Peter Donegan Garden Design has been shortlisted in category Best Garden Design Studio at The Pro Landscaper Business Awards 2026 in association with The Paving Superstore. 

Created to celebrate, of this category sponsored by Millboard, the very best of Britain’s garden design companies, the very special awards ceremony takes place at Old Billingsgate London Friday 24th April 2026.

According to International Manager Will Williams, “These awards are firmly established as THE INDUSTRY AWARDS, looking beyond individual projects, uniquely recognising and celebrate the business successes of organisations that are leading the UK’s landscaping industry. Now in its’ ninth year, we continue to be blown away by the number and quality of the entries received and this has been another record year, so really well done on a great achievement.”

Peter Donegan MSGLD is an international garden designer based in Dublin, Ireland, a registered member of The Society of Garden Designers, a garden judge, international speaker and garden design lecturer named in The Top 100 UK Garden Designers.
Borne in 2001, his practice Peter Donegan Garden Design specialises in private garden design and select commercial and public landscape architecture.

Donegan was a finalist in this category in 2023 and since has won a humbling 6 awards for his design work in Australia, in France a much coveted Label Architecture Contemporaire Remarquable for landscape architecture at The Historial de la Grande Guerre, Péronne and listed in The Top 100 UK garden designers and Top 70 UK Television Presenters.

He further won a first Irish award with The Association of Professional Landscape Designers in The United States, having already won the European award his designs for Mercy College Sligo June 2026 sees Peter present the school garden designs at the world finals in Saudi Arabia and (finally), alongside Elif pictured above, was shortlisted for the cancer sanctuary outdoor therapy room designed to sit within grounds of the 12th Century Franciscan Friary in Co. Westmeath. 

Name: Lusk Urban Park
Location: Dublin, Ireland 
Client: The Forgotten Laneway Project 
Supported By: Fingal County Council

Landscape Designer: Peter Donegan MSGLD 
Design Assistant: Elif Öztürk 

Dimensions: 
Length 74.429 m 
Width: 5.780 m (narrowest) 9.373 m (widest)

Once used by the British Army to access the local Remount Farm, where horses were trained and prepared for service across the British Empire. Over the decades it served multiple purposes within the town but following the construction of the town’s ring road, the route fell into disuse and gradually, became forgotten.

The Forgotten Laneway Project began in 2023 when local resident Mark Boland envisioned transforming a neglected passage into a vibrant community space. Joined by two fellow Lusk residents, Colin Browne and Tara Ryan, together they set about turning the idea into a deliverable project with the help of Fingal County Council.

Working closely with Fingal County Council community department the project team were granted a licence for the laneway in 2025. And of now, the once forgotten laneway has been reimagined.

They commissioned Peter Donegan Garden Design as the practice and creative mind to give rebirth to the space and bring significant design expertise to what is a community led initiative. And, Saturday 21st February 2026 the designs for Lusk’s first ever Urban Park were officially unveiled to the community at a public meeting in Lusk Cultural Centre. 

Peter Donegan MSGLD, is one of the most celebrated garden designers in Ireland and internationally, recognised for his innovative and community-centred work. Peter is a multi-award-winning landscape architect named among the Top 100 UK Garden Designers and has won medals in Australia and France and most recently, winning the European International Landscape Design Award for his design of Mercy College’s Garden in Sligo, the first ever Irish school garden to receive such recognition. Following this success, he will go on to represent Europe at the World Landscape Architecture Awards.

The designs logic was to create a landmark and a source of pride for the People of Lusk. An alluring street side view that would ‘catch your eye’ eloquently, throughout the seasons and remain a beautiful invitation and welcome, to all. 

Initially, visitors are greeted with a swathe of mixed evergreen planting, scented, native and flowering allowing the rusted corten gates to pop, slightly yet fade, whilst also providing a sense of inner privacy for visitors and locals, whilst the dappled colour tones and muted stone meets locally sourced wood, drawing a calmed sense of place, where one might sit for a while, and converse.

To the rear nestled proudly within the landscape and sited just behind the raised growing beds, the meeting room provides backdrop to the final bespoke designed canopy and introduces a magnificent back view over the entire park, all the while, enveloped by an entirely different family of plants. 

The middle areas soft pink and corten structures and natural paving is lovingly hugged by select roses, a nod to local grower Gys Petrus “Laddie” de Jong (rest in peace, 1932–2025) a champion rose breeder and local personality. This drawing the eye from the roadside though the park, subtly distracting from the shortest point of Ireland’s newest and narrowest park, a space for community to meet. 

To the right the natural hedgerow will be enhanced whilst opposite Prunus amanagowa and Crataegus monogyna provide cover and the backdrop to the beautiful place for the people of Lusk and beyond to love. 

As part of the development, a competition will be launched among local art students in the town to design a permanent piece for the new Lusk urban park. A donation from the local Tidy Towns has been allocated to create the installation celebrating their 45 years in Lusk and honouring the extraordinary work of the original committee whose efforts helped shape the town.

The Outdoor Therapy Room designed for the beautiful always Cancer Support Sanctuary LARCC, Ireland has been shortlisted for The Surface Design Awards London 2026, in the category of Public Realm.

The Cancer Sanctuary Outdoor Therapy Room was a joint venture between Heart To Hand Charity volunteers, Peter Donegan Landscape Architects, OMC Technologies DAC and so many more listed below.

The Grand Final takes place 3 – 5th February 2026 at The Business Design Centre, London and recognises design excellence in shared or civic spaces, including transport hubs, museums, educational institutions, and public infrastructure.

The project is judged on creative use and integration of surface materials, functionality and user experience, innovation and concept originality, material suitability and execution, sustainability and social/ environmental impact.

