Tag: bloom

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the pink boat – the finalé

peter donegan.... wondering sometimes why I didn't choose an easier garden design

when I started this journey some people laughed. I was happy they smiled, how or why is irrelevant I suppose. Maybe some people thought I did this garden for some alternate reasons or other [?]. I didn’t. I had no sponsor. I had no money. I just had a dream to create. I still have. I also have the greatet friends who were willing to help me and drop everything just to see this journey complete. I call them the thank you so so much list and to you all, I am eternally greatful.

I just wanted to bring recycling to its ultimate level and show it didn’t need to be all dirty, muddy and somewhat hippy-esque to be involved in. I think I did? The response from the public was overwhelming! It almost made me cry I was so happy, because of their [your] response. It was also a child-like vision and like a sort of ‘drop dead fred’ style thing in my mind. I hope it never leaves me. But I still felt that the garden wasn’t really ‘accepted’.

I can’t describe the feeling when Rick spoke to me live on the airwaves. Not so much that but the response from the public, in their thousands. Thank you all. [I’ll publish this list after; it really deserves a post to itself].

And so it was narrowed down to one call from Siobhán from The Electric Picnic. She explained to me that the pink boat, my dream, would have a home for life where people could meet, a landmark of sorts. Respect and an apt retire had been found. A final resting place… and in my head I pictured this video… I think it summises the journey of Pour l’amour de Jeux from its creation and how it felt inside my mind at its journeys end… thank you.



UPDATE: siobhán has donated 2 VIP passes to ELECTRIC PICNIC. The money I will get for them will go towards my trip with the garden of hope & the Niall Mellon Township – make me an offer….. ?

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Tree leaves may have a bio-cycle


go make a difference - book review peter donegan
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Among the many books in my library I have a little gem called Go make a Difference – over 500 daily ways to save the planet. Whilst the book relates mainly to mainland UK it is still quite a fine journal crammed with useful links and thins that can be so easily done to help our planet.


One genius little junket was to do with a company who sells products made from from recycled tyres! Remarkable Technologies Ltd however have a website which is brilliant and whilst diddling through it over the weekend I found this page/ paper called Tree leaves: A free source of energy, literally falling from the sky where the author Eric Knight believes that ‘A new, renewable energy source, tree leaves, maybe the ideal earth-friendly bio fuel feedstock for the production of ethanol and/ or as a secondary fuel source for power plants.’

That one may not be so relevant to the general populus… but for apartment dwellers and bedsitters to those in country mansions – if you only did one of these per month in your life… As one of the reviews on the back by John Vidal, environment editor with The Guardian says, ‘How many people does it take to change the world? One to buy this book and six billion to act on it’.


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bloom 2008 [6] & the malahide boat show

After an early rise this morning to admire the beauty around me I went to Malahide, North Dublin to see the bi-annual boat show.

One of the reasons I wanted to go was to see if there was anything I could do more to add to the ‘thats an unusual [pink boat all included] garden’ tag Pour L’amour de Jeux has given me! and the well organised event was extremely helpful in sourcing some ‘boat stuff’/ props we needed for Bloom 2008.

The other reason was to travel with a very good friend/ neighbour[ish]/ colleague of mine/ Adrian McMahon and his two sons where we would meet with Gene another colleague of ours for a coffee.

The day was of course fantastic, but like most things in my life it is always made that extra little bit special by those with who it is shared. As you can gather there was a lot of Bloom-in talkin’ goin’ on and I must say where good coffee, intelligents minds and good friends are involved somehow life seems quite easy! Thanks you all, it was Bloomin’ fantastic.

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bloom 2008 [5] – all aboard?!!

since my last posts things have heated up, slightly! But a decision has been made by the Donegan Landscaping team not to release any [semi complete] photographs of the boat until in its fullest glory – and I can assure you D. B. Painters, Noel & the B.D.F. Commercials team are 99% complete on what can only be considered absolute genius!

Today, Gormleys fine art have kindly taken our hand on this amazing journey as our main partner. It is the greatest thing in the world to make people smile by building gardens and I love with passion so dearly my work. To know that a company such as Gormleys, an ideal partner all things considered, will stand tall by my side leaves me brimming with confidence today and above all a radiant smile! Via email Gormleys Fine Art today stated that ‘Gormleys Fine Art is delighted to be involved with Peter Donegan at Bloom 2008. Peter’s gardens are truly inspirational and we take great pleasure in supplying a sculpture by one of our artists Paddy Campbell for his creative design’.

Also on board is another genuis and genuine nice guy Karl Ellis of Rockworld, supplier of my first ever water feature and good friend to this day. Understanding, that Karl got this pic sometime last year with a sketch looking nothing like the one above… His forsight to know me so well is a true sign of an amazing brain. So the water is beind dyed black and the master craftsman of all things Hydrogen Dioxide has worked, as always so hard to yet again, make another of my gardens complete! According to Karl ‘Bloom 2008 is gonna get a little Rock and Roll’ ?!!

And so the adventure continues…. everyone is literally on board! All thats left is for the fine gentlemen of Whittens Road Haulage [click to see how good these guys are!] to lift the boat on May 7th and place it in a garden on May 8th…. and a couple of other things ….?!! I’ll keep you posted!

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bloom 2008 [4] – garden design is fun?

Friday 4th April saw a host of garden designers meet at the site where the bloom show gardens will be built. If you are near the visitor centre in the peoples park, the garden will be sited just in front of the playground and next to the walled garden of last years Bloom.

So how is it going since I last posted? Well, mixed feelings on my part to be truly honest. Akin to an emotional rollercoaster….! In saying that, the people working with me are truly the finest in this small island I am blessed to live on. Gormleys with Paddy Campbell [and thank you V.!] have hand crafted a sculpt especially for the show which came in from Florence last week. Paddy named it La principessa e la Rana. She is truly magnificient and glorius!

The Gentlemen of Whitten’s Road Haulage in Offaly are booked to deliver on May 8th 2008, the day we start to build our garden, Pour L’amour de Jeux. John tells me we may need a Police escort to the park […now that made me smile!] and although he will have to come down the night before to load the boat [it takes about 4 hours to load it depending and it may take about six hours to unload] – once again it is the people by my side who are really building this garden. As a by the way, we are still without a sponsor!

And with that in mind the Atfar Constuction civil engineering team are booked to manage the sinking placing of the boat before Whittens arive!! With the help of some of the greatest minds of this country, a garden that started as a sort of a “imagine if we did ….” which turned into a sort of “I dare ya…” is almost there. I’m getting used to it now after Bloom 2007 and the No Rubber Soul Car-Den [car garden]

Some say it career threatening? Some have said it’s completely moronish? Some say it is inspirational? The truth is it is simply a garden for whch the equation should at all times result in a persons smile. Criticism accepted, opinions all appreciated – the question still remains for you to answer – is gardening & garden design fun? You better believe it!