bloom 2008 [2] – the boat

pour l'amour de jeux - the boat garden

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yesterday was not the most usual of days in my horticultural career! This 1957, 33 foot, 7 tonne boat is the model Royal Cruiser IV that will be used in Bloom 2008, the garden show extravaganza in the Phoenix Park this June Bank Holiday weekend.

It took 7 men, a 30 tonne specialist marine transporter and 6 hours to lift and move it 6 km. Working with me on the boat will be John Friel and his team who also who rebuilt the morris minor for last years garden.

we got a lot of strange looks when word went out that this was the boat for our show garden but.. maybe ‘show’ gardens should be just that….

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Bloom 2008 – Pour L’amour de Jeux

This was the bio given to my show garden entry before it was built…

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Without a main sponsor….. Peter Donegan’s design, titled ‘Pour L’amour de Jeux’ is a garden whose title and theme was chosen on the basis of a Designers desire to build and design ‘dream’ gardens because of a love of the game.

With modern pressures and taken for granted hectic lifestyles this garden is a micro-haven paradise designed and built with pure passion to show that dreamers do exist and that those dreams however illogic can become reality. If life is what you enjoy, then this garden is what you will love, our entry for Bloom 2008

When asked so many times throughout Bloom 2007, why one would design a show garden as was ‘No Rubber – Soul’; it seemed incomprehensible to some, yet to others put simply it was for ‘a love of the game’ the only reason why Peter Donegan and his team built such a garden. It seemed therefore quite an appropriate name for this garden.

A garden that is fully recycled or recyclable the main feature… comprises a 33ft 1957, pink, three story pleasure cruise boat named ‘Mo Chailín Cáitlín’. The garden is surrounded by water, a slightly raised recycled timber and lawn combined marina, and natures finest planting. The finshing touch is a hand sculpted piece by Patrick Campbell.

And so the question still remains… would you sponsor a show garden?

With thanks to:

consultations are over[heads]?!

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Some time ago i wrote about call out & consultation charges. [There is a difference.] A consultation is by definition ’2 a meeting or discussion for seeking advice’. It requires professional advice based on education and experience. A call out, to differ, generally requires pricing for specific tasks as decided already by the client. [In this day and age this can almost somewhat be done by email]

The point I make is that in business time does equal money, not all of the time, but where one may spend a half day in transit and advising, whereafter a quotation and sketch/ design layout is delivered – the cost must be covered somehow by a[any business] The question I pose now is if one does not cover this cost then surely the next client is paying for it? Is this fair?

Some say it is deducted from your bill if the go ahead is given – a hidden cost still within the final invoice? Some don’t charge at all – they say – so who pays for the overheads of the business? Some simply say free advice is sometimes more costly in the end. Maybe it’s a price not advice/ consultation one needs?

The question that seems to arise is should one charge for a consultation? Any company providing professional services would say yes.

thank you!

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I got this as a gift recently, to say thank you. Simply, I thought it was genius and should share this with you! It now sits of my drawings file in my office! Thank you so much, it’s really very much appreciated.

Happy Monday, slán go foill

peter

a horticultural bible

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I bought this book about 8 years ago now and at the time it cost about €100 [possibly púnts at the time?]. If botany and intricate plant studies are what turns one on… then this is your cup of tea. Do understand this is not Sunday afternoon reading. It is a referene book. A bible as such for the horticulturist. If you are newbie to the horticultural sector – I’m not suggesting that this is not for you, but your use of it may be extremely limited and for the price there may be other books of better value.

It comes in 2 volumes, it weighes a tonne, It’s pricy and it’s a plants-persons dictionary. That said, for my library, a gem and a must have.