Of the designed project, it really has no right to be there in a category alongside our very good friends at Kew Gardens x Lundhs Real Stone, New Deft Blue and Greenwich Peninsular Portal. Sometimes in design, one does the right thing by life’s very finest and anything more than that, including cake from Bernie McHugh, LARCC‘s manager is good enough reward.

To that: The LARCC Centre gives emotional and psychological help to people living with cancer and their supporters and provides a homely supportive environment where patients and family members are able to receive counselling, therapies, nurse support, telephone helpline, breast care service, manual lymphatic drainage therapy, bereavement support & pamper days. You can read more at www.cancersupport.ie

LARCC is located at Multyfarnham Franciscan friary located in County Westmeath, Ireland and dates back to the 15th century.

The Outdoor Therapy Room was realised with so much thanks to the following people:

– Donated by: Heart to Hand
– Structure Design | Landscape Architects: 
Peter Donegan Garden Design
– Manufacture: OMC Technologies
– Installation: Heart To Hand volunteers
– Soft Landscaping: Maylim
– Landscape Design Assistant: Elif Öztürk
– Galvanising/ Painting: Shannonside Galvanizing
– Glass panels: CareyGlass Nenagh/ Fergal Madden
– Base Shoes: GlassParts
– Fixings: FM Metal Fasteners / Francis Maloney
– And by no means least Volunteers: Pat Whelan, Joe Bourke, Stephen Dwan, Noel Fehily, Jim Healy, Ian Gillespie, Colin Shanahan, Eoin Mockler, Brian Johnston, Charlie Johnston, Ollie Mulvey, Chris Mulvey & Tom Kennedy
– And Bernie McHugh and the LARCC Family for being beautiful always.

The dynamic presenting duo of Phil Tremayne and Peter Donegan will return to host the Association of Professional Landscapers (APL UK) Awards 2026.

Amongst many, The Dirt News Reports:

Following last year’s successful ceremony, APL General Manager, Phil Tremayne will once again be joined by the garden designer, Peter Donegan at The Brewery, 52 Chiswell Street, London, on Friday 13 March 2026.

The APL Awards showcase exceptional achievements in landscape design, celebrating the Horticultural Trades Association’s talented landscapers and garden designers whose creativity transforms outdoor spaces across the UK. This year’s ceremony will feature 125 finalists across 22 categories, along with presentations to the winners and a guest appearance from the garden designer, Darren Hawkes.

Phil Tremayne, APL General Manager, said: “The APL Awards are a must-attend event in the landscaping calendar and as many of you know, my favourite day of the year. It was such a pleasure to co-host with my old friend Peter Donegan, and whilst we are no Ant and Dec yet, we do hope to have plenty of fun when we return to the stage in March 2026! I believe the 2026 awards ceremony will be the best yet. The standard of entries we received this time was phenomenal, which is why the judges selected 125 outstanding finalists. The talent, dedication, and creativity of our members are second to none, and I can’t wait to congratulate them all on the exceptional projects they have created over the past year.”

Peter Donegan, who is named among the Top 100 UK Garden Designers and the Top 70 UK TV Garden Presenters, added: “It’s a fantastic honour to be invited back to co-host the APL Awards 2026. I’m looking forward to celebrating the best in landscaping and design over the past year, and of course, joining my comedy partner on stage to present the awards!”

Tickets are on sale via The HTA UK, Horticulture Trades Association Website.

Invitation: “Designing the Future: New Methods in Garden Design“ Interview Program.

An interview event will be organised under the coordination of our branch and KTU Landscape Architecture Department in order to support the development of our profession, follow current design approaches and increase international information sharing.

Today, when environmental problems are increasing and sustainable design is gaining importance, the role played by landscape architects is more critical than ever. In this direction, the meetings held in order to strengthen the academia-room-sector cooperation and expand the professional horizon are of great importance.

We are very happy to host Irish Landscape Architect Peter Donegan in Trabzon in our interview event to be held in this context. He is among the names who inspire our profession with his innovative approaches to garden design and international experiences.

In the event program, Donegan said, “Designing the Future: New Methods in Garden Design”

Will share their experiences on the future of design, innovative practises and trends in contemporary landscape production.

Place: KTU Faculty of Forestry — Ahmet Şener Amphitheatre
17 Date: 2 December 2025
A Time: 10:30

We invite all our members to this valuable event and we are waiting for your participation.

TMMOB Chamber of Landscape Architects
Trabzon Branch 4. Term Board of Directors

With so much thanks Doruk Görkem Özkan, your team at Karadeniz Teknik Üniversitesi, KTÜ Peyzaj Mimarligi Kulübü and of course TMMOB Peyzaj Mimarlari Odasi Trabzon Subesi. I can’t wait to meet you in your beautiful town.

The Remarkable Contemporary Architecture (Architecture Contemporaine Remarquable) label of The Ministry of Culture (Ministère de la Culture, France) has been awarded to The Historial de la Grande Guerre, Péronne, specifically, to the castles garden(s) designed by Irish Landscape Architect Peter Donegan MSGLD, the garden by Gilles Clément, and the newer structure of the museum designed by building architect Henri Ciriani.

The “Remarkable Contemporary Architecture” label is awarded to buildings, architectural complexes, works of art and developments not classified or registered as historical monuments, among achievements of less than 100 years of age, whose design is of sufficient architectural or technical interest.

The label is awarded by decision of the Regional Prefect, after examination of the application by the Regional Heritage and Architecture Commission and the eligibility criteria are plural:

• the uniqueness of the work
• the innovative or experimental nature of the architectural, urban, landscape or technical design;
• the notoriety of the work
• the exemplarity of the work in participation in a public policy
• the manifest value of the work because of its belonging to a recognized architectural or idea movement
• membership in a set or work whose author is the subject of national or local recognition.

