Garden Redesign

Caragh Nurseries is a family owned nursery providing a full service from design to planting for both domestic and commercial clients. Garden Redesign

Situated on 55 acres on County Kildare, Caragh Nurseries has a huge range of wonderfully large trees, specimens, plants and shrubs. Jo McGarry of Caragh Nurseries recently underwent a redesign of her very own garden. Here Jo talks us through the process. ‘When you spend every day designing gardens for other people, your own can suffer from neglect so I was determined to invest a bit of time and energy into our own garden for the summer. I spent about three months thinking about it and planning it, it’s a labour of love when it is your own garden getting the detail right is really important.

First step is to clear the space by removing any unwanted old shrubs etc and levelling the areas, adding compost to the soil. You can then look at the hard landscaping you need to make your garden work for you in terms of eating or sitting outside. Having fallen in love with a grey porcelain stone while working on another garden, we decided to use that in our terrace so we went with that combined with a grey Mediterranean tile for the sides of the steps in order to soften the look. A contractor laid the stone and the tiles for us and we added a path in the stone down one side of the garden.

To break the look up we added a pebble path down the other side of the garden. I decided to leave the end of the garden in bark mulch rather than having more stone, it would also suit the wicker sculpture that I had planned in that space. More of our customers are looking for unusual focal pieces for their gardens so a sculpture from natural materials is ideal.

With the stone and paths ready for planting, we laid a lawn using a roll out lawn. This is a great option if you need your garden ready for an event or you don’t have the patience to plant and wait for new grass. The key at this time of the year is to make sure that the sprinkler is on the lawn regularly. I am always asked how often, so my guide is three times a week to check all new trees and plants (and new lawns) for water. Another note on watering is that the first year, and especially over the summer, of planting is the critical time for water. It is when most plants dry out and then can either die or be susceptible to damage, usually shown in browning, falling leaves and wind scorch. After the first summer they should be fine to mind themselves if they are in the ground, but in a pot they will need to be watered at least once a week during spring and summer and checked for drying out at other times. If ever we have an unusually dry period like that in May and June this year then best practice is adding a little extra water to avoid putting them under pressure.

Next stage is the planting. If you are not sure how to go about this, have a read of a few home and garden magazines and take pictures of the look you would like to see in your own garden. Consulting a garden designer is always a good idea as we can advise you on what will work best with the aspect and size of your garden. Consider your borders and hedges first. You can introduce maturity and structure in the form of trees. Pick your shrubs for structure and form before adding the colour. I decided to plant whole blocks of buxus or box hedging to form a full solid square in my garden. I had a few ideas of what I wanted but when I had a wander around the nursery, the magnolias stood out and so I have three blocks with three Magnolias coming from the middle. Similar to accessories inside your home, always work with odd numbers of trees as this works best.

I then added my colour in the form of herbaceous plants and grasses between each block of box, I picked seven or eight varieties. Always try to avoid planting only one of each thing as this will resemble a pincushion of dots. It’s far better to plant in threes, fives or seven and avoid forming cloud-like blobs. Make a triangular shape, or a narrow ribbon that looks like its waving in the wind. This is much more pleasing on the eye.

creates a good barrier and gives me privacy in the garden. I added a row of espaliered Hornbeam trees to the front to really give me added privacy as one of the bedrooms looks onto this garden. I also included three beautiful sculptured evergreen oak trees along the opposite side to the planting and a bonsai form clipped tree for real interest in a spot you only get glimpses of as you enter the garden.

Adding outdoor furniture is the next fun step so try to find a table that fits with the design and maybe a sculpture such as the wicker one I included in my own garden. The final stage is lighting for the garden at night. Keep it simple, in our case I put two lights on the side of the house and five hidden spots to light key aspects in the garden.’ For more information on Caragh Nurseries visit caraghnurseries.ie or phone Kildare 045 879170.

sources: Ireland's Home Interior and Living, August 2018

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