Cavan gardener Barry wins twice at this year's Bloom
Naturalist, Barry Kavanagh, spoke to the Celt fresh from his double win
Cavan garden designer, Barry Kavanagh, has won not one but two prizes at this year’s Bloom for two completely different projects.
He and garden architect, Tünde Perry, have won Gold in the Medium Garden Category at Bord Bia Bloom 2025 for their entry “How to Train your Dragon”.
Barry also took home Bronze in the Small Concept Garden category for a balcony garden measuring 5m x 2m, which, when fully grown will yield €1000 worth of fruit and vegetables.
At the time of writing, Barry had just received feedback from the judges at Bord Bia Bloom for the ‘Dragon’ garden which he was commissioned to design and build by Universal Studios, the makers of the popular kids’ TV series and books of the same name.
“How to Train your Dragon 4” will be screened in Cavan from Monday, June 9 “so the timing is perfect,” Barry said.
At the time of writing, Barry had just received feedback from this year’s judges who said the way his garden was designed gave the impression that it ran much further and deeper than the medium-sized plot at Dublin’s Phoenix Park allows.
“They acknowledged that is difficult to do but we achieved it,” Barry told the Celt this morning.
“They liked the way we planted the garden to ‘bring the outside in’, that we connected what lies outside or garden into our garden and the judges liked that.”
It took the best part of five weeks for Barry and Tünde to build the Dragon garden but, it was six months in the planning.
When asked why he chose this particular commission Barry said: “I like naturalistic planting, I am an environmentalist, who studies ecology. I understand nature through my observation of it so I can replicate that in my gardens.
“For this reason, I would ignore a lot of modernism-style commissions because that is just not my style,” he adds.
Read more about the Dragon garden
When Barry Kavanagh isn’t concentrating on Bloom, the Knockbride man teaches with CMETB and designs privately.
This is the third time Barry has won Gold at the prestigious Bloom competition.
Mick Kelly of Grow It Yourself (GIY) Ireland also asked Barry to build a garden in an area the size of a standard apartment balcony in which to grow €1000 worth of produce.
And, despite only getting the brief four weeks ago, Barry not only pulled it together but was awarded Bronze in that category.
Meanwhile, another local garden expert, Benny Magennis from Clontibret took home the Silver Gilt award in the Medium Garden category for his entry “Early Bird Catches the Worm” on behalf of the Marie Keating Foundation.