BLOOM! bursts into life this weekend as York’s horticultural festival returns for a second summer celebration of producers and growers.

This time the event will be a “mini-Bloom” Flower and Produce Festival in York Minster’s Dean’s Park, running on Saturday and Sunday.

Last July's inaugural Bloom! Festival, the brainchild of Make It York and curator Lotte Inch, drew thousands of visitors as the city came alive with floral creations for four days.

For Bloom! mark two, the organisers have called on Yorkshire’s green-fingered growers and producers to take part, asking them: “Can you grow York’s longest broad bean? Create a vegetable self-portrait? Or bake the most delicious plump fruity rock cake?”

Championing York’s rich tradition of horticulture, past and present, and the individuals and communities involved today, the festival’s aim for 2019 is to encourage more people to become involved and ultimately stimulate more planting across the city.

At the epicentre of Bloom! is a flower and produce show, for which six judges will reveal the winning entries in 60 different categories. Entry is open to all comers, and categories have been chosen with a Yorkshire twist, ranging from the best Yorkshire Parkin to the best small potted Lupin.

Bloom! has a full list of competition categories for children and adults to enter as the “focal event for a village fete right in the heart of York”.

Flower farmers, florists, nurseries, specialist growers and anyone interested in taking better care of the natural environment have been invited to take part, including Edible York, Askham Bryan College and York St Nicholas Fields. What’s more, there will be a No Plastic message throughout.

Last summer’s inaugural festival marked 250 years of the Ancient Society of York Florists, the oldest florists’ society in the world. More than 120 events ran over the four days, and the festival engaged with 100-plus businesses.

Ahead of next year’s larger event, this summer’s mini-festival will focus on York’s growers and celebrate existing and budding gardeners.

To continue the legacy of the Bloom! 2018 festival, planning is under way already for next summer's festival, celebrating York’s connections with horticulture.

Paul Whiting, head of Visit York, part of Make It York, says: "Although a smaller affair than last year, this weekend's event will celebrate the positive impact of gardening and plants on our daily lives.

"Supporters of the event established a legacy fund to help us develop the festival and our long-term ambitions are to bring planting into the urban realm through introducing plants, flowers and colour into York city centre, both on a temporary and permanent basis."

Lotte Inch, the festival curator for Make It York, says: "York has a long heritage of growers and there are people across the city nurturing their allotments and taking great pride in what they produce. We hope Bloom! will encourage more people to get involved in everything, from composting to growing vegetables."

Under the roof of the marquee in Dean's Park, the flower and produce show will run from 12 noon to 4pm on Saturday.

Sunday will offer Bloom! visitors the chance to buy from local producers at a plant and flower market. Expect plants and posies from Askham Bryan College, Flower Power York, iBloom, Botanic and more.

Looking forward to the weekend, the Dean of York, the Right Reverend Dr Jonathan Frost, says: "We’re delighted to welcome York’s Bloom!festival to Dean’s Park.

"As one of the largest areas of green space within the city walls, the park is a much-loved, natural haven in the heart of the city and we hope the setting will inspire people to take part and get growing!"

Free events for children and families will include a Bee Story workshop, investigating the importance of bees, Vegetable Self-Portrait Making and Floral Crown Creating. These will be held underneath the trees of Dean’s Park Gardens where bunting and floral decorations will continue the ‘village fete’ theme throughout.

The full programme can be downloaded at visityork.org/dbimgs/Bloom19LeafletPrintNew.pdf.

Charles Hutchinson