The cart is empty 
CAFRE Student Wins Prestigious Garden Design Award and is Selected for Chelsea Flower Show team
- 19 February 2016
CAFRE’s Greenmount horticulture student James Purdy, from Cregagh Road, Belfast, has been announced as the winner of the prestigious Kilsaran Student Garden Competition.
Award-winning gardener and TV personality Diarmuid Gavin congratulating CAFRE horticulture student James Aaron Purdy from the Cregagh Road in Belfast as the winner of the prestigious Kilsaran Student Garden Competition.
The competition, now in its third year, is the only one of its kind on the island of Ireland giving students of horticulture, landscape design and architecture a chance to compete with fellow students from across Ireland and showcase their garden design talent.
Award-winning gardener and TV personality Diarmuid Gavin congratulating CAFRE horticulture student James Aaron Purdy from the Cregagh Road in Belfast as the winner of the prestigious Kilsaran Student Garden Competition.
The Awards presentation took place at Kilsaran’s headquarters in Dunboyne Co. Meath where James was announced as the winner by award-winning gardener and TV personality Diarmuid Gavin. In addition to receiving a €3,000 bursary, Diarmuid has invited James to be a part of his team at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show. Diarmuid will be designing and building the “Harrods Eccentrics Garden” and James will get the chance to be part of a carefully selected team charged with bringing the garden vision to reality.
Diarmuid Gavin and Claire Woods Senior Lecturer in Horticulture at CAFRE congratulating horticulture student James Purdy from the Cregagh Road in Belfast as the winner of the prestigious Kilsaran Student Garden Competition.
The brief for the Kilsaran Garden Competition was to design a garden to fit a 60 - 90 square metre space in the existing Kilsaran Home Display Gardens. The judges were looking for a design that was original, practical and buildable using the company’s own hard paving and walling products with a budget of €20,000.
Diarmuid Gavin and Claire Woods Senior Lecturer in Horticulture at CAFRE, and Paul Mooney Head of Horticulture Education branch with student James Purdy from the Cregagh Road in Belfast, the winner of the prestigious Kilsaran Student Garden Competition.
James designed a garden entitled ‘A Sense of Place’ and brought the ‘wow factor’ by using a creative mix of planting, walling and paving to create a unique garden that’s easy-to-build and makes the best use of available space. As part of the prize, James will become one of Kilsaran’s available designers and will see this garden go on display as one of its show gardens on view to potential customers.
The winning Garden
Speaking at the awards ceremony Diarmuid Gavin said: “The garden designed by James will be a fantastic addition to Kilsaran’s show gardens. He has integrated Kilsaran’s hard-landscaping products with soft planting, creating a space that would work in most domestic situations. I’m really looking forward to having him on my team for The Chelsea Flower Show where we will build this year’s Harrod’s Garden. This is a wonderful opportunity for any student.”
Paul Mooney, Head of Horticulture Education based at CAFRE’s Greenmount Campus in Antrim said: “A good strong design, carefully selected sympathetic planting along with practicality and budget control were critical factors in this competition and James clearly demonstrated all of these to gain first place.”
There were five runner’s up in this year’s competition including David Mallon from Co. Down also a Foundation Degree Horticulture Student at Greenmount. Kilsaran received 58 entries this year, its highest to date. The designs varied from traditional, contemporary to wacky.
