Ireland is definitely getting her own annual topnotch national garden show under the auspices of Horticulture Ireland, the green-fingered branch of Bord Bia responsible for substantially raising the profile of gardening in this country over the last decade.

The event, named 'Bloom', will take place each year over the June bank holiday weekend, when the world is in full bloom. The chosen setting . . .

courtesy of the OPW . . . is the historic Visitor's Centre up in the spacious and beautiful Phoenix Park, the largest enclosed park in Europe.

This good news for Irish gardening couldn't have come at a better time, now that everybody abroad is looking to the Irish gardening scene after Mount Venus's triumph with its brilliant 'Walk on Water' garden at last July's Hampton Court. Ireland's 'Bloom' every June could soon become an international event of great importance in the wider horticultural calendar.

"We are now committed to an annual event that showcases the very best in garden design, outdoor living and environmental awareness, " says Gary Graham, Horticulture Ireland's development marketing executive. They are now actively seeking both designers and commercial sponsors to "help us bring our ambitious and exciting plans to fruition".

To that end, they are currently inviting potential sponsors to be their special guests at this year's impending Chelsea Flower Show (22 - 27 May), so they can "see, hear, smell and feel the experience for themselves".

A sensible thing to do, as once you've experienced the variety and excellence of Chelsea's standards it would be hard to settle for anything less back home.

Chelsea Meanwhile, across the pond on the Thames Embankment, it's all go as the world's biggest and most famous garden show, Chelsea, gets itself ready for the press and royal gala day which launches it, on Monday 22 May. Worried at the water shortages looming over there, the organisers are drilling a 100-metre deep borehole in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea to source nondrinking water, which is not related to the mains supply.

The extracted water will be used to irrigate show gardens and floral exhibits and for water features. The RHS says it is pulling out all the stops, implementing a voluntary hosepipe ban, sourcing water wisely and still putting on a world-class event.

"It is only sensible for a responsible organisation to seek a long-term solution to potential water issues, " said its spokesman, "and drilling a borehole to source non-drinking water seems like a wise watertight move now".

For the first time in the 84year history of the show being held at the Royal Hospital site, a drilling rig is boring through 100 metres of clay and chalk before it hits the water-table, which is lower than the River Thames. A submersible pump will then be lowered into the borehole to extract the water.

The extracted water will be stored in two tanks that are already buried underground (and previously filled from the mains to service the annual show).

Exhibitors will be able to source this extracted water from standpipes situated across the showground. Once it has been installed, there will be no evidence of its existence other than the pipe used to fill the tanks.

Following guidelines set by the UK's Environment Agency, the RHS will extract a de minimis amount of water . . . 20 cubic metres (4,400 gallons) . . .

a day from early May until the end of the show. The tanks will be topped up daily and there will be sufficient water for exhibitors to irrigate gardens, floral exhibits and for pools, fountains and other water features.

The borehole will also provide a long-term sustainable solution to access water wisely and responsibly during future Chelsea Flower Shows.

In response to impending drought and hosepipe bans, some of the show gardens are using hardy and half-hardy herbs with drought tolerant perennials so they'll require very little water.

But it is the stately iris that many designers have chosen to use this year, not just because May is their most glorious season and they are such excellent accent plants with superb early summer foliage, but because so many of them are drought tolerant and belong in sunny, stony and dry places.

They will star in a vast and fabulous array of colours . . .

including some amazing sounding new ones in pure peacock colours from Broadleigh Gardens in the Pavilion. This year's star designers using them include Tom Stuart-Smith (in a series of browns, reds and rust) and Andy Sturgeon, who's giving pride of place to a stand of a tall, dramatic, disease-resistant and almost black-bearded one called 'Superstition'.

DIARY Today: Rare & Unusual Plant Fair in the Donkey Field at Farmleigh in Dublin's Phoenix Park . . . 10.30am-5.00pm.

Admission free. A chance to stock up on some of the best possible garden plants. Food stalls all day in the stable yard.