A green-fingered Bishop’s Stortford resident has been mingling with top garden designers and TV presenters – and winning an award in the process.
Aoife Mulhall was featured in the Indie last July after her allotment in London Road, filled with wild flowers and vegetables, received scores of positive comments, many from passing motorists.
Despite being a first-time grower, she revealed hard graft was paying off for her – and she was noticed by top designer Kim O’Brien and asked to join a team putting together an exhibit for the BBC’s Gardeners’ World Live Show at Birmingham NEC in June.
Aoife, right, with Kim O’Brien
Aoife told the Indie: “She took a chance on me.” And along with a top team, their exhibit, called On My Wavelength, won a silver merit in the Showcase Garden category after being upgraded from Beautiful Borders.
The exhibit entailed work from a team of experts led by Kim, including Aoife, whose role, she said, was “fine detail”, adding: “I’m very much about perfection.”
The design was described as being a beach-inspired border “designed around a mathematical sine wave, which represents water and brain waves”.
The beach-inspired design featured deckchairs
It continues: “Deckchairs on paving provide shared physical space and a barely trickling stream invites mental exploration.
“The wooden backdrop combines thought with mental health challenges and links a vibrant community through a network of support, individual experiences and friendship.
“Planting draws inspiration from water and the abundant and varied life found within it.”
The theme fits in very much with Aoife’s reasons for getting her spade and fork out to make her allotment beautiful as she recognises how therapeutic gardening can be for her and the results for those who see her creations.
Aoife, second from right, with the team and leader Kim O’Brien, far left
Besides working with a top team, Aoife rubbed shoulders with BBC TV Gardeners’ World presenters Adam Frost and Frances Tophill.
But working with Kim gave her a real buzz. “Kim’s a phenomenal woman, and she’s created a team that will follow her to the ends of the earth,” she said.
“She’s one to watch, so it’s a fab opportunity for people to meet her at the BBC Gardeners’ World Fair at Audley End for her floristry workshops at the end of August.”
Aoife’s role in the team was fine detailPlanting drew inspiration from waterThe exhibit won a silver merit in the showcase gardens categoryAoife, right, described Kim O’Brien as a “phenomenal woman”