Dermot O'Neill (9 March 1964 – 1 July 2022) was an Irish gardener and editor of Garden Heaven magazine. He appeared on several radio and television programmes for

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

and

BBC Northern Ireland BBC Northern Ireland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcasting, public broadcaster in Northern Ireland. It is widely available across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. BBC Northern Ireland is one of the four BB ...

and contributed regular columns for Irish newspapers and magazines including the ''

RTÉ Guide The ''RTÉ Guide'' is a television and radio listings magazine in Ireland published by RTÉ Commercial Enterprises Ltd, a subsidiary of Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). The magazine offers detailed programme listings for RTÉ channels, as w ...

'', ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

'', and the '' Sunday Independent''.

Career

O'Neill worked at the Marlfield Garden Centre in Cabinteely, County Dublin before moving to the

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

horticultural unit. In 1982, he began to appear on

children's programmes, before presenting a gardening segment on ''Live at Three''. He appeared on ''The Garden Show'', and presented on gardening within the magazine show '' Open House'', and on ''Today With

Pat Kenny Patrick Kenny (born 29 January 1948) is an Irish broadcaster, who currently hosts the daily radio show ''The Pat Kenny Show'' on Newstalk and the current affairs show ''Pat Kenny Tonight'' on Virgin Media One. Prior to this, Kenny had a 41-ye ...

''. He was a regular horticultural contributor to the

Mooney Mooney is a family name which is probably predominantly derived from the Irish Ó Maonaigh, pronounced Om-weeneey. It can also be spelled Moony, Moonie, Mainey, Meaney and Meeney depending on the dialectic pronunciation that was anglicised. Or ...

show with Derek Mooney on

RTÉ Radio 1 RTÉ Radio 1 () is an Irish national radio station owned and operated by RTÉ and is the direct descendant of Dublin radio station 2RN, which began broadcasting on a regular basis on 1 January 1926. The total budget for the station in 2010 w ...

. O'Neill was a guest on ''The Restaurant'' and the travel show ''Time On Their Hands''. In 2007, he launched ''Garden Show Ireland'' at the walled garden at

Hillsborough Castle Hillsborough Castle is an official British government, government residence in Northern Ireland. It is the official residence of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland,

. In 2008, O'Neill appeared on the

St. Patrick's Day Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick (), is a religious and cultural holiday held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (), the foremost patron saint of Ireland. Saint Patrick's Day was made an official Chri ...

episode of ''

The Oprah Winfrey Show ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'' is an American first-run syndicated talk show that was hosted by Oprah Winfrey. The show ran for twenty-five seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in which it broadcast 4,561 episodes. The show was taped i ...

''.

Societies

O'Neill served on the council of the Royal Horticultural Society of Ireland and was a founding committee member of the Irish Garden Plant Society. In 2016, Mount Congreve House Gardens announced that a new variety of the ''

Magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendr ...

'' plant, one of O'Neill's favourite flowers, would be named ''

Magnolia campbellii ''Magnolia campbellii'', or Campbell's magnolia, is a species of '' Magnolia'' that grows in sheltered valleys in the Himalaya from eastern Nepal, Sikkim and Assam, India, east to southwestern China (southern Xizang, Yunnan, southern Sichuan) an ...

'Dermot O'Neill in his honour.

Personal life and death

O'Neill grew up in

Blackrock, Dublin Blackrock () is an affluent suburb of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, northwest of Dún Laoghaire. It is named after the local geological rock formation to be found in the area of Blackrock Park. In the late 18th century, the Blackrock Ro ...

and was educated at

Christian Brothers College, Monkstown Park Christian Brothers College, Monkstown Park (or CBC Monkstown Park) is a private fee-paying Catholic Church, Catholic school and Independent Junior school, founded in 1856 in Monkstown, Dublin, Monkstown, County Dublin, Ireland. The college arriv ...

. During the summer of 2009, O'Neill was diagnosed with cancer. Initially thought to be a recurrence of a previous stomach ulcer, O'Neill was later diagnosed with stomach cancer and

non-Hodgkin lymphoma Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), also known as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, is a group of blood cancers that includes all types of lymphomas except Hodgkin lymphomas. Symptoms include enlarged lymph nodes, fever, night sweats, weight loss, and tiredn ...

. He was treated at

Beacon Hospital Beacon Hospital () is a privately owned full-service teaching hospital located in the Sandyford suburb of Dublin, Ireland. The hospital was developed by Beacon Medical Group (BMG). History Beacon Hospital signed an affiliation agreement with J ...

, Beaumont Hospital, and St. Vincent's Private Hospital. O'Neill spent almost six months at St. Vincent's and underwent

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...

under the care of

John Crown John Crown (born 1 March 1957) is an Irish consultant oncologist and former politician who served as a Senator for the National University constituency from 2011 to 2016. Background and education Born in Brooklyn, New York to Irish emigrant par ...

. He was declared cancer-free in 2011. After his recovery, he completed an RTÉ TV series, ''Dermot's Secret Garden'', about his health problems and renovations of his

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

walled garden A walled garden is a garden enclosed by high walls, especially when this is done for horticultural rather than security purposes, although originally all gardens may have been enclosed for protection from animal or human intruders. In temperate c ...

in Clondeglass,

County Laois County Laois ( ; ) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 to 1922. The modern county takes its name from Loígis, a medieval kingdom. Hist ...

. O'Neill died on 1 July 2022, aged 58, at St Vincent's Private Hospital, Elm Park, County Dublin. He was survived by two sisters, Carol and Louise, and extended family.

Publications

* ''Roses Revealed'' (Kyle Cathie) 1 April 2007 * ''Discover Gardening'' (Poolbeg Publishing) 29 October 2004 * ''Dermot Gardens'' (Poolbeg Publishing) January 2003 * ''Gardening tips'' (TownHouse & CountryHouse) 19 October 2002 * ''Creative Gardening with Dermot O'Neill'' (Gill & Macmillan Ltd) November 1990

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oneill, Dermot 1964 births 2022 deaths Irish gardeners Irish garden writers Irish television personalities Radio personalities from the Republic of Ireland Television presenters from Northern Ireland People educated at C.B.C. Monkstown People from Blackrock, Dublin People from County Laois Broadcasters from County Dublin