Few clouds, 18 °C
Episode 2 - Galway
The Designer: Anne Byrne
The Garden Owners: Richard and Joanna Bowen, plus 1year old daughter and baby bump!
Before:
What the garden owner needs:
Richard loves the outdoors and wants nothing more than to spend hours in the garden with his young family. He wants to have a garden full of colour and life.
The Bowens want a garden that they can nurture and grow along with their growing family. The garden must be nature-friendly as well as family-friendly.
The Design:
“A Garden for Lazy Day-sies” has the daisy as its central theme. Anne is hoping to construct daisy-shaped raised beds for planting on either side of the steps leading up from the patio to the circular lawn area.
For aesthetics, Anne will disguise the existing oil tank and boiler at the back of the house.
To fulfil the nature-friendly aspect of the brief, Anne will include a “dead hedge” as a way to encourage wildlife into the garden.
About Anne Ryan:
Anne Byrne is a full-time mother of one with a passion for gardening. Anne has an RHS level 2, where whe was introduced to different areas of horticulture, but decided to go down the design route. Anne believes gardens should consist of flowers, trees and vegetables, she is not a fan of contemporary or cutting-edge design. Anne is striving to create both a functional and beautiful family garden.
After: 
The Garden Result:
The garden has been transformed with many different areas of interest, including a seating area and the promised “dead hedge”. The garden walls are now woven willow fences, a feature which is picked up in the woven willow daisy petals that make up the raised beds. Richard and Joanna’s mature trees have been retained at the bottom of the garden. A special feature of the garden is the beautiful playhouse intended for the kids, this area is surrounded by Growise Play Area Bark which provides a soft surface for any little tumbles by tiny tots.
What did the judges think?
Jane McCorkell expressed immediate safety concerns about the gravel daisies set into the lawn, while the other judges were not convinced of their design merit or manageability. Anne’s use of gravel for the walkway from the back of the house to the oil tank was also questioned, although she was able to explain to the judges her practical reasoning behind this.
