Series Overview
This new series for RTÉ One reveals the hard work and imagination ordinary people have put into their gardens across the island.
We’ve sought out the best amateur gardeners to celebrate the joy of transforming your own space.
Each week three contestants will open their gates to our experts. The experts will take the tour, examining every leaf and sniff every flower, to evaluate the gardens.
How the garden is laid out, how the planting has been done, and what features have been added, are all investigated.
But we also want to know what the garden means to the owner.
Maybe it’s a place of adventure for kids, perhaps it’s a special space for relaxation, or maybe it’s a fully functional extension of your home, for entertaining and dining. How the garden fits into and enhances your life is an important factor too.
The gardens will be split into different categories in each episode, and the experts will assess the plants, the design, the functionality, and the feel of the garden before ultimately choosing a winner. Each episode will have an individual winner, and they will become one of Ireland’s Garden Heroes.
This series is a celebration of nature, of planting and growing things, and the beauty we can all create for ourselves.
Episode Synopsis
In this episode, our experts Jimi, Ingrid and Niall are visiting three gardens to assess ‘Gardens That Surprise.’ The success of a garden is often about what makes it memorable. Our experts will asses whether these three gardens have plants and features that will surprise and enchant visitors, making these gardens more memorable than others.
EPISODE 2 of 6 (images of the gardeners available on request)
Leo Maher – Ballinteer, Co. Dublin
Our three experts visit Leo Maher in Balinteer, Co Dublin. Leo is a local lad, an entrepreneur and business owner who lives with his wife Trish, four kids and a dog. Leo has been bitten by the gardening bug and has transformed his plain suburban back garden into a festival of tropical plants making it unique in the area. Leo says he prefers pottering in the garden to watching TV.
Joanna Sloan – Dunganstown , Co. Wicklow
Our three experts visit Joanna Sloan in rural Wicklow. Joanna grew up on a farm in the area before setting off for London. She resettled in the area where she has five sons and an assortment of chickens, horses, dogs and a paraquet. She considers herself a country girl at heart and gardens with a view of how best to help nature as she grows plants and food. Joanna is a designer and thinks of the garden as another artistic outlet, something creative and inspiring.
Deborah Begley – Limerick
Our experts visit Deborah Begley in rural Limerick, near Killmallock. When Deborah and her husband moved to Limerick in 1991, she had no intention of gardening at all. She has since become a keen gardener and says she and her husband Martin prefer to actively garden rather than sit in the space. Their garden is near a Fairy Fort and so it has become a fairy garden and local attraction. The many different planted areas of the garden are dotted with fairies, pixies and other magical artifacts.