Garden Designer Peter Donegan has been recognised with a Silver Award at The APLD International Landscape Design Awards 2025 by The Association of Professional Landscape Designers (USA). 

Below: SQNLDR Bartlett (XO 21 SQN) Mike Gahan (VP RAAF DWA (Vic), Garden Designer Peter Donegan and Martin Semken.

The APLD International Landscape Design Awards Program is a juried competition that honours the very best of The United States and International excellence in landscape design. 

The award for the featured show garden realised at Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show (MIFGS) built by Semken Landscaping with Yards Landscaping, ‘A Moment in Time‚ was presented by Daisy’s Garden Supplies and tells the story of an Air Force veteran who returned to a place he hoped to be able to recall home and aims to show what is when there is no head stone to one who has not fallen and, though a body is not lost, there remains a mind that can never be the same as it was prior. 

The gardens intention is to highlight the suicide rate among female veterans, 107% higher than the general population, and nearly 30% higher for men. And that close to 6,000 or 5.3% of Australia’s half a million current and former service personnel have experienced homelessness in the past year, a rate nearly three times higher than the broader population.

Commenting on the garden which has also won The Australian Institute of Horticulture Green Space International Award and, The People’s Choice Award and Silver Medal at MIFGS, the judges said of the garden:

It was “A very symbolic garden for people who served in the military. The plane certainly projects a very anxious and haunting mood to the garden, and overtakes other aspects, such as the interesting walkway to the home. I suspect to show how one’s time in the military hangs over you forever afterwards“ and also that, “There is a sense of abandonment and loneliness, and perhaps betrayal, something many vets deal with. It’s sobering.“

The garden is in support of the Defence Force Welfare Association (DFWA) whose purpose is to promote and protect the interests of serving and former members of the Australian Defence Force and their families. We hope this project will honour the heritage and proud traditions of the Australian Defence Force.

DFWA Victoria RAAF Vice President, Michael Gahan noted: 

“The Defence Force Welfare Association (Victoria) was pleased to be associated with the award winning garden deigned by Peter Donegan for the 2024 Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show.  Peter’s design and story very aptly represented the issues faced by Veterans worldwide and is truly worthy of international recognition.  His connection both philosophically and in spirit with Australian Veterans will be strengthened in 2026 with the design and construction of a permanent memorial garden in the Melbourne suburbs.“   

The garden featured a fragmented path winding to an aged, grassed roof wood cabin and a Piper PA-28 Cherokee aircraft, the project that once was a wished for return to flight of a then younger man, not complete in its repair or trajectory stalled by tree growth over time, stimulated only by the turbulence of what comes with the witness of conflict.

The garden design was born during Peter’s time designing the two gardens at 13th Century Château de Péronne (France) Historial de la Grande Guerre and the Irish World War 1 centenary peace garden.

Through collaboration with the Australian construction team the design evolved to be set in South-Eastern Australia in the early 1980’s and highlighted the difficulties some veterans may face when returning to their former lives or when trying to create a new path post service in the Air Force. Whilst this garden portrays an Australian setting, the obstacles and struggles our veterans may face are shared by their counterparts across the world.

It has been an honour to hear the stories of veterans and their families and we thank all of those who have served, past or present. May a safe and secure retirement await you and we hope you find your own moment in time in a place that brings you peace.

If you or a family member is in need of support help is available from many wonderful organisations such as Defence Force Welfare Association. We encourage you to reach out and discover how they can assist you.

Peter Donegan Garden Design is an international landscape architecture & garden design, consulting and project management practice based in Dublin Ireland established 2001 and becomes the first Irish Garden Designer to receive the prestigious award. 

Peter Donegan MSGLD MAPL is a registered member of The Society of Garden Designers (UK) and a Designer Member of The APL (UK) is a garden judge, international speaker and garden design lecturer.

L-R: Katie Hall MP, The Hon. Ros Spence MP Minister for Agriculture Peter Donegan MSGLD, Carl Soderlund NGIV and Craig Taberner with Peter Donegan.

Front cover Groundswell magazine by Nursery and Garden Industry Victoria NGIV at Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show MIFGS 2024.

Garden In Detail:
– Garden Name: A Moment in Time
– Category: Show Garden
– Garden Designer: Peter Donegan MSGLD MAPL
– Constructed by: Semken Landscaping with Yards Landscaping
– and: Ash Walker Horticulture
– Presented by: Daisys Garden Supplies
– Assistant Designer: Elif Ozturk
– Stone: Bamstone
– Soil: Van Schaik’s Bio Gro
– Trees: Established Trees
– Lighting: Gardens at Night
– Lawn: Lilydale Instant Lawn
– Stone sealing: Prestige Surfaces
– Plants: Warner’s Nursery & Landscape Co.

Peter Donegan Garden Design is delighted to announce we have won the Europe Pro Landscaper International Awards 2025 Conceptual Project Category for our design of Mercy College Secondary School Garden Sligo, Ireland.

Above Top L -R: International Judges Phil Askew (Peabody), Martien Mantje (Boom & Bonheur), award winner Garden Designer Peter Donegan – and also – Saira Ali (City of Bradford and president elect of the Landscape Institute) and Ludo Pittie (WSP).

Above also: Mark Gregory with Peter. Mark also judged and his won award with Landform.

The journey to this point is some achievement and to first be invited to submit, we then met with serious competition just to make the last 2 and the European shortlist.

Then at Futurescape at The ExCel London I had but 15 minutes and 10 slides to explain the design process and intent via presentation to an exemplary judging panel, followed by some pretty intense questioning.

