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The Love Letter Becomes a Community Garden
- 02 July 2013
Volunteers and children join Bloom star Leonie to rebuild show garden in the west. Leitrim now has a brand new community garden just outside Fivemilebourne. The medal winning show garden "A Love Letter to the West" was rebuilt last week right on the lakeside where the designer, Leonie Cornelius, always imagined it would be. Sligo and Leitrim garden enthusiast volunteers along with an even more enthusiastic bunch of children joined Leonie and Councillor Michael Comiskey in the idyllic setting.
"It's like a dream come true", says Leonie, "When you spend so much time planning and creating a show garden for a big event like Bloom, it's devastating if it just gets destroyed afterwards. I was so pleased when Cllr Comiskey found a home for it by the lakeside here in Leitrim. Now everyone can come and enjoy "A Love Letter to the West" for years to come".
Leonie in front of the new community garden
Preparing for Bloom has taken up much of Leonie's time recently, but now she is happily dealing with an influx of commissions and enquiries which came directly from the event. Her informal planting style, and empathetic designs which are so easy to live with, are attracting a lot of attention country wide. Leonie strongly believes in listening to her clients and designing to suit their specific lifestyles and needs - as well as their garden situation of course.
Leonie with community volunteers
Leonie Cornelius is a qualified garden designer and interior architect who runs Blume Design House (www.blume.ie). In 2012 she came to national attention, winning the RTE SuperGarden competition for designing a family garden. This was followed by a prestigious gold medal and Best in Category award at Bloom In the Park, Dublin. This year she was the garden design expert on RTE television show ‘Today’ with Dáithí Ó Sé and Maura Derrane. Her regular fortnightly slot featured her own designs and plantings based on wild nature and beautiful architecture.
Leonie's son Armando takes a break from gardening
This project received grant aid from the Leitrim Development Company Rural Development Programme (LEADER).
