Mary Reynolds was busy baking a batch of raspberry scones when Irish Country Living arrived at her home overlooking Wexford town. She wasn’t sure if the oven was set to the correct temperature but, whether it was or not, the scones were delicious.

We got talking about all sorts of things, including her fondness for crows.

“We had a rookery on our farm and I loved watching great families of crows gossiping and chattering all day. They are such characters – very strong and very family orientated.”

Mary is perhaps best known as the youngest and first Irish garden designer to win a gold medal at the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show. That was back in 2002 and her Celtic Sanctuary garden aimed to remind people just how beautiful wild places are.

“The reaction to the garden was amazing. Irish people thought it was lovely, just like places they knew at home. However, people from the UK were in tears. They told me about the places they grew up in – wild places with a real sense of magic that sadly no longer existed.”

Mary has been on a journey to re-create those magic spaces ever since and has gained worldwide recognition for her work. Now, the story of getting her garden accepted at Chelsea has been made into a feature-length film which goes on general release this week.

The film Dare to be Wild is something Mary can hardly get her head around, with trips to Japan and the US to promote the film and her new book The Garden Awakening already in the pipeline.

“It’s just amazing. And as to the film, Vivienne De Courcy did a wonderful job as writer and director.”

Unlikely Start

It’s hard to believe that landscaping and garden design were never top of Mary Reynolds’ career list. One of six children, she was reared on the family farm in the townland of Forth Mountain just outside Wexford town.

As a teenager, she couldn’t wait to get out of Wexford, but is now back living in the county.

“The reason is simple – it’s roots. It’s what I know and where I’m from. I know generations of local families and that gives me a real sense of belonging.”

These are the same roots she wants for her children Ferdia (12) and Ruby (10), both of whom are totally immersed in Glynn Barntown GAA club.

Mary’s first trial of college as a marketing and languages student in Waterford IT didn’t work out.

“I arrived in college on crutches, having snapped my cruciate ligament. I was into sports and suddenly that adrenalin rush was gone and I made a mess of college.”

She moved to Dublin and worked in a cardboard box factory to pay the rent. That didn’t go down well at home.

“My mother was having none of it. And there was no saying no to her. I didn’t know what I wanted to do but I really fancied this guy who was doing landscaping and so I applied and got the horticulture course in UCD.”

She scraped through, graduating in 1997 and immediately set up as a garden designer. Business grew by word of mouth and she never had to advertise. Winning gold at Chelsea increased her profile both at home and internationally. Mary designed every type of garden: Italian, herbaceous, makeovers for RTÉ – she did it all. However, she wasn’t really fulfilled by the work and even though it paid the bills she began to lose interest in garden design.

No More Pretty Gardens

Then one night she woke from a dream.

“The moment I woke up, the dilemma I had been struggling with became clear as a bell. I shouldn’t be making any more pretty gardens.”

She says people are drawn to gardening because it helps them feel connected to nature. Indeed, the words “gardens” and “nature” have become almost synonymous. But in reality they have very little in common anymore.

“You can view this split between gardens and nature as a mighty battle. The frontline on the gardener’s side generally involves a lot of hard work and quantities of chemicals. Subversive tactics and guerrilla warfare are nature’s weapon of choice.

“I look at land and gardens as a parent looks at a child. I don’t own it, I’m its guardian. Would you tell a child it will only be loved if it wears this pink or yellow tutu and if it spreads itself out or moves to the wrong place you will be cross – well it’s the same with gardening.

“I want to work in harmony with nature and see its true character emerge. I want to see how you can let the land become what it wants to be and find spaces for you and your family within that.”

Thinking Differently

Her new book, The Garden Awakening, lays out her philosophy of gardening, which is about creating sanctuaries of nature. It’s also about protecting and building up the soil by mulching and restoring bacteria to it. The book lists a wide range of alternative remedies to replace chemical applications and a whole section is devoted to designing with the shape of nature in mind. Plus there’s plenty of tree and shrub information to get you going.

While the content is serious, the book is written in a lovely lively style with plenty of funny stories to keep a smile on your face. Anyone who has ever pulled ragwort will certainly empathise with Mary’s account of doing this job when she was a child.

“If you want to reconnect with nature, do it by walking in the wild – you won’t get the same connection in a garden.”

To get that natural feeling, she says gardeners need to copy what’s in the wild and that can be done in even a small suburban garden.

“Think of the garden in layers starting with a shelter belt suitable for the soil. There’s a canopy layer, it could be an apple tree in a small garden or a walnut in a bigger one. Both are dual purpose in that they produce fruit as well as foliage. Then there’s fruit bushes, followed by edible plants such as rocket and kale and then ground cover with creeping plants such as strawberries or mushrooms in darker places.”

Listening to Mary talk about her gardening vision, one couldn’t but be impressed with her passion for the land and natural spaces. If neat lawns, and rose beds are your thing then this book is probably not for you. But if you were ever mesmerised by a wild meadow, a mountain path or a ferny glen and wondered how to recreate that look then The Garden Awakening is the only gardening book you will ever need again.

For more information, contact info@marymary.ie. Dare to be Wild is on general release in 34 cinemas nationwide and The Garden Awakening, published by Green Books, is available in all good bookshops.