About this item
An award-winning garden designer's unique union of a practical how-to book with stories and philosophy The Garden Awakening is a step-by-step manual to creating a garden in harmony with the life force in the earth, addressing not only what the people in charge of the land want but also asking what the land wants to become. Mary Reynolds demonstrates how to create a groundbreaking garden that is not simply a solitary space but an expanding, living, interconnected ecosystem. Drawing on old Irish ways and methods of working with the land, this beautiful book is both art and inspiration for any garden lover seeking to create a positive, natural space.
About the Author
Brief biography.
Mary grew up on a small mixed farm in the south of Ireland. 20 years ago she set up her own company designing gardens in Dublin. A few years later, having lost the will to live from constantly creating modern gardens, she realised that she could no longer continue shaping land in the same way and re-imagined her work to become nature rather than human centred.
Mary brought her new, still relatively unformed ideas to be showcased at the Chelsea flower show in London where she achieved a gold medal, unusual at the time for a first time effort. Since that time, she has built up quite a cult following in the world of garden design and is considered unique in her field.
Another U-turn came a few years ago when Mary realised we had to rethink the whole relationship we had with the land and re-examine what it means to truly design in harmony with nature. Those latest revelations lead to 'The Garden Awakening" being born. This book was written at night over four years when her two young kids were asleep.
Mary has been known to present telly programmes about garden design and do the odd garden makeover on the box. She also gives talks and workshops about her work and beliefs. She's trained as a Reiki master, is not a bad cook (to her mothers eternal surprise) and she likes to campaign against evil multinational efforts to cull us all off with pesticides, herbicides and GMO's. She spends a lot of time growing and guiding her own land, but most of her time is spent being a harassed single mum, trying to grow two cheeky but wonderful boy and girl monsters and a crazy golden-doodle with as much grace and love as possible.
