden, The Birds and the Bees, will showcase at Bloom this weekend

The school community has created an edible garden that promotes nourishment and pollination, with teacher Aoife Donogue saying that the school is delighted it has “designed a space where we can grow, sustain and connect”.

Walkinstown Greenhills Resource Centre has created a Body and Soul garden to explore and reflect on the theme of mental health.

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St Joseph’s round tower ‘postcard garden’

According to Viv Rooney, counsellor team leader at the centre: “In designing the garden, the group drew upon their personal experience and were keen to emphasise the importance of attending to both body and soul in the quest for mental health wellness.”

Finally, in St Joseph’s boys national school in Clondalkin, the round tower takes centre in their showpiece garden.

The idea for the garden came from SNA Marie Kearney who worked with the pupils, school caretaker and the local men’s shed to create a monastic garden complete with vegetables and herbs used for medicinal and edible purposes.

The Postcard Gardens at Bloom, which is supported by FBD Ireland, will be on display at the Bord Bia Bloom festival this June bank holiday weekend in the Phoenix Park.

For further details visit www.bloominthepark.ie.

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