In Helen's heaven on earth garden
HAVING been captivated by a previous visit I went to Dublin again last week to explore the amazing garden designed by Helen Dillon, one of Ireland's most artistic, creative and influential gardeners/writers.
Three pairs of eyes see more than one, and not wishing to miss anything I asked along two friends, Noelle Switzer, a plantswoman to her fingertips, and Honor Moore, president of the Irish Guild of Food Writers, who is creating a cottage garden in the heart of Rathmines.
The postal address of the Dillon Garden is 45 Sandford Road, Ranelagh, Dublin 6, although the gracious Georgian house with gardens front and back is actually situated along a narrow, tree-lined laneway turning off from the main road, peaceful and secluded, with the sound of birdsong instead of passing traffic.
Helen's watchword when it comes to gardening is 'good plants and good design,' and
The front garden gives a foretaste of the pleasures in store. Among many other carefully orchestrated and totally individual effects, highlighted by fine grey gravel, is a hydrangea petiolaris romping over the ballustrade on one side of the steps up to the front door, and a standard honeysuckle in full bloom.
Helen's husband, Val, told us: "A wisteria trained like that is a money-plant; this was created by Helen herself." Also the climbing roses are so carefully chosen that the blooms haven't gone all soggy in the rain.
The first impression of the main garden is the spectacular view from the drawing room window down the length of the rectangular canal which, as keen gardeners will remember, caused a huge furore in gardening circles when it replaced the famous Dillon lawn last year.
Although opinions differ, to my mind the shimmering reflections of green archways at the far end of the limpid stretch of water viewed in sunlight and under passing cloud adds an other-worldly dimension to the garden, enhanced by the fact that the two wide borders down each side are a most unexpected colour contrast to each other.
Helen said: "The pictures I painted at school almost always had an angry side, dark colours, writhing branches, trees with nasty faces and so on, while the other side was bright and light and happy. The pull of opposites fascinates me in garden design to this day. To me the present colour theme is thrilling and challenging, and the canal sparkles, but both are proving controversial some people like the effect and others don't." As you can see from the photograph the plantings along the left of the canal encompass a galaxy of the hot (not angry, but splendid) colours fiery shades of red, scarlet, orange, garnet, mahogany in foliage and flowers. There's a spectrum of blues, mauves, silvery greys and white on the right, very cool and serene. The row of tall, slender stipa gigantica fronting each border forms a visual link between the two.
Noelle, Honor and I were of one mind about the over-all effect it is absolutely stunning!
And for people going round the garden this diversity in colour is a bonus because both borders are what Helen refers to in her books as "a garden picture" in its own right, amazingly varied and fascinating as she's working from a very extensive pallet with the aim of designing a tranquil ambience rather than an unplanned riot of colour.
Helen also told us that she likes airy, see-through plants such as stippa Gigantica, diarama (angels' fishing rods), verbena bonariensis, gypsophia, and so on.
Having passed through the avid collector's phase she's making more use of familiar, much-loved varieties which justify their inclusion in the garden.
In the Red Border there are roses in every shade of red, including Trumpeter, a couple of scarlet dahlias and exotics such as cannas bright in leaf, as well as flower and rodgersia with plumes of pinky red. Inclusion doesn't depend on rarity or cost and among other varieties too numerous to mention are cottage-garden favourites such as knautia Macedonica with little blackish-red bobbles and lychnis Chalcedonica (Maltese cross) and Coronaria (rose campion), while achillea 'Paprika' (red with a yellow/orange centre) and agastache 'Firebird' (giant Mexican hyssop) for late colour in the border are both grown from seed.
The Blue Border is a delight with old favourites small and tall ranging from catmint, annual candytuft, pansies, eryngium Miss Wilmott's ghost, various hebes, monkshood and delphiniums in variety.
These are combined with garden treasures such as brilliant ink-blue salvia patens, clematis durandii covered in velvety mauve flowers, Chatam Island forget-me-nots, perovskia (Russian sage), and a tall, prickly South African thistle with dramatic white flowers .
The magnificent clumps of campanula Lactiflora and the bell-shaped Persicifolia towering up towards the back of the Blue Border add another dimension, matched in size and loveliness by Galega officinalis and orientalis (goat's rue), members of the pea family. These are so beautiful and bountiful that I intend to get my hands on them as soon as possible to grow among my precious perennial phox. The moment you see plants of these massive proportions the art of staking comes to mind.
Val Dillon explained: "Standards have to be very high if you're open to the public and I defer staking until each individual plant is tall and leafy enough to cover the specially permanent supports I use."
I pointed out a king-size romneya Coulterii with glorious white poppy-like blooms, which is "encased in a huge corset." Other particular favourites of his include a clematis Romantica with black-dark purple flowers climbing over a variegated myrtle, a large, pot-grown, blue hydrangea treated with tenderness and watered every day, and Rosa Souvenir St Anne, the Dublin millennium rose which is in superb condition., far better than mine " Hack yours back after it's first flowering and keep the centre clear, " he advised.
Beyond the canal and its fabulous borders there's a circular pool and three small gardens, an arched walkway and a perfect oval lawn.
Helen said: "We' started the garden thirty years when we first came here and my husband retired and joined me full time 14 years ago as we'd decided to open it to the public. Apart from Jim Sharkey, who came in for a few hours a week, we did it all ourselves until about four years ago when Mary Roe joined us full-time and May Carmody part time."
But their own work is endless; even as they talked to us and other visitors Helen and Val continued dead-heading, removing a damaged leaf here and there or the very occasional weed, and Helen went to fetch a can of water for a plant in need a marvellous example for any keen gardener.
People from all over the world come to see the Dillon Garden. The Queen of Norway made a private visit recently and the figures show that, excluding Dublin, four out of five Irish visitors come from Cork county.
Garden artistry is about placing individual plants where they'll bring out the best among their neighbours. Helen has a magic touch, so I'll be back in spring to see it in a different guise.
Honor Moore, who also found this garden an inspiration, says you don't need to know about plants and flowers to enjoy it to the full, and Noelle is so enthralled that she visits several times a year to see it through the seasons.
I'll leave the last word on the subject with Val Dillon: " I love the garden and I love the challenge of keeping it at its best. The only thing I don't do is the planting and that's because my wife is the brains. She's the artist and I'm very proud of her. "
The garden is open daily in March, July, and August from 2pm to 6pm; April, May, June and September, Sundays only, 2pm to 6pm.
