Is The Garden One of Ireland’s Biggest Cultural Influences?
In Ireland, we’re famous for our love of gardening. It’s a big part of why, as a nation, we have some of the lowest levels of apartment living in Europe. As a country, we love to spend time tending our gardens and cultivating a serene and beautiful environment. This pastime perfectly complements the more laidback approach to life that we are known for.
As a result, we are starting to see gardening and the wider outdoors have a significant influence on our culture and the media we consume. From folklore to modern-day pursuits, the green-fingered among us have been blessed with Irish media that appeals to the desire to enjoy the garden. With that in mind, just how influential have gardening and gardens at large been on our media?
Garden Settings for High-Tech Modern Forms of Media
Gaming has boomed since the new millennium. Gaming consoles were introduced to the home in the 1980s and '90s, but they really took off in the 2000s. Additionally, it is no longer limited to the major consoles from Nintendo, Sony, or Microsoft. Gaming has gone mobile and has become even more accessible than ever.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the iGaming sector and online casinos. Modern versions of classic casino games are hugely popular, and the digital nature of these games has allowed developers to experiment with different themes and narratives. Slots in particular are full of themes with cutting-edge graphics and audio.
In Ireland, these games are as popular as they are anywhere in the world, and we’re seeing Irish interests well represented as a result. For example, Garden of Riches perfectly captures the love of gardening in this country, setting the game amid the backdrop of a perfectly pruned garden. It may not be overtly Irish-themed like many other games, but it is very clearly aimed at audiences in this country.
TV Gardening Shows Remain Staples of Irish Channels
We love to live vicariously through those we watch on TV, and we've seen some great garden-related shows grace our screens over the years. In 2025, RTÉ renewed Super Garden for its 16th season. This show gives garden designers the chance to cultivate their perfect garden, with the winners showcasing their designs at Bord Bia Bloom in Phoenix Park.
That isn’t the only show on Irish TV that appeals to gardening enthusiasts. Diarmuid Gavin has been a regular on our screens for years and is a key figure in the country’s gardening industry. He has lent his name to a full range of products sold across Ireland in Dunnes Stores and is now one of the most famous domestic TV personalities.
Other countries have seen their TV landscaping shows lose ground and be cancelled recently, but the story is much different in Ireland. Shows that were once hugely popular across the water, like Garden Force, have not been able to survive into the 2020s, while our own domestic programming, like Super Garden, remains top billing on our national broadcaster.
Film and Folklore Influenced by the Outdoors
The folklore of Ireland is rich and varied, but there is one thread that appears to run through it: the way the landscape of the country and its natural gardens influence our behaviour. Take figures like the banshee, who are linked to the fairy mounds built in the countryside to protect us from the fae that call the country their home.
This is carried over into film, too, with 2019’s Hole In The Ground from Lee Cronin exploring the story of a changeling child that disappears in the countryside. As a nation with a huge swathe of rural land, it’s no surprise that greenery plays a massive part in our culture and influences the stories that we tell each other, even those meant to scare others as we travel.
It’s extremely clear that our surroundings heavily influence the media we consume and what we want from it. Because of that, don’t expect to see the countryside or our gardens drop from the cultural zeitgeist any time soon.