The reality is the garden was born from the hearts of the staff of Mercy College Sligo led by Principal Ann Gorby and that infectious beauty led to my design solely on behalf of the students. Poetically noted, that Cathy Heathcliff daydream meant a ’sell‘ to the judging panel was not necessary but rather to tell a story of great hearts meeting magical minds.

There were times we wondered if the grown ups would get it ? They did after all sign off on payments that made the garden real and then there’s the bigger question ? How many schools ultimately do what Ann did and allow me and the team do what we do ? Maybe there’s a point where when the ’adults‘ dont get it, that its the right thing to do but that also required an eloquence in its presentation.

In the end a school garden in Sligo has won Europe, 1 of just 5 projects to do so and heads to Saudi Arabia and takes on And present to the world.

A huge thanks to the team at Peter Donegan Garden Design and Elif and Marie, to Mercy College Sligo students, staff and far beyond and also to Team Pro Landscaper Ollie Finch, Nina Mason and Jamie Wilkinson for all you do.

According to Nina Mason, Editor in Chief with Pro Landscaper Magazine:

The winners of the first heat of the 2026 Pro Landscaper International Awards have been unveiled at FutureScape in London.

Prolific landscape designers and contractors have spent the last two days presenting their awe-inspiring projects for the Europe Heat in association with Boom & Bonheur at the Excel.

Eden Dock in the UK by HTA Design topped the City Landscape Project category, whilst Stockport Interchange in the UK by Wright Landscapes won the Commercial Project.

The winner of the Conceptual Project category was Mercy College Secondary School Sligo in Ireland by Peter Donegan Garden Design & Landscaping, and Marbella Garden in Spain by Antonio Piquera Landscape Design received the award for Residential Project Under $500k. Frensham in the UK by Landform Consultants won the Residential Project Over $500k category, and Horizon Ocean Gardens in Portgual by LJ-Group was Highly Commended.

Sixteen projects were shortlisted, with an esteemed panel of judges deciding the winner of each of the five categories. This included Phil Askew, director of landscape at not-for-profit housing association Peabody, and Ludo Pittie, director for landscape advisory at multi-disciplinary firm WSP.

Saira Ali – team leader for landscape design and conservation at the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council and president elect of the Landscape Institute – also joined alongside Mark Gregory, managing director of multi-RHS Gold medal-winning contractor Landform Consultants, and Martien Mantje, general manager at European nursery Boom & Bonheur.

The five winning projects are now through to the final, which is taking place in June 2026 at FutureScape Global in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

They will be joined by the winners of upcoming heats taking place over the coming months. The Middle East & India will be held on 9 November in Riyadh, followed by the North & South America heat which will take place on 9-10 December at FutureScape USA in Los Angeles. Two virtual heats – for Asia & Australasia and Africa – will be held virtually in February.

Type: Private Residence
Location: British Isles
Landscape Architect: Peter Donegan MSGLD MAPL |
Peter Donegan Garden Design
Design Assistant: Elif Öztürk
Detail:

When I (and we) start any landscape design it begins with a feeling. Sounds a bit silly ? Maybe. But nothing in landscape design is by accident – including that you walk on by, faster or stay longer. If I may….

London Underground / subway waiting seating is set circa 650mm high leaning 125 degrees, forward and when the tube arrives, you’re upright already in walking position. Chances of facing / interaction with another human zero. It’s a platform not a cafe.

The opposite ? Seating at 300 mm, a slight back angle, turning inwards. And now your legs are outstretched, you’re slouching and it’s easier to sit for a while. Planting elevated now behind you and scented, cool calm, white & mauve soothe/ similar on a colour wheel and you stay a little longer again.

Front gardens are invariably by vague definition – friendly, without the back gardens personality; homely, yet practical; where you park the cars and spend the least amount of time and, with chance to make you smile twice per day – going to work and coming home.

And finally, what a prospective buyer of your home would like to see if they came for a viewing – the other method of rating what I design for you – whether it adds value to your property. A little Cathy/ Heathcliff I appreciate in the latter to some, but Machiavellian art or Damien Hirst is bought for two reasons only also.

Behind the scenes this garden a list of should be the standard tickboxes not highlighted: Homegrown spec’d plant list, SuDS driveway (sustainable drainage systems / permeable paving, 80mm depth newer in design; hardwood sourced locally and a reason to want to sit by a tree (designed using a wood with a 50 year above ground guarantee) amongst the scent and stay a while – as versus remove and finally, around a house built some decades ago, seamlessly wrap & merge the landscape & make it home.

In the rear garden.

This in technical drawings made no sense at all – very much for the better – at least at first glance.

In domestic terms maybe that’s easier explained in that it quite simply was not the perfect square, where your most recent build standard 3 bed semi-D is invariably circa 8 x 10 or 12 metres, and this is shaped more like the Isle of Man three legged symbol.

That, in garden design – the not usual – invariably leads to a thinking outside the box, an inventive uniqueness or quite simply a not off the shelf.

And why maybe, one might ask, in your gardens design might one want that – something the exact same. Still a structure, still structurally sound and still achieving the desired effect – but there is a lot to said for listening to The Beatles singing Michelle, on that vinyl you bought for 4 euro, complete with scratch that just smells like a Triumph spitfire or your old leather jacket and that class, is timeless.

In explaining this (if it even requires that) the unwritten brief or job of your landscape architect is to make your* home feel like a home and not a corporate office block. Kind off like the difference between that family photo of your Mom and Dad in 1967 standing outside the old school canvas tent, looking like they were best friends with The Rolling Stones, Otis or Dylan – you know the one. And the alternate, in this analogy – a series of employee of the month photos.

Both options photos on a wall. Maybe better explained one is nonchalant beige elevator music whereas the other, can bring you to tears, whilst smiling.

