Judge Brian Burke on what he wants from a Super Garden winner

RTÉ News​

22-04-2025

Beloved garden design challenge, Super Garden, is back for a brand new series on RTÉ One - the 16th series, if you can believe it.
"It's a real testament to its popularity," says Brian Burke, a former Super Garden winner and long-time judge on the show. "It's all about the aspects of the show that appeal to people; it's so relatable, the size of the gardens, everyone can look and take some ideas from it."
"People are pent up after the winter, they're mad to get back out," he adds. " Super Garden lands at the opportune moment."
Each year, the series challenges a bunch of budding designers to sprout and bloom - no matter the conditions.
Each is given three weeks and a budget of €15,000 to create a slice of heaven to address their client's individual needs.
Working alongside each other in a new housing development, the designers are battling it out for the coveted title of 'Super Garden winner' as well as the chance to showcase their design at Bord Bia Bloom - Ireland's premier garden festival.
Based in Baker Hall in Navan, County Meath, this year's gardens will need to address a variety of priorities, ranging from child-friendly play areas to a culinary canopies perfect for entertaining.
The diverse range of designers and homeowners is a credit to the show and, according to Brian, has become a key factor in its long-running success.
"You get people of all ages, you get people of different nationalities, people from all backgrounds," says the Woodies representative. "They bring a whole different range of skillsets, experience, tastes and preferences to the table. If you don't like what's showcased in one episode, chances are you'll like one of the others."
Burke, a former Super Garden winner himself, has been a long-standing judge of the show and says that every season brings fresh ideas and perspectives.
"People really use it as a source of inspiration," he muses, noting that one of this year's gardens will be designed around the concept of the WB Yeats poem, Lake Isle of Innisfree.
"To be inspired by our literary heritage, it wasn't one that we were expecting," he admits, "but, again, that's testament to the extent to which people are thinking about design now."
"To look at a rectangular space and to go beyond the obvious, and to go beyond the physical, and to elevate it to the realm of the metaphysical or the literary is testament to where garden design is going."
Super Garden is back 🙌🌱
Each designer is given three weeks and a budget of €15,000 to create their gardens, and the winner will showcase their garden at Bord Bia Bloom 🌷 #SuperGarden | New season starts Tuesday at 7pm pic.twitter.com/YjAcYFJ9S2
— RTÉ One (@RTEOne) April 20, 2025
Working alongside judges Monica Alvarez and Carol Marks, Burke says that the panel are always looking for people to go "beyond the expected" when it comes to their work.
"Give us something that maybe we haven't seen before. Now, it's hard to be original on a planet of eight billion people," he admits. "It's hard to be original. There are aspects of pretty much everything that we've seen before, but there's still scope to be innovative, there's still scope to be different."
Planting styles, configuration of space, use of water, and a sense of flow are all taken into account when it comes to competing designs.
"Fundamentally, and probably most importantly in the whole process, is how you respond to the needs of the homeowners," says Burke. "Everyone has a different set of requirements, and this is one of the things that designers are being tasked with.
"It's about being original, being interesting, going beyond the expected, while also responding directly to the needs that the household requires. There are a lot of boxes to tick there, a lot of balls to juggle. The one who manages it most successfully is usually the one who wins."