Mary Reynolds Designs

Diarmuid Gavin asked me to write an article on my day to day life as a designer……

Now if I did that, you would probably get a run down of nappy changes, taking out bins, cooking industrial quantities of Spaghetti bolognese, spending hours as a power ranger and a few scribbles on the drawing board in between, so I don’t think that would make for an inspiring read! There are stretches of madness where I put my head down after getting an idea and don’t come up for air for a week or so, at least until the kids demand their mammy back!

I started off designing gardens in Dublin after college. Back then, whatever style the clients wanted, they got. I wasn’t fully feeding the creative side of my brain so eventually I got worn down with it. I stopped enjoying it, lost the motivation and reason for doing what I did. I moved out of Dublin back to the “wild west “of the Wicklow Mountains. As soon as I got back into the wilderness, I got inspired for the first time and knew where I wanted to bring my skills. I realised that for me, the gardens I had been designing were lacking, because they did not have that depth of soul that exists everywhere in wild places. I realised that this beautiful landscape we all live in was disappearing fast because people had become disconnected from it and had forgotten the importance of that connection. I wanted to create gardens that would bring this connection back into people’s lives.

Of course, no client in their right mind was going to let me loose with my mad ideas in their garden so I knew I had to showcase a garden. I chose the Chelsea flower show in London. Being completely naive about it, I wasn’t daunted and a huge adventure followed which ended in my garden winning the gold medal in 2002. The best result from this as a designer is that I no longer have to sell my ideas or myself to my clients. I am very good at listening to and incorporating my client’s briefs into a design, after that I am let off to go wild and have fun with the land in question.

This garden I did at Chelsea did not conform to the multiple rules of display that are attached to the formula of that show. The Chelsea flower show was the ultimate showcase of man controlling nature to fit his idea of beauty. The plants in my garden were grouped together as nature intended, most were considered weeds and most survived the transportation thanks to regular dowsing with rescue remedy. It was a really simple garden that any of you could have stumbled across in any wild place in Ireland (with a few twists of course!). It was amazing to stand at the garden in Chelsea and see countless people crying when they saw it and recounting stories to me about how they remembered places like that when they were young, magic places. One lady was in tears as she told me how she had left Ireland 50 years previously. She had worked all her life as a cleaner in Battersea. Her husband had just died and she knew she was never going to make it back to Ireland. She was crying because she said we had brought Ireland to her. That alone made the adventure worth all the stress and struggle

Ireland is a special place. According to our celtic ancestors, the condition of the land was always a reflection of the quality of kingly rule. The king was considered “married” to the land and he must care for her as he would a wife. I think it is pretty clear to all of us that the “wife” has almost had her spirit broken from lack of care at the moment. Our lack of regard for our cultural link with the land results in an actual debate on whether a road should be allowed through Tara or not! Anyway, don’t get me started. I’m losing the run of myself here.

Back to a day in the life of a garden designer. Well, I cracked a design today that has been a long time brewing and the satisfaction of seeing my ideas coming into a physical reality is an addictive buzz. I am looking forward to seeing this new one get to that point.  It’s the end of the day now and I am finishing this article in bed with two small creatures sprawled horizontally on both sides of me. Can’t get much better really. Good night!