IN BRIEF<\/strong><\/p> What<\/strong> The Dillon Garden, created by Irish gardener and television presenter Helen Dillon, containing many tender plants that thrive outside in the mild, seaside microclimate. Where<\/strong> Monkstown, Co Dublin. Size<\/strong> 810 square metres. Soil<\/strong> Rich, acid loam imported from fields in Co Dublin. Climate<\/strong> Coastal climate that is relatively frost-free with plenty of bright sunshine. Tall walls and neighbouring trees protect the garden from the worst gales. Hardiness<\/strong> zone USDA 9.<\/p><\/div><\/div> \u201cI\u2019ve been gardening forever!\u201d Helen exclaims. She speaks quickly and precisely, not wasting words. She speaks like she gardens \u2013 with an energy and enthusiasm that is compelling. \u201cI just woke up one morning and thought, \u2018We need to move!\u2019 I adored Sandford Road \u2013 but we had done and tried everything. We were there for so long, and there just wasn\u2019t a place to make anything new. All I was doing was looking after things, not creating them.\u201d Initially, Val was apprehensive, but he soon agreed. The seed was sown, and eventually they found a property in Monkstown, a couple of hundred metres from the coast. The property, named Dun Mhuire, was a gardener\u2019s dream and it was soon agreed that it would become their new home.<\/p> You may also like<\/strong><\/p> Dun Mhuire, surrounded by a tall, 19th-century wall made from a jigsaw of buff-grey granite, offers shelter and a mild climate. The house, a bungalow, is unreservedly modernised compared with the couple\u2019s previous home and the garden itself promised an equally comprehensive renaissance. Large, glass doors open invitingly on to the garden, and linear paths with modern steps<\/a> carve the garden into beds and borders. The paths<\/a> are lined with buff gravel that helps to bind the new design to the old walls. The soil<\/a> throughout the garden was removed to a depth of 45cm and replaced with rich loam, \u201cso it was an empty space to start with\u201d, Helen explains. When it came to the planting (or \u201ctime to play\u201d, as Helen calls it), the blank canvas gave her huge scope. \u201cI spent my entire time creating red and blue borders in the previous garden; now I spend my time making gorgeous mixtures.\u201d<\/p> Over the past five years, the garden has found its feet quite quickly, and with Helen revelling in her new-found freedom, the beds and borders are now overflowing. The walls that shield the garden are a wonderful canvas against which to \u2018paint\u2019 plants, and are festooned with climbing roses, cestrums, fuchsias<\/a> and solanums. At their feet, Helen cultivates a range of plants, many of which would be far too tender if grown in a less sheltered location. Sonchus fruticosus<\/em> (\u201cby no means beautiful, but rather extraordinary\u201d, as Helen describes it) is rather like an excited dandelion on steroids, reaching over 1.8m in height and spread.<\/p> Hagenia abyssinica<\/em>, with its statuesque foliage, is another of those ultra-rare and special plants that enjoy the new garden. Melianthus and Dendromecon rigid<\/em>a, which might be floored by the cold elsewhere, form large, permanent shrubs<\/a> here. Another corner holds the spectacular Phymosia umbellata<\/em>, a commanding shrub with large, vine-like foliage and dark-red flowers. Spires of Lobelia tupa <\/a><\/em>project up above the sea of dahlias<\/a> and cosmos<\/a>. Happily, the wonderful celmisias and slipper orchids have also found their way to Dun Mhuire from Sandford Road.<\/p> Characteristic of Helen\u2019s planting style, the rare and unusual mingle with the familiar and more tolerant, and all plants are grown to perfection. It is a no-holds-barred style that exudes passion and confidence. Large, bold exotics such as cannas and Tetrapanax<\/em> jostle with the delicate blooms of roses, border phlox and hydrangeas. Dun Mhuire may be smaller than Helen\u2019s previous garden, but it is every bit the gardener\u2019s paradise.<\/p>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2021\/10\/JI_090920_HelenDillon_001-79b3646.jpg\" "\\"\\"\/")
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Useful Information<\/h3>