Back to it…. That journey, that woo outwards from the inside house kitchen outwards to the first structure, the scent lightly by the seasons almost gently reminding you of its ability to allow you to smile, varying by the months. And only when you go there do you realise there’s another something around the corner which draws you then again to the next, which was in the beginning the furthest point away from you.

And the reward when you get to that destination as always, to look back at an equally stunning view that wraps the initial structure that woo‘d you outside in the first place.

The corten steel structures and elevated planting here calm, cool and classic. The new paving, classic and ageless. And again, behind the scenes, the product selection that hand makes all are modern, but not the stars.

Add to that a build schedule taken into consideration pre and during design to allow for a gentler completion of phases, considering at all times the most important people in this beautiful process – you, the client. Thank you.

Peter Donegan Garden Design is an international landscape architecture & garden design, consulting and project management practice based in Dublin Ireland established 2001.

Peter Donegan MSGLD MAPL is a registered member of The Society of Garden Designers (UK) and a Designer Member of The APL (UK), has been a garden judge in London & Melbourne, an international speaker, master of ceremonies and garden design lecturer.

Type: Private Dwelling Residential, Front Garden Design
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Landscape Architect: Peter Donegan Garden Design
Detail:

Front gardens by loose definition are a practical space where one spends the least amount of time and if standing out should do so eloquently, adding value to your home.

Asked recently pitfalls to avoid I explained as follows:
When it comes to one’s domestic home the standard default in new builds is to cover the entire front of house with a cobble / surface or leave little or reduced to green.

Segwaying ever so slightly, self designs (by client) that are met by 3 quotes and some ideas from 3 varying landscapers changes the outcome – there is no exact design and therefore none are costing from the same hymn sheet – and of note here, of those costs the following should be considered:
1) average coverage per bale of cobble circa 9.5 sq metres. Multiples of this allow little / zero product remain – cost.
2) of surfaces laid eg, stone carpet/ asphalt, a boundary is required to retain / accept pressure. If permitted, these points become the neighbouring walls – and of structural considerations for your neighbour’s partition- this is certainly not advised. Ultimately no haunched cobble retainer installed. Cost.
3) surface laid on top of existing surface ensuring a) no dig out, disposal b) no re-infill of additional hardcore sub base c) one pays only for the new finished layer only.

On the other hand, here the above design plans considers client investment, wishes, practicality and increase in property value post design solely – as per their wishes.

An opposing ideology:
All bar none of the ladies in my life at the moment they met the gate entrance of the demesne they were to be wedded have come to tears beginning there.

And though we know this formula works sometimes practicality meets what we know fits perfectly are offset by the notion of cost saving.

Of that landscape/ view, one straight elongated dark surfaced line turning at the top, the main house hidden from gate view. Pull-ins show circa every 250 metres reducing spend on hard surfaces (soft landscaping cost less per sq metre) necessitating only one car width & by default a sleeker look by ratio 65:35 green / lawn to black; the tree lined avenue either side draws the eye upwards as you motion. It is an eloquent, mystifying sense of elation and in landscape design nothing, is by accident and you were intended to feel that. It is what people ultimately employ me to achieve for them.

Peter Donegan Garden Design is an international landscape architecture & garden design, consulting and project management practice based in Dublin Ireland established 2001.

Peter Donegan MSGLD MAPL is a registered member of The Society of Garden Designers (UK) and a Designer Member of The APL (UK), has been a garden judge in London & Melbourne, an international speaker, master of ceremonies and garden design lecturer.

• What: Garden Design Talks Q & A and consultations
• When: Sunday 27th July 2025
• Where: D and M Garden Centre, Limerick
• Further information:
  – Telephone: +353 6964084 / +353 6925366
  – Email: info@dandmgardencentre.ie
• Details: International garden designer Peter Donegan MSGLD MAPL

From Horticulture Connected Magazine:

Having just returned from speaking on the main the main stage at The Royal Horticultural Society’s Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival, international Garden designer Peter Donegan returns to Limerick to host a series of design talks and demonstrations at D and M Garden Centre Sunday July 27th to celebrate their 40th anniversary.

Ireland‘s greatest export has spoken at The Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, lectured in Istanbul, judged at Royal Windsor Flower Show and won Gold for his designs at Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show. He has also won international awards for his designs at the 13th Century Château de Péronne, was series garden designer for RTE Television‘s DIY SOS The Big Build Ireland and listed in the UK’s Top 100 Garden Designers.

Based in Ballycannon Croagh, D&M Centre began with husband and wife Dermot and Mary and is now managed by son Tom, daughter Ursula along with Tom’s wife Mags. And what was once selling vegetables from the back of the house and bedding plants from a van, is now one of Ireland’s leading garden centres and most amazing restaurant.

Donegan‘s design talks will centre around what you can do in your garden to improve a specific place or space, how to get the best return from your budget and hints, tips and tricks he would have designed into his award winning gardens for tv and show gardens abroad that you can use at home, followed up with a full garden and plant design Questions and Answers.

Further information:
D and M Garden Centre,
Ballycannon, Croagh
V94 EK5H Co. Limerick

Type: Private Residence
Location: British Isles
Landscape Architect: Peter Donegan MSGLD MAPL |
Peter Donegan Garden Design
Design Assistant: Elif Öztürk

Detail:

Style: country (type) home set within an elongated sloped site; vast stunning views of the regions natural landscape from the highest rear left point of the garden.

Existing: overgrown, sloped, rear garden, contains sections of × Cuprocyparis leylandii meets hedgerow.

Brief: no as such a brief set as much as a structured conversation at initial consultation & understood how home/ work life worked, NB: ladders necessary to see views

Resulting Landscape Design:

1) A small practical space for 2 to rear of home. The woo here, soft, and layers of scented planting.

