Bloom 2026 — The 5 Big Garden Trends to Recreate at Home in Ireland
Bloom 2026 — Ireland's largest garden festival, hosted by Bord Bia in Phoenix Park over the June bank holiday — made the direction of Irish gardening unambiguous. Five themes defined the show gardens this year: sustainability, wildlife-friendly planting, rewilding, bold naturalistic borders, and gardens designed for outdoor living. The consistent message from the show garden judging panel was the same across categories: gardens should look good, support nature, and work hard in everyday life. This guide unpacks each trend and gives you the specific Irish-suited plants to recreate the look at home.
Bloom 2026 attracted approximately 110,000 visitors over the four-day festival (29 May - 1 June 2026) and featured 21 show gardens judged by an international panel. Bord Bia's stated theme this year was "Gardens that Give Back" — a deliberate framing emphasising biodiversity, climate resilience, and reduced resource consumption. The show gardens directly influence what Irish garden centres, designers, and homeowners plant in the following 12 months.
Trend 1: Sustainability — the peat-free, low-resource garden
Sustainability was the foundational thread running through almost every Bloom 2026 show garden. The Irish horticulture industry's move away from peat-based compost (driven by the All-Ireland Peatlands Action Plan), the push toward native species, and the focus on rainwater capture and reduced lawn area all featured prominently.
What it looks like in practice: Peat-free compost, native species where possible, rainwater butts, smaller lawn areas, no synthetic fertilisers, ground cover instead of bedding annuals. Bord Bia gold-medal gardens this year consistently featured Irish native species like Foxglove, Persicaria, Hedera hibernica (Irish Ivy), and native ferns instead of imported ornamentals.
Plants for a sustainable Irish garden
6x Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) — Native Wildflower
24x Persicaria bistorta — Native Common Bistort
For a deeper dive on Irish native species and the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan framework, see our Native Plants & Pollinator-Friendly Garden Design for Ireland 2026.
Trend 2: Wildlife-friendly planting — bees, birds and butterflies first
The single most consistent visual signal across Bloom 2026 show gardens was plants selected specifically because pollinators visit them. Lavender, Salvia, Verbena bonariensis, Echinacea and ornamental thymes appeared in nearly every garden. This is the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan (AIPP) influence working at scale — the Plan's recommended-plant list has become a de facto standard for what Bord Bia gold-medal gardens look like.
What's new in 2026: Beyond standard pollinator-friendly perennials, gardens this year also featured deliberate bird-feeding planting (berries, seed-heads left standing through winter), bat-friendly trees (single specimen native trees), and "insect hotel" structures integrated into garden design rather than tacked on.
Plants for a wildlife-friendly Irish garden
6x Lavender Lavandula angustifolia — Pollinator Magnet
See also our Pet-Safe Plants Ireland guide if you're planning a wildlife garden in a household with cats or dogs (some pollinator-friendly plants are toxic if chewed).
Trend 3: Rewilding — letting parts of the garden be wild
Rewilding moved from fringe environmentalism to mainstream garden design at Bloom 2026. Show gardens deliberately featured "wild" corners — long grass, log piles, self-seeded perennials, native shrubs left unpruned. The aesthetic shifted noticeably away from manicured perfection toward intentional naturalism.
The principle: 10-20% of a garden left semi-wild dramatically increases biodiversity (insect species count, bird visits, pollinator forage). The 2026 show gardens demonstrated this works visually too — a clearly-defined "wild edge" frames the manicured part beautifully, the way a meadow contrasts with cultivated land.
Plants for a naturalistic rewilded edge
24x Persicaria bistorta — Native Damp-Meadow
Trend 4: Bold naturalistic borders — the Oudolf influence
The signature visual of Bloom 2026 was perennial-grass borders inspired by Piet Oudolf — large drifts of structural perennials intermingled with ornamental grasses, designed for year-round interest including the dried seedheads of winter. This is the style championed by High Line New York and Hauser & Wirth Somerset, now firmly established in Irish garden design.
The plant palette: Verbena bonariensis as airy purple verticals; Salvia nemorosa Mainacht for early-summer blue spikes; Echinacea purpurea for August-October colour; Geranium Rozanne flowering nearly six months; Persicaria for damp-edge interest; ornamental grasses (Stipa tenuissima for movement, Calamagrostis brachytricha for height, Pennisetum Hameln for the front edge) tying everything together with texture and motion.
The Oudolf-style border in plants
24x Verbena bonariensis Lollipop — Tall Purple Vertical
Perennial Border Package Amsterdam — Curated Mix
For the complete planting plan, see our Hedging & Perennial Borders Ireland 2026 guide — it covers the structural backbone (hedge), naturalistic body (perennials and grasses), and three sample border plans (small, medium, large).
Trend 5: Outdoor living — the garden as another room
The most decisive shift at Bloom 2026 was away from "show garden as display" toward "garden as functional outdoor room". Show gardens featured seating, dining, kitchens, fire pits, screens, edible plants, and weather shelter — designed around how the garden gets used, not just how it looks. Irish summer (and increasingly mild winters) make year-round outdoor use viable when the garden is properly designed for it.
The three design layers:
- Structural backdrop — bamboo screening (Fargesia), tall hedging, or a pergola supporting climbers (Wisteria, Star Jasmine)
- Statement plant — single specimen for visual anchor (Olive tree, Strelitzia, large Wisteria standard)
- Low layer — lavender, ornamental grasses, ground cover that softens the seating edge
Plants for outdoor-living design
Olive Tree Olea europaea 100cm — Statement Anchor
For the complete guide to garden privacy and outdoor-room screening, see our Garden Screening & Privacy Plants Ireland 2026.
How to recreate a Bloom 2026 garden — the synthesis
Most homeowners don't need to recreate an entire show garden. The Bloom 2026 principles work at any scale — a 3-metre balcony, a 10-metre courtyard, a 200-square-metre back garden. The order of work for an existing garden:
| Step | What | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Reduce lawn area | Convert 30-50% of lawn to perennial border / wild edge / shrub planting | Lower maintenance, more biodiversity, more visual interest year-round |
| 2. Plant the backbone first | Hedge or bamboo screen along boundaries; small tree as focal point | Permanent structure that takes time to establish — do this before everything else |
| 3. Add a naturalistic border | Perennials + grasses, intermingled, in drifts of 3-5-7 plants | The Oudolf-style border is the heart of the Bloom 2026 look |
| 4. Reserve a "wild corner" | 10-20% of garden left to develop naturally — long grass, log pile, self-seeders | Biggest single biodiversity action you can take |
| 5. Design the seating | Where you actually want to sit/eat/work outside — plant the screening and softening around it | Garden-as-room thinking — design around use, not display |
Frequently asked questions
Explore more guides
- Native Plants & Pollinator-Friendly Garden Design for Ireland 2026
- Hedging & Perennial Borders Ireland 2026 — Box Blight Alternatives
- Garden Screening & Privacy Plants Ireland 2026 — Bamboo, Grasses, Climbers
- Wisteria Care Guide Ireland 2026 — Varieties, Pruning & Companions
- Best Ground Cover Plants for Irish & European Gardens
- Best Ornamental Grasses for Irish Gardens
- Landscaping Plants Collection
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