Institute of Flowers at Bloom Dublin 2025

Wet weather failed to dampen floral fun at Bloom. Bord Bia Bloom is Ireland’s annual garden festival, situated in the historical Phoenix Park on the outskirts of Dublin.

This year’s show was a special event for Irish florists, as it saw the first major outing for the newly formed Institute of Flowers, a not-for-profit organisation founded in October 2024 by Fionnuala McAuley a florist with twenty years’ experience in the industry, and business coach Sinead Kieran.

Why was there a need for a professional body?

Fionnuala said "I moved from being a hands-on florist in a shop to working for wholesalers Van der Plas, and began travelling around the region, meeting different florists. This was when I became aware of how much they were struggling as small businesses on their own, such as with problems finding and training staff, the cost of flowers, transport and distribution."

"From this realisation, the IOF was born, a place where professional florists, educators, businesses and students can meet up, exchange ideas and support each other. We meet regularly, either in person or online, hold webinars, and have monthly training days, where we can concentrate on education and upskilling."

IOF at Bloom

For the show, Fionnuala and her team, which included Jenny Murphy from Flowers by Moira, and Irish Master Florist Lamber de Be, built a compact, but beautifully fitted out flower shop.

‘"We created the lush exterior to draw people in, then once inside they discovered a pop-up florists, complete with bunches to go and hand-tied bouquets."

There was also an expansive and generous show of fresh flowers and foliage, all of which were sponsored by Van der Plas.

In the centre of the ‘shop’ was a workbench where, over the five days of the show, 35-40 Irish florists, themselves adorned with floral jewellery, planned to spend their time making up buttonholes, hair pieces and mini corsages, before handing them out to visitors to wear on completion.

This went down brilliantly, as a fascinated public watched florists expertly wire and tape, and at the same time answer questions about what they were doing, where they were from and so forth.

What a way to show off the skills of the professional florist and truly engage people, and it certainly worked with a constant flow of visitors, interviews with the local media and even Irish politicians dropping by.

So what next for the IOF?

"Bloom has been the perfect way to introduce us to the wider public, the media and the floristry industry. We have approximately 100 members at the moment, the aim is to keep expanding and keep spreading the word."

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Su Whale is a florist and freelance writer with over twenty-five years' experience in the floristry industry. She is the author and publisher of three best-selling books: Cut Flowers, 4th edition (2020) Cut Foliage, 2nd Edition, (2021) and Houseplants (2019), all bookshelf essentials for the professional florist.