Top honours at Ireland’s premier garden show
I’m delighted to share that our show garden, Rooted in Resilience, has been awarded both a Gold Medal and the People’s Choice Award at Bord Bia Bloom 2026 in Dublin.
Created in partnership with Multiple Myeloma Ireland, the garden explored the lived experience of people affected by multiple myeloma, a rare and incurable blood cancer. Through planting, materials, spatial design and symbolism, it set out to educate, encourage conversation and create moments of reflection for visitors.
Winning a Gold Medal from the judging panel and the People’s Choice Award from the public made this especially meaningful. It showed the garden resonated on both a professional and an emotional level.
Rooted in Resilience on the Bord Bia Bloom website bordbiabloom.com
Designing a garden about resilience
My aim was not to create a literal representation of illness, but an emotional landscape that reflected the complexity of living with multiple myeloma.
The garden guided visitors through a sequence of contrasting spaces inspired by different stages of the journey: moments of uncertainty, support, recovery, self-care and remission. Each space was open to personal interpretation, so visitors could connect with the garden in their own way.
A narrow entrance corridor created a sense of focus and anticipation before opening into more social and restorative areas. A handcrafted timber retreat gave a place to pause and reflect, while the final remission space brought in resilient, coastal-inspired planting, a still reflection pool and subtle references to balance and ongoing adaptation.
A special connection
The garden also had the support of Dearbhla Mescal, a long-standing ambassador for Multiple Myeloma Ireland and mother of the Irish actor Paul Mescal. Throughout the project, Dearbhla was a passionate advocate for the garden and its message, helping raise awareness of multiple myeloma and the experiences of people living with the condition.
Sustainable garden design at Bloom 2026
Sustainability ran through the whole design process. We chose materials on circular economy principles wherever possible. Reclaimed timber, reused elements and rented construction materials helped reduce waste, and showed how beautiful and meaningful gardens can be made with sustainability in mind.
Many of the feature trees had been rescued from storage after earlier projects and still carried subtle signs of stress and recovery. Including them reinforced the garden’s themes of resilience, endurance and renewal.
The planting palette combined robust perennials, grasses and shrubs with softer, more delicate species. Plants such as Thalictrum ‘Elin’, Digitalis lutea, Crambe maritima, Ammophila arenaria and Corylus avellana each played a part in expressing strength, uncertainty, recovery and adaptation.
Multiple Myeloma Ireland at Bloom myeloma.ieAn incredible response from visitors
One of the most rewarding parts of Bloom 2026 was seeing how visitors responded. Throughout the week, people shared their own experiences of cancer, treatment and recovery. Many spent a long time in the garden, and some came back several times during the show.
What surprised me most was the emotional impact the garden had. Visitors often sought us out to talk about what the space meant to them. Some shared deeply personal stories, while others simply wanted to say thank you.
Receiving the People’s Choice Award reflected those connections, and the power of gardens to communicate complex ideas in a way that words sometimes cannot.
A collaborative achievement
Creating a show garden is never the work of one person. Rooted in Resilience was only possible thanks to Multiple Myeloma Ireland, our volunteers, suppliers, sponsors, contractors and everyone who generously gave their time, expertise and enthusiasm.
The garden became a collective effort built around a shared goal: raising awareness of multiple myeloma while creating a space that offered hope, reflection and connection.
About Studio Stour
Studio Stour is an award-winning garden and landscape design studio based in Suffolk, working throughout Essex, East Anglia and across the UK. Our work brings together thoughtful design, sustainability, biodiversity and strong visual storytelling to create gardens that are deeply connected to people and place.
Winning Gold and the People’s Choice Award at Bord Bia Bloom 2026 is an important milestone for the studio, and it strengthens our belief that gardens can be beautiful, sustainable and meaningful in equal measure. If you’re looking for an award-winning garden designer in Suffolk, Essex or beyond, we’d love to hear about your project. You can also see more of the garden on the Rooted in Resilience project page.
Filed under Project journal on 9 June 2026
