Some say that the young, up-and-coming, avant-garde garden designer Damien Keane is already on his way to becoming the new Diarmuid Gavin. The contributor to TV3’s Ireland AM programme has created such a stir with his off-the-cuff designs that he was recently invited to complete a design and installation for the National Garden Exhibition Centre. His gothic reinterpretation garden opened to high acclaim during the summer.
The BBC’s talent scouts might do well to check out Keane, who has the cutting-edge savvy and tousled looks of Gavin, now an unlikely heart-throb across the water. Keane rules nothing out when it comes to creating gardens for his clients. In fact, he urges anybody designing a garden to throw away the rule book.
“One man’s ‘old and dated’ is another’s ‘timeless and authentic’,” says Keane, who believes that ultra-modernist gardens are falling out of favour, but that historic approaches can always be reinterpreted through a modern eye.
“Garden design is an ever-changing movement of different styles, with older ones never really dying out but simply being reincorporated into different plans. It is the interpretation of the garden that changes.”
For Keane, design starts with a basic idea: “I then fall back on imagination, history and the building blocks (plants and structure, for example). I believe the way to approach garden design is to forget about trends. One of the latest gold medal winners in Chelsea based his garden on a ‘hortus conclusus’, a very old idea for an enclosed, secret garden. In keeping with this revival, historically-based garden documentaries are now being aired on prime-time television.”
The key to a well-designed garden lies mainly in the imagination and outlook of the designer, says Keane. “Many different styles co-exist quite happily in the larger gardens I create. Shaped boxes, standard bays, grasses, herbaceous perennials and ground-cover shrubs can be used in traditional or contemporary settings.
“I approach a new project by spending time in the garden before formulating a plan or specifications. That’s when my imagination kicks in and I begin to visualise shapes, structures and colours. The secret is to put the effort into the ideas. This includes the practical effects of the garden-making process, from drainage and planting to shaded areas and ease of movement.
“I dislike drawing hugely detailed architectural plans, as it removes the essence of what garden design is all about — artistic flair and effecting change,” says Keane. “Always remember a garden will change dramatically throughout the year. We are blessed with a soft climate in Ireland, and there are very few things we cannot grow, especially along the coast and in the south. Plants such as tree ferns, agaves and olive trees can all be grown quite well. These plants are not recent arrivals; tree ferns and palms were used extensively by the Victorians. It is only the placing of them that has changed.”
Keane has designed and built gardens ranging in size from 50 sq ft to seven acres. One thought runs through his mind in every new garden he enters: “I always think this garden will be transformed using my imagination. I enjoy creating gardens that encapsulate the ‘wow’ factor — a mass of vibrant, beautifully balanced garden settings.
“For me, the issue of aftercare is just as important, because nature never stops making changes. Garden design is unlike any other art form: it is an ever-changing expression of what can be created using nature, not an image frozen in time.
“A well-designed garden should not only be in balance with the surroundings but should also cater for the physical, emotional and social needs of the owners. Trends in gardening come and go, but individuality and aesthetics will always be in vogue.”
Keane’s work can be seen at the National Garden Exhibition Centre, Kilquade, Co Wicklow
Dermot O’Neill’s articles are archived on his website, www.dermotoneill.net
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