The competition to design and create a Super Garden is back. Five designers take on a challenge that requires great creativity and a huge amount of physical effort to build a garden worthy of going to Bord Bia Bloom, Ireland's premier garden show.
With just three weeks and a budget that amounts to €15,000, each designer takes over one garden in a new social housing estate – their blank canvas – to make something that will impress the judges. Millrace in Ashbourne County Meath, a new social housing development by Meath County Council, is the location for this series. Five families, who had just moved into their new homes, had their gardens transformed for the competition.
The Super Garden judges are Brian Burke, representing Woodie’s, who is a previous Super Garden winner; Kerrie Gardiner Bord Bia Bloom’s Show Gardens Manager; Carol Marks, Manager of Horticulture Bord Bia; and Monica Alvarez, a garden design lecturer also representing Dulux.
The winning garden is recreated at Ireland’s premier garden and food event, Bord Bia Bloom. Over 100,000 people will get to experience the Super Garden and this provides a great launch pad for the winning designer.
Episode 1 - Eoighan Mountaine Barry
Eoighan from Lucan, Dublin has always been gardening as his father runs his own landscape business, so summer holidays, mid-term breaks always involved helping his dad. His mother is also a passionate gardener so it was no real surprise that Eoighan went on to do a degree in Horticulture. Eoighan roped in all the family including his grandmother to help him build his entry to Super Garden. Eoighan's striking design mixes hard materials like glass bricks with natural elements like his centre piece olive tree.
Eoighan is a regular visitor to Bloom and winning Super Garden would be the perfect kickstart to his career in horticulture and garden design.
Episode 2 - Janani Rajkumar
Janani from Balbriggan started out as a software engineer however her passion for plants eventually took over and for the last twelve years she has been gardening in India and now Ireland. She runs a terrarium "Mini Garden" business, (a garden in a bottle) but she has bigger ambitions. She has completed a Level 6 Landscape Design and Construction Course with Teagasc. Janani's entry to Super Garden is a garden that is inspired by the Irish landscape, expect rolling hills and a mountain stream.
Janani is hoping that her participation in Super Garden will bring her to Bloom and help her establish her new garden design business, she is now scaling up from miniature to the real thing.
Episode 3 - Emily Moorcroft
In Episode 3, designer Emily Moorcroft sets out to create a sanctuary space and a garden that will water itself. Emily used to be a detective in the London Metropolitan Police. Her husband was offered a job in Germany so she stepped back from police work. Her husband's work then brought him to Dublin, and Emily decided not to go back to the Met. As one door closes, another opens, and she decided to fully commit to following her passion for gardening and did a post grad course at the Garden Design Academy. She is hoping to get to Bloom, helping her to complete the transition from detective to garden designer.
Episode 4 - Sean Melia
In Episode 4, designer Sean Melia's contemporary garden uses strong colours and elevated spaces to deal with a challenging high concrete wall. Sean is from Summerhill, Co. Meath and, at 20, is one of the youngest designers ever to take part in Super Garden. There are ten generations of gardeners in Sean’s family so it was no surprise that when Sean left school he pursued horticulture. Sean is currently doing an apprenticeship through the Botanic Gardens. In 2020, his father Dermot Melia took part in Super Garden and created a spectacular garden but didn’t win. So this time Sean will be hoping to win, for the family.
