About Brian Burke

Brian Burke is a landscape contractor and award-winning garden designer. He attained his B.Sc. Hons. (Surveying) from Trinity College Dublin in 1994 and has over twenty five years experience in the construction and landscaping business in Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Brian was the winner of Super Garden, Ireland’s national garden design competition, in 2015 and won the Silver-Gilt Medal for his garden Non Forsit at Bloom in the Park 2015.

At Bloom in the Park 2016 he designed and built GOAL's Damascus Courtyard - War and Peace for which he was awarded the Silver Medal. The Bloom 2016 garden was rebuilt at the Syrian Refugee Reception Centre in Co. Kildare in September 2016. 

At Bloom in the Park 2017 he designed and built On Cloud Canine for the dog welfare charity, Dogs Trust. The aim of the garden was to showcase what is possible in a typical suburban sized garden which is to be shared with a dog. The garden was awarded the Silver Medal.

At Bloom in the Park 2018 he designed and built Moving Statues to Marriage Equality for Woodie's. The garden's theme was to convey a sense of the passing of the thirty years and the dramatic social and cultural changes since Woodie's opened its first store in Ireland. The garden was awarded the Silver Medal.

At Bloom in the Park 2019 Brian designed and built 'Connectivity' for Woodie's. The garden showcased a naturalised setting designed to incentivise and encourage the younger generation to spend more time outdoors.

At Bloom in the Park 2022 Brian's garden for Woodie's was entitled 'Seomra Eile' and it showcased a range of head turning features and planting which are achievable in the suburban garden setting.

He has a particular interest in pan generational garden design, accessibility in garden design and the therapeutic properties of Horticulture.

Brian occasionally writes on design and gardening for provincial newspapers. He contributed the final chapter "The Green Heart of the Community" to a book on rebooting suburbia and our built environment entitled "Reimagining Your Neighborhood" which was published in the United States in September 2015.

He combines running a design and contracting practice with a teaching role for Laois Offaly Education & Training Board and Dublin Dun Laoghaire Education & Training Board in the fields of Horticulture, Ecology, Sustainability, Environmentalism and the Built Environment.

He lives in Co. Laois with his wife Julia and their five children. His hobbies include listening to wistful folk music, misidentifying plants, beginning sentences with the words “In my day”, looking for a bit of peace and quiet and running a part time non-profit child chauffeur service.

He can be reached at 086 407 3688 or by email at brian@brianburkegardens.com