Blarney Castle gardener joins festival line-up

THE head gardener at Blarney Castle has been announced as the latest high-profile speaker confirmed to appear at this year’s Clare Garden Festival.
Adam Whitbourn will join other speakers including Clare’s organic guru Jim Cronin, GIY patron Klaus Laitenberger and plantsman and RHS tutor Ciarán Burke at the festival to be held at the Ennis Showgrounds in April. The theme this year fitting to the Gathering is Going back to your roots! with all areas of gardening set to be covered.
Adam, a trained horticulturalist from Askham Bryan college, York, England, took on the role as head gardener at Blarney Castle in 2009 and has overseen the transformation of the gardens into a must-see destination for anyone with a passion for horticulture, having featured in Irish Garden magazine and The English Garden magazine.
“I am excited to visit Clare and be part of what is promising to be a great festival with an amazing line-up of speakers and exhibitors. It will be a great delight to share my horticultural  experience with gardeners in the Mid-West.”
Having created and built their own festival, Blarney in Bloom, to be held this year on Saturday, July 13, he said, “Over the past months, myself and event organiser Carmen Cronin have been in touch many times – exchanging tips and supporting each other where possible.
“I believe such co-operation is important and of value for all of  the gardening industry and can benefit gardeners nationwide.”
Founder and organiser of the festival, Carmen commented, “It is a huge pleasure to welcome Adam and all our other wonderful speakers on board with our first stand-alone Clare Garden Festival. I am thrilled we will have such an excellent standard of  high-profile speakers present.
“We have decided to make the talks bite-sized and bring each speaker back a second time on stage with talks ranging from beginners’ ornamental and vegetable gardening to advanced techniques for experienced growers. A full schedule of talks and all other activities and entertainment for our garden festival on the last Sunday in April will be available closer to the date.”
In addition to talks by celebrity speakers, the 2013 festival will also feature a large garden and food fair to incorporate stalls from the gardening industry from all over Ireland and supported by artisan food and related stalls from Clare and beyond.
There are eight categories of stallholders, including specialist nurseries, garden centres, education and charities, floristry and crafts, tunnels, tools and accessories, visitor gardens, landscaping and design and artisan food.
At present, over 20 from Cork, Limerick, Tipp, Galway and Clare have signed up, with the same number having indicated that they would like to come. The organisers have planned for a minimum of 40 stalls on the day.
“The festival hopes to inspire families and residents in general to grow their own fruits and vegetables with the objective of healthy living and will provide an accessible platform for groups like residents’ associations and tidy towns’ associations to gain inspiration and experience to use in their own estate enhancement.”
For further details on Clare Garden Festival, visit www.claregardenfestival.com or
www.facebook.com/claregardenfestival.