Reynolds - The Garden Awakening

Published by Green Books

An imprint of UIT Cambridge Ltd

www.greenbooks.co.uk

PO Box 145, Cambridge CB4 1GQ, England

+44 (0) 1223 302 041

Copyright 2016 UIT Cambridge Ltd. All rights reserved.

Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no part of this book may be reproduced in anymanner without the prior written permission of the publisher.

First published in 2016, in England

Mary Reynolds has asserted her moral rights under the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

ILLUSTRATIONS BY

Ruth Evans

www.thehedgerowgallery.com

WITH C HAPTER 2 GARDEN PLANS BY

Mary Reynolds

COVER ILLUSTRATION

Ruth Evans

www.thehedgerowgallery.com

DESIGNER

Glyn Bridgewater

ISBN: 978 0 85784 313 5 (paperback)

ISBN: 978 0 85784 314 2 (ePub)

ISBN: 978 0 85784 315 9 (pdf)

Also available for Kindle.

Disclaimer: the advice herein is believed to be correct at the time of printing, but the author and publisher accept no liability for actions inspired by this book.

This book is dedicated to Ferdia and Ruby Reynolds. The two most loved, important and magical creatures I have been lucky enough to plant and grow. How blessed I am to wake up in your world every day.

Many, many thanks to my kind, clever, wonderful manager and friend Claire Leadbitter and the wildly talented artist Ruth Evans who illustrated this book so beautifully. The gentle earth energy that radiates from Ruths work is magical and I am eternally grateful to Claire and Ruth for having these images weave their way through this paper garden. I am honoured to share this journey with these two strong women.

Thank you to my editor and long-time hero Larry Korn from the bottom of my heart. I was more than blessed to have your guidance and wisdom with this work. You nourished and encouraged these pages until they blossomed. What words can I say to express my gratitude Larry? You Rock! What an important warrior you are in natures green army.

Thank you so much to Niall, Lisa, Lindsey and Megan and all involved at Green books for carefully sending this manuscript out into the world. A huge shout out to Glyn Bridgewater for your beautiful and thoughtful book design.

To all of the good people who have been integral to this story. My big brother Paul Reynolds, his wife Susanna and his business partner Declan Owens in Seattle who always opened doors for me as a writer, in and out of my head. A special thank you to my great sisters Mairad, ine and her dear husband Joe, my lifelines. My brothers Eoin and Ger Reynolds and their wives Kevina and Martina.

Pat OConnor from Rathmore in Kerry. Pat, there are no words that can express my gratitude for keeping me alive and well, but thank you is a start. Maria and John Rawlins, thank you both wholeheartedly for your constant guardianship.

My dear friends who occasionally read and encouraged over the years, Marketa Irglova, Karen Allison, Eileen Kelliher, Edel OBrien, Paula and Tony Hayden, Sheila MacNally, Yvonne McGuinness. Special thanks to Breda Enright, Lauren Williams and Samus King for giving expert guidance and wisdom. Colm Mac Con Iomaire for your expert Irish and encouragement. Gratitude and love to those who walked with me along the way. Namely Tor Cotton, ine Berry, Siobn OLeary, Rachel Ward, Grinne and Paddy Fenton, Martin Cuthbertson, Bruce Allison, Deirdre Teahan, Eilish McVeigh, Della ODonoghue, Lesley Devane, Michelle Flannery, ine and John OConnor, Joe, Izzy and Ellie Doyle of Claires tribe, Jenn Halter Prenda, Christy Collard, Libby and Paddy Meegan, James Alexander Sinclair, Maria Manuel Stocker, Catherine de Courcey, Joyce McGreevy, Joe Mullally, Gaby Smyth, Andrew Smith for the prompting, Vivienne de Courcy, for your courage. Thank you to my Wexford tribe, Linda and Jake Garnett, Janice ORegan Conroy, Carmel and Patrick Nolan, John Pettit, Claudia OBrien and all of the dedicated side-line mammies and daddies. Jane Powers, thank you for prodding us towards Green books. Thank you Gillies Mackinnon for our much valued wee correspondence through which I discovered a love of writing. My mother and father, who gave me everything I am, bless you both forever and ever. Amen.

Mostly, thanks to my green family, visible and invisible. You are my heart, my dreams and my reason for being.

Gr agus ms.

Love and respect.

Mary Reynoldss gardens are not only beautiful to look at, they feel different. Walk through one of them and you are transported to a time when people and nature lived together as one family. We still remember that time, but it is lying dormant in our subconscious. In The Garden Awakening Mary delightfully guides us along an old pathway, overgrown and forgotten to that place. She combines the magic of old Irish ways, sacred patterns and symbols, the power of intention, and sound organic management practices to create spaces in which nature can express itself freely and fulfill its own destiny. In the process the gardener, the lands guardian, experiences a personal transformation in which their painful separation from nature is healed.

This book is at once practical, philosophical, and spiritual. It is a step-by-step guide to restoring health to the land, and in the process discovering the truth of who we are. Although Mary lives in a temperate region and draws inspiration from her Irish ancestors, her approach to garden design is universal and can be applied anywhere, whether on a large property or a small urban yard. It is a matter of listening carefully to the needs and wishes of the land and combining them with your own.

Marys message is one of vision and hope. It shows the way to a brighter future in which people, nature, and all other forms of life live peacefully together in a world of health and abundance.

Larry Korn, 2016

Everything becomes simple when you immerse yourself in nature. Lifes complications melt away, leaving only the truth of the present moment and the presence of what I call God. In this place we can see ourselves reflected in every living thing, every gust of wind, every splash of rain, and here we can find peace. This is our true home.

Yet we are losing what few wild places we have left; those patches where the spirits of the earth are flowing freely, where harmony and balance still exist, and we feel accepted for the truth of who we are. We have strayed off course and need to find our way again.

An old pathway, overgrown and forgotten, is waiting impatiently to lead us back home.

Nature is willing us on.

N fidir an dubh a chur ina gheal, ach seal.

The truth will out.