Reflective pools of black water to bring beauty and calm for Shelly
Designer’s vision ensures garden is a tranquil space that is fully accessible, writes Alan O’Keeffe
AN oasis of calm was created using reflective garden ponds at the home of wheelchair user Shelly Gaynor.
Shelly, who works as a peer mentor for Independent Living Movement Ireland, said her home life has been transformed by the talents of landscape gardener Mark Hoey.
She feels immensely lucky that her once dreary back garden was selected to feature in RTE One’s Super Garden series.
“The pools of water and the whole garden are so calming. I’m delighted,” she said. Television viewers will be able to see the transformation of the garden during the broadcast on Thursday evening.
Mark (32) told the Sunday Independent he was “quite nervous” entering the competition to create a garden which he hoped would be good enough to win him the top prize of showcasing his talents with an exhibition garden at next year’s Bloom event in Dublin.
Five designers were each given an identical garden as their blank canvas in a new social housing development in North Co Dublin named Rowlestown Green.
Mark designed a ‘Reflection’ garden using black water pools “to bring in the sky and surrounding plants into the garden” as a sanctuary for Shelly.
His inspiration for the black water pool design came from a personal interest in recognising the importance of mental health.
He built the garden on the diagonal using granite and cobbled finish paving to give a sense of space and freedom — straight lines were softened by flowering shrubs, ferns and evergreen perennials.
A garden room with copper fascia and a living roof to the rear will provide a shaded area for BBQs and summer get-togethers.
Floating flower beds provide colour and hedging separates the rear part of the garden.
An intensive three weeks of work was a family affair with Mark getting help from his father, sheep farmer Paddy Hoey from Smithstown, Co Meath, and his father-inlaw Chris Hampshire from Donore, Co Meath, and other family members. Mark’s wife Emma, an architectural technologist, helped with the spacial planning.
Emma’s brother Sam, and Mark’s sister Laura, were among the family members to help out.
“I have seen in the past how a black dye added to water can really enhance the reflective nature of garden pools and help create a calming space. The dye is safe and fish can live in the water. It also prevents the water from becoming stagnant as the black water prevents algae from growing.
“Mental health is very important and it can be enhanced by the environment you create,” he said.
He also used a form of artificial grass, which was made from 100pc recycled material, and which is also 100pc recyclable.
“We finished work just at the right time before the Covid-19 restrictions began,” he said.
Mark loves his work and his first foray into landscaping was a summer job with renowned garden designer Andrew Christopher Dunne and he remained with him for eight years of satisfying work.
Mark feels he’s quite easy going, but Emma believes there is an extremely competitive man behind the quiet exterior. Mark was a long-distance runner representing Ireland at European Junior Cross Country Championships so he knows what it is like to compete with the best. He was delighted that Shelly was thrilled with the results of their joint efforts.
Shelly (40) has cerebral palsy and is fully wheelchair dependent. She grew up in Donabate, Co Dublin, and lived in Portrane for 12 years before moving into the Fingal County Council social housing development last December.
The house is fully wheelchair accessible, with automatic doors, which allows Shelly to live as independently as possible with the services of personal assistants.
The old garden had just grass and grey concrete walls and was not accessible to her. Shelly was hoping for a colourful garden which would be fully accessible to her and her dog, Charlie.
She said her parents, Trish and Joe, instilled in her a positive attitude to life.
Moving to Rowlestown has been a dream come true for Shelly, because it is the first time she has had a garden. She needed the garden
‘Mental health can be enhanced by the environment you create’
to be low maintenance with no area out of bounds.
Shelly, a former chairperson of Independent Living Movement Ireland, has campaigned for years for rights of people with disabilities to live their lives with as much control as possible over their day-to-day lives and their futures.
She said that support for people with disabilities to live in their own homes can have enormous benefits and can also be economically prudent as it cuts down on institutional care costs.
She believes the model of care, which allows a person to directly employ personal assistants, can be the best one in many cases. She is lobbying the HSE, and the Government, for people to have legal rights to the services of personal assistants.
‘Super Garden’ will be broadcast on RTE One, this Thursday, June 4, at 8pm