2) Once there the eye is drawn to the hand made in house designed kitchen barbecue area, the grand steps to and the dappled view of the rear garden structure.

3) As one is woo’d into the garden the dining area structure becomes more visible as the rear top left structure disappears momentarily.

Of note the legs of the dining structure remain in the planted bed and patio to allow the robotic mower manoeuvre, hence the 90 degree angle upright design and resulting floating roof – I adore that tiny piece of detail.

4) Walking back across the terrace paving dimensions change slightly, intentionally to draw the eye to the rear structure.

5) There’s something 17th century design about the resulting resting point in that the 3 elevations of the structure allow for a place to sit and unwind; a view over the entire garden or views of an inherited yet stunning natural landscape – how many gardens get to say, “come down here, all this way, just to see this ! ”, and it’s actually worth it.

In 17th C design, the journey of the longest way to the easiest place, as points came closer into view and further away, applies; though the view 300 years ago would have been the house, a view nonetheless and the equation remains in tact.

6) The overall garden now terraced with the slope remaining as such solely to the boundary and rear top left.

7) A space where sitting as 2 or 22 never feels lonely or crowded.

8) And finally, a garden / home for some of life’s finest.

• What: RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival 2025
• When: 4pm Thursday, July 3rd 2025
• Where: Hampton Court Palace, The Royal Horticultural Society
• Tickets: RHS.org.uk
• Details: Internationally renowned garden designer Peter Donegan MSGLD MAPL

For the 3rd consecutive year Internationally renowned garden designer Peter Donegan MSGLD MAPL returns to The Royal Horticultural Society’s Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival 2025 to speak on the Ask The Experts main stage.

Peter Donegan is an international landscape architect, garden designer and speaker based in Dublin, Ireland, named in The Top 100 UK Garden Designers 2024.

March 2024 Peter designed the shows featured garden at Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show (MIFGS) winning Silver medal, The People’s Choice Award and The AIH International Horticulture Award. He was also a garden judge at the show.

2023 Peter Donegan became the first Irish landscape architect invited to design at MIFGS the Southern Hemisphere’s largest and most prestigious flower show where he won Gold medal and The Australian Institute of Horticulture’s International Award of Excellence.

Selected to represent Ireland to design & realise the WW1 Centenary Peace Garden at Château de Péronne in 2018, Peter returned in 2022 and designed a 2nd inaugurated garden at the 13th Century castle known also as the Historial de la Grande Guerre, home to Europe’s largest war museum.

From 2019 to 2022, The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) silver medallist assumed the role of series garden designer for Ireland’s most watched TV show, RTE’s DIY SOS The Big Build.

In 2001, aged 24, horticulturist Donegan began designing under his own name and swiftly won a host of awards for 17th & 18th century gardens designed & show gardens at national competition.

Peter Donegan MSGLD MAPL is a registered member of The Society of Garden Designers (UK) and a Designer Member of The APL (UK) has been a garden judge in London & Melbourne and, international speaker, master of ceremonies and garden design lecturer.

Location: Mercy College Secondary School Garden, Sligo Ireland
Landscape Architects: Peter Donegan Garden Design
Steelworks: OMC Technologies
Paving: Roadstone Ltd
Hardscaping: Keith McCarrick
Realised by: Mercy College Sligo family, friends and businesses.

The build schedule for this was a little different to most
– Landscape design presentation: September 2022
– Build Start: April 2023
– Build Completion: May 2025

The reason for the timeline unlike any other realisation, for say a commercial or domestic garden being that students have classes and examinations and there was also the addition that whilst it was designed that larger elements were constructed off site and installed, funding and donations – it is a public school after all – coincided with the elements installed and completed in sections, finishing with the lower planting.

Above, the designs, for the school courtyard garden, first presented September 2022.

Of course there is one element amiss – the Juicy Salif orange squeezer weather station which will follow with time – for now, final and intermediate secondary school exams and the students of course take precedence and the garden previously an non accessible uninspiring marsh now, a place of calms, nature and relaxation as was intended by Ann Gorby and her very amazing team.

Client: Cancer Support Sanctuary LARCC
Location: Multyfarnham, Ireland
Detail: Outdoor therapy garden room set within the estate of the Franciscan Friary, founded 1268.

– Donated by: Heart to Hand
– Structure Design | Landscape Architects:
Peter Donegan Garden Design
– Manufacture: OMC Technologies
– Installation: Heart To Hand volunteers
– Soft Landscaping: Maylim
– Landscape Design Assistant: Elif Öztürk
– Galvanising/ Painting: Shannonside Galvanizing
– Glass panels: CareyGlass Nenagh/ Fergal Madden
– Base Shoes: GlassParts
– Fixings: FM Metal Fasteners / Francis Maloney
– And by no means least Volunteers: Pat Whelan, Joe Bourke, Stephen Dwan, Noel Fehily, Jim Healy, Ian Gillespie, Colin Shanahan, Eoin Mockler, Brian Johnston, Charlie Johnston, Ollie Mulvey, Chris Mulvey & Tom Kennedy

Above: Peter Donegan MSGLD MAPL, Bernie McHugh Manager LARCC and Kevin Mahony of Maylim Landscape Contractors.

Detail:
1. The estate at Multyfarnham contains some of the greatest specimens of Taxus baccata amongst mature trees I have maybe ever seen.
2. In all 17th Century estates, the equation became to draw your eye to the furthest point of the garden, to want and to get there and when you did, to look back at the view and sit for a while.
3. In Japanese gardens you’ll observe 3 colours to that design equation. Namely green of backdrop, grey / black of surface and red of structure used, to draw the eye from one point to another – one similarity of that and 17th C landscape architecture design.
4. Merge the 2 design styles and the reason why it works becomes pretty logic.
5. Coming from the front gate avenue now, the red structure pops eloquently from the newly planted black green Taxus baccata – yew backdrop (which also ties in as it so prevalent around the estate) and…
6. Draws the eye, almost woos you there to sit within only, to look back down the avenue from a now higher vantage point and the most glorious view of the Abbey and it’s green and grey / black landscape and backdrop.
7. To LARCC, the very beautiful team and what they do for others… have a little read below.

