The funeral of RTÉ Super Garden winner John Dooley, who passed away just days after he triumphed on the show last week, will take place tomorrow in his native Castledermot in Co Kildare.
He passed away suddenly last Wednesday shortly after he displayed his garden at the Bord Bia Bloom Garden Festival in Dublin.
Mr Dooley said winning the show with his Back to the Future garden design had made his “dream come true”.
He is survived by his wife Liz, brothers, sisters, sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, nieces, nephews, relatives, neighbours and a large circle of friends.
Each episode of Super Garden tasks amateur gardeners with designing a garden for a friend or family member and Mr Dooley dreamt up a garden for Daija, who is originally from Latvia and has scoliosis, and her daughters, Amanda and Amelia.
Mr Dooley’s garden created a low-maintenance, sustainable, and biodiverse garden, which accommodated Daija’s scoliosis and offered an easy-to-care-for space for the family to enjoy.
Speaking after winning Super Garden last week, Mr Dooley recalled visiting Bord Bia Bloom in 2022 two years ago thinking, “I’d love to be here”.
However, it wasn’t until his wife Liz signed him up without him knowing that he got a chance to prove himself.
“I missed the first showing of Super Garden and got the repeat, so he was gone to the shop or somewhere and it was over,” Liz said at Bord Bia Bloom 2024.
“It’s more than a dream come true. I have dreamt about it, thought about it, I never would have had the courage to do it,” said Mr Dooley.
Mourners on RIP.ie have described the garden designer as a “ray of sunshine on Super Garden“.
“We had the pleasure of meeting John in his lovely garden at Bloom on Saturday, he was a true and most humble gentleman,” said another message of condolence.
“He only just achieved his lifelong dream to design a garden and he did it with such passion with Liz at his side all the way. A true gentleman he will be sadly missed”.
