Joanna Donnelly's home. Pic: Supplied

Weatherwoman Joanna Donnelly forecasts dry spells from a flower-filled garden

Fans of Joanna Donnelly will know that the weather woman is fond of forecasting from her sleek north Dublin home, especially her beloved and much-photographed back garden.

The former RTÉ weatherwoman, who had a shock departure from the national broadcaster in April 2025, certainly isn't predicting a heatwave.

Joanna tells HomeandStyle.ie: "From tomorrow, Thursday, an anticyclonic condition will build from the south with mostly dry weather for much of the country.

Joanna Donnelly's front garden
Joanna Donnelly's front garden

"Some light rain and drizzle may affect the north-west at times, but most of the country will be dry, and it’ll be getting warmer day by day with the best of the sunshine and highest temperatures in the sunny Southeast."

The veteran meteorologist often films the weather forecast from her flower-filled back garden in Portmarnock.

While Joanna is very comfortable filming videos off the cuff, the backgrounds to her clips are very thoughtfully planned out.

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When Joanna and her husband, Harm Luijkx, moved into their current home twenty years ago, she had no idea she would incorporate an aspect of her childhood garden that she didn't like.

She wound up in the coastal town after deciding to remain on the north side of the Liffey, having been raised in Finglas.

Joanna Donnelly's back garden.
the sheltered terrace

While she has fond memories of her childhood home, the Dancing With The Stars alum recalls swearing off one element of her mother Marie's home maintenance: the overgrown garden.

Marie would opt to let the hedges and shrubbery get overgrown, causing Joanna, in her youth, to complain that the space wasn't better kept.

Joanna Donnelly's garden. Pic: Supplied
Joanna Donnelly's garden. Pic: Supplied

However, Joanna, who designed her garden herself with some help from landscaper Martin Nulty, has since incorporated her late mum's style into her own home.

"I thought (neat and tidy) was what I wanted when I had my own garden, and I moved in," she explained.

"Then I realised my garden has turned into something slightly similar (to my mum's)."

Joanna Donnelly's garden. Pic: Supplied
Joanna Donnelly's garden. Pic: Supplied

Now, Joanna relishes having a style similar to mother Marie, who sadly passed away in 2021.

"For example, I have a hawthorn tree at the end of the garden that was there when I moved in. The builders had put a fence in front of it, but I took that out."

Joanna Donnelly's garden. Pic: Supplied
Joanna Donnelly's garden. Pic: Supplied

Subsequently, another hawthorn had seeded itself in a space where it shouldn't have.

"I just let them grow out, because obviously the hawthorn is an Irish fairy tree, and terrible things would happen if I cut it down!

Joanna Donnelly's garden. Pic: Supplied
Joanna Donnelly's garden. Pic: Supplied

"So now I have the hawthorn growing in the roses, and I have another that's about eight feet tall."

Joanna's home is brimming with sentimental stories, as she also proudly displays her mum's sewing machine.

Joanna Donnelly's home. Pic: Supplied
Joanna Donnelly's rescue dog Leia poses with her daughter's art. Pic: Supplied

'That's the item I would grab if there were a fire," she jokes.

Her artwork also holds emotional weight, as she proudly points to a piece over the sofa that her daughter Nicci commissioned.

"My favourite piece is probably the painting that my daughter made for me," the mum-of-three says.

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"When we moved in, we had a big wall, and we were trying to think how to fill it," she recalls.

The decision to ask their eldest daughter to create a work came from a photo op in the Netherlands.

'My husband Harm took a picture of me on a bridge in Amsterdam, and I really loved it,' Joanna explains.

Joanna Donnelly and her husband Harm. Pic: Joanna Donnelly / Instagram
Joanna Donnelly and her husband, Harm. Pic: Joanna Donnelly / Instagram

Back in Dublin they were shopping in Ikea, and saw a picture that the couple loved.

"It was of the same bridge," she explains.

They bought it, and it hung in pride of place for several years.

Joanna Donnelly with her daughter Nicci.
Joanna Donnelly with her daughter Nicci.

"Our daughter grew up to be an artist," Joanna says.

"I asked her if she would paint a painting for me that I could put on the wall. I wanted it (to be) inspired by the print that we had there,

"I love it, and it has been hanging there since."

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