Super Garden, the garden design challenge, is back for its 16th series on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player. Super Garden is proudly sponsored by Woodie’s and Dulux Exteriors.
The winning designer is given the chance to showcase their winning garden at Bord Bia Bloom, where over a hundred thousand visitors will have the chance to see their winning design brought to life, joining the ranks of Ireland’s top garden designers. Each designer is given three weeks and a budget of €15,000 to create their gardens. They are each given a similar sized garden to create their designs, working alongside each other in the new housing development.
Baker Hall in Navan, County Meath, built by Glenveagh Homes, is the location for this year’s Super Garden. The designers will be creating gardens for homeowners, who have recently purchased these new homes with the support of Meath County Council and the Land Development Agency, through the affordable housing scheme.
Overseeing the competition are the three judges; Brian Burke, representing Woodies and former Super Garden winner Monica Alvarez, representing Dulux Exteriors and Carol Marks, representing Bord Bia.
EPISODE ONE (22nd April 2025)
In episode one we see Jorge Aragón Cano, Dublin based but originally from Chihuahua, Mexico, designing a garden for new homeowners Layla and Dylan. The homeowners are looking for something dog friendly for their dog Nando and somewhere to entertain family and friends. Jorge plans to bring his design titled ‘Failte Fiesta’ to life for Layla and Dylan, a design that combines Irish and Mexican cultures, and simply put, will be a party garden!
Jorge, aged 38, with a degree in industrial design engineering, moved to Ireland 12 years ago. He has always wanted to work in industrial design but pursued a career in the tech industry as a team leader, taking on roles with Google and most recently Tik Tok, where he worked for two years but left through redundancy in April. Redundancy has led him to be in the process of setting up his own interior design business (jorgearagon_haus). He works on design projects in his spare time, ranging from intimate balcony makeovers to small scale garden, patio and interior designs. Jorge has watched Super Garden over the years and always dreamed of taking part. He feels it will help him to grow as a designer and would be a great personal accomplishment.
Other gardeners competing this year:
Episode 2: Eileen Sung (72), from Belfast based but originally from Derry, is a latecomer to garden and design, having had a varied and exciting career before coming to her passion for gardening. She is designing a garden for young family Vasile, Sarah, Francesco (aged 3) and their baby on the way. Eileen aims to create a ‘new beginnings’ garden.
Episode 3: Debbie Brophy (41), Kildare based but originally from Laois, is designing a garden for young family Anju, Jaison and son Steve (aged 3). ). The homeowners have asked Debbie for a nature friendly family garden that is also low maintenance, and suitable for their young son Steve to have friends over to play. Debbie hopes to impress the judges with her ‘bee happy’ wildlife garden, inspired by a honeybee colony that moved into her own garden last year. She has just completed her postgraduate diploma with the Garden Design Academy, and holds a degree in Fine Art painting.
Episode 4: Chris Walsh (32), from Wicklow, is designing a garden for Brazilian couple Aline and Marcelo. The homeowners have emphasised how important it is for them to have a barbeque area, to entertain family and friends, as Marcelo is a chef. Chris hopes to create a ‘culinary canopy’ design, with planting being key to Chris’s garden as he plans to try and attract wildlife to the garden, bringing in his love for the environment. Chris has his own landscaping business Birch & Fern.
Episode 5: Rosie McGuire (47), Kildare based but originally from Stamford in Lincolnshire, is designing a garden for young couple Adrian and Gabriella, and their dog Leo. Rosie has come up with a strong concept inspired by the poem by WB Yeats, Lake Isle of Innisfree. Rosie will be bringing the lake from the poem to her garden with a large wildlife pond which will be the most dominant feature of the design and something that is a first for Super Garden.
Episode 6: It’s the finale and all five designers have completed their garden designs and it is now time for our judges to make their decision on who should be crowned the winner of Super Garden series 16, and in turn who will have their design showcased at Bord Bia Bloom 2025.