Saturday afternoon, typical west of Ireland weather, a soft rain is blown by a westerly wind and grey clouds slide over the sky. We were in Dunleavy’s nursey just off the Loughglin to Ballinlough road in Co. Roscommon. Excitedly we were greeted by their grandchild, a little doll named Kila who informed her grandmother and aunt that there were customers here. Her aunty Valerie laughed as she said to Kila, “customers! Sure that word is bigger than youself”.
Two benches of nasturtiums grown in pots were laid out before us, we picked a good number for our Bloom stand. Each one beautifully healthy, grown with love. We picked up a couple more sunflower plants and Hanna found a double flowered pale pink and white aquilegia for our garden.
We packed them into the car, chatted with the Dunleavy’s until Kila came along covered in ice cream, she had started eating her cornetto from the narrow bottom end. We said our goodbyes and left Kila to be fussed over by two generations of Dunleavys. Off home to continue our preparations for Bloom, only four more days to go.
Ciaran The Gardener 