Quote:
Cancer Support Sanctuary LARCC are so excited to announce that our beautiful outdoor garden structure has been completed on the grounds of the Centre, which was a joint venture between Heart To Hand Charity, Peter Donegan Landscape Architects and OMC Technologies.

Heart To Hand Charity contacted us at LARCC to see if they could enhance the outdoor area and possibly introduce a feature in the garden to include seating and a viewing area.

The structure was designed by Peter Donegan Landscape Architects.
OMC Technologies donated their time and expertise to manufacture and deliver the structure.

The structure was installed by Heart To Hand volunteers who linked up with volunteers local to LARCC to complete the installation.

Soft landscaping was generously supplied by Maylim Ltd

Above: Noel Fehily, Garden Designer Peter Donegan, Roisín Comerford and Pat Whelan of OMC Technologies

The Cancer Support Sanctuary LARCC

The inspiration and design of the late Ita Bourke who, after being diagnosed with cancer, travelled to an established centre in England for therapy and support. This period of care showed Ita that there was a great need in Ireland for a similar service and she made it her driving ambition to set up a Centre.

Ita and co-founders Frank Russell and Karen Daly met in 2000 as a result of their shared diagnosis and it opened in 2002.

The LARCC Centre endeavours to give emotional and psychological help to people living with cancer and their supporters. It provides a homely supportive environment where patients and family members can participate in its courses, obtain information and experience complementary therapies. Some of the support services on offer include Counselling, Complementary Therapies, Nurse Support, Telephone Helpline, Breast Care service, Manual Lymphatic Drainage Therapy, Bereavement Support & Pamper Days.

Unique to LARCC is its Residential / Take a Break Week, the only cancer support Centre in Ireland running such a programme. The purpose of the  residential programme is to take clients on a personal journey of relaxation, reflection and recovery by skilled therapists, nurses and counsellors. The variety of therapies on offer and the ambience of the Centre provides the clients with the opportunity to discuss issues in a relaxed and safe environment with staff members and other attendees.

More information: www.cancersupport.ie

Multyfarnham

Multyfarnham Friary is a Franciscan friary located in Multyfarnham, County Westmeath, Ireland dating back to the 15th century.

The first friars came to Multyfarnham around 1270 at the invitation of the Delamar family (soldier protectors) and is presumed that their patron would have provided them, shortly after that date, with a church and residence worthy of its piety and position.

Below: Peter with Design Assistant Elif, and friends.

Landscape Architecture Planning
Client: Private Residential
Build Arch: Downey Planning & Architecture
Landscape Arch: Peter Donegan Garden Design
Peter Donegan MSGLD MAPL
Design Assistant: Elif Öztürk

Detail:
Grade 2 listed building. Built 1850.

The trick (is that the right word to use ?) in planning applications post building architecture decisions and in obtaining planning is in short, that what one might “believe” should or would look nice is not so much, at this juncture, a consideration.

The reality is more of sight lines, safety, neighbouring boundary planting, what best assimilates your intended build planned best into the landscape and, showing that.

In all my time designing for planning or their applications, I’ve not ever had a difficult journey. From France at Historial de la Grande Guerre – Musées de Péronne & Thiepval and a 13th C château where I met the many departmentals “to change forever the face of the towns emblem” and where bodies still lay; where a sympathy to the intended landscape, yet logic to a process where, others require an understanding into what the future holds for that place or space.

The reality is of buildings and their landscape, their history, the stories and the of nature design surrounding it will vary and differ always. My job (if I might call it that ?) is to understand that and translate to others via drawings your wish or dream.

Of not clients, some tell me they have found the process of planning to be challenging or arduous, though I personally haven’t met that.
Maybe it’s because I separate logic from emotion or the equations that make daydreams, as part of what I do, on your behalf. Or know how to give a council what they actually require and want to see what landscape you intend to edit. That in Ireland I’ve designed 17th and 18th century estates helps a little in this case.

Or maybe, it’s because ultimately, when you are on any journey with the best (people) by your side including a top class build architect and client, things just never seem in any way complex and unknowns work I guess never really feels as such.

• What: Limerick Garden Festival 2025
• When: June 15th, Sunday 11am – 5pm
• Where: Limerick Milk Market
• Tickets: Adults: €6 / Families: €6 per parent, children free
• Peter Donegan Talks:
  – 11.30 am: Gardens for Wellbeing
  – 4pm Design Doctor, Ask The Expert

This year at Limerick Garden Festival on 15th June the organisers have planned an exciting programme of Expert talks, Masterclasses, Workshops, Demos, Music and Children’s Entertainment along-side its Garden, plant, craft and food stalls from all over Ireland. The festival features its most diverse and extensive series of talks and demonstrations since its inception in 2018 with high profiled Limerick, national and international experts.

International Garden Designer Peter Donegan returns to the festival this year after having designed and won twelve awards in UK, France and Australia since he last joined the festival in 2018.

Peter said: “I am thrilled to come back to Limerick and join the garden festival again this year. It is no easy task to bring a festival past its 5th year and Limerick Garden Festival is continuing to innovate with their new Cookery demo this year.” He continued by saying: “My own talk will focus on the important topic of Wellbeing, which our Gardens can so beautifully and calmly provide for us. Also, I will be ready to answer any design questions that visitors may have around their own gardens.”

The festival has this year three core themes: The first one as mentioned, is around Wellbeing in our Gardens for Mental and Physical Health.

Secondly, this year for the first time, a Cookery demonstration will take place upstairs with local legendary chef Tom Flavin using produce from the Garden and from local artisan producers.

The third theme centres around Biodiversity in the Garden with Munster-based wetlands expert Feidhlim Harty and RTE Homegrown’s Colm O’Driscoll. He will also host a Masterclass in organic gardening focussing on how to create feeds such as nettle and comfrey feeds and how to apply them. He will also discuss what other mulches, composts and plant bio stimulants people can use this time of year to keep their garden growing strong.

Festival manager Carmen Cronin said: “Our Masterclasses and Workshops are already booking now and anyone who would like to book can simply email us to info@limerickgardenfestival.com and we will send them the booking form.”

For smaller gardeners the festival is offering two workshops, here children (and adults) can sow their own seed in the festival demo area and craft diverse animals with Global action plan. There will be plenty of good food, a facepainter and music on the day.

Limerick Garden Festival will be held on Sunday, 15th June at the Milk Market, Limerick and is proudly supported by, D&M Garden Centre, Healthy Limerick, Limerick City and County Council, Limerick Food Group, Limerick Post, Paul Partnership, Room Outdoors, The Heritage Council and the festival supports Limerick Mental Health Association.

For more details see
– www.limerickgardenfestival.com
– Facebook/Instagram @limerickgardenfestival.

Private Residential Garden
Location: Ireland
Landscape Architect | Garden Design: Peter Donegan MSGLD | Peter Donegan Garden Design
Design Assistant: Elif Öztürk

There’s a point in life; maybe it’s a Friday after work where but for a weekend, a treat if I may – you feel what is but escapism. Whether absolute luxury, not gluttonous more, that your vacuum cleaner, the trip to the hardware store and the flat tyre don’t register in the medulla oblongata and instead replaced with a glass of red & where you sit in that place of relaxation for only one hour (or longer) maybe become the aspiration as you navigate traffic.

When I consult or design for offices and moreso hotels, that luxury is loosely defined as

• detail and finishing touches matter
• what if it rains ? Exactly.
• you don’t want nor have to get up.
• when you (pay to) stay, your focal point is not a washing line, a 6 x 4 shed and what needs to be cleaned away
• your clock watch pauses.

It’s not rocket science (or financial) or, too much to ask for of any landscape, to make someone feel they matter.

When you think back to when you were 17, in (horticulture) college & you had to make a birthday card for your beau (being a semi broke student) and you wrote the poem for the inside, drew the picture and pritt stick’d it all together.

That, meets good design is the difference between a shelter in a retail car park and your home (though the cost similar) or the hotel you decided to go for one, that became two nights and you went back for your anniversary.

And there begins your want & do not, wish list, not of item but of time. And it is that chat that leads to that “working”, clicking & you staying longer and nothing that pirouettes and fits so seamlessly is ever by accident.

Tipperary County Council Library Service Present:
International Garden Designer Peter Donegan MSGLD MAPL

– Where: Tipperary Town Library,
Tipperary Excel, Mitchell St, Carrownreddy, Tipperary
– Talk Title: The Garden awakening. Designs to Nurture our land and ourselves with Peter Donegan
– When: Fri 23rd May, 11am-12.30pm and 2-3pm
– Booking essential via Tipperary County Council – Library Service Phone: 052 6166100 – Email libraries@tipperarycoco.ie

According to Catherine Fogarty, Branch Manager at Tipperary Town Library:

Bealtaine Festival challenges and entertains audiences and participants and always looks to offer diverse events. Just as we know there’s no one experience of older age, there is no one kind of event in Bealtaine. The festival engages people and communities from all over Ireland to foster and inspire creativity among older people, to work intergenerationally, to platform older artists and to promote the skills, experiences and exposure that can lead to a rich creative life. You can enjoy all that Bealtaine has to offer whether you are an audience member, an artist, or by participating in creative projects in your community.

 The festival has a diverse arts offering with everything from choral performances to visual art to street theatre to writing workshops. From year to year, Bealtaine offers dance, literature, theatre (including a touring performing arts show), music that spans opera to trad, discussions exploring the diversity of older age, film screenings, storytelling, commissions for new work and work that celebrates the achievements of those who previously may have gone unsung. There are workshops to try out new creative activities, both online and in person, from drawing, to comedy, to writing, to music, to circus!

Tipperary County Council note:
Don’t miss out – even though most events are free, be sure to book for events in advance at the relevant venues as places are limited.

Tipperary County Council
Phone: 0818 065000 – Email: artsoffice@tipperarycoco.ie
www.tipperarycoco.ie

Tipperary County Council – Library Service
T 052 6166100
E libraries@tipperarycoco.ie
www.tipperarylibraries.ie

Coastal Garden Masterplan.

Though not as pleasant to view on instagram as versus the usual illustrations I might usually show here, it is these drawings to scale that allow for exact numbers, dimensions and sq metres to order for soft landscaping and hardscaping; of plants, for exact plant sizes, heights, girths and numbers (again), on scaled drawings that allow a me to pass these to a number of or preferred contractor to achieve a same end result and precision costs + timelines calculated, on behalf of client.

Daydream to design – equation | drawings to cost – to realisation and, only ever appearing like a daydream.

Further, on paper, or iPad if I may, allows maintenance costs, green waste removal, lighting and irrigation to be calculated / considered with full accessibility (paths all a minimum of 900mm for eg) taken into consideration to fit the clients budget, without it ever appearing like that ever mattered, to make a house a home.

All drawings Peter Donegan Garden Design for Clanforce Construction.