The Dillon Garden

Helen Dillon, gardening writer and television personality provides a guided tour of her own garden in Dublin and an opportunity for keen gardeners and plant-a-holics to wallow in seductive, inspirational plant descriptions leavened with an earthy humour borne of years of experience. A fair amount of prior knowledge is assumed and the site is more a stimulus to the imagination of existing gardeners than a how-to guide for beginners. Helen Dillon, her garden and her website come across as earthy, good-humoured and seductive. Obviously a real plantswoman, she oozes enthusiasm and the site inspires confidence and is like picking up a good gardening magazine. It's well laid-out and navigation is self-explanatory. The homepage offers a clear contents list and you can also move directly to any option once you have left the homepage by means of a vertical tab down the left hand side of each page. When moving around the site there are useful Back, Next and More buttons. The text is specifically chosen to download quickly and accurately and to be easily readable. It's quicker on pages that are less graphic intensive, although images are used sparingly, with just a few good quality, high-resolution photographs. Special Features The site's focus is Helen Dillon's own garden in Dublin. There is also information about Ms Dillon, and opportunities to buy her books. The main menu offers the following options: The Garden A series of excerpts from Helen Dillon's book, An Irish Garden, describing the design history and planting strategy of her own garden. Combines an obvious passion for plants with an honest account of difficulties experienced. Interview An in-depth biographical interview, specially commissioned and of interest to any gardener. Articles Features on Helen Dillon's garden taken from papers such as the Irish Times, Financial Times and the Telegraph, by well-known gardening writers. Hints and Tips Beautifully written and personal, with an honest appraisal of the author's own garden and details of how tasks were tackled - all with a healthy dose of self-deprecating humour and in a chatty, gardener-to-gardener style. There are tantalising descriptions of good seasonal plants to choose. Fact File and Location give a map and details about how to visit the garden. Books by Helen Dillon are listed and reviewed and there are links to online bookshops. You can also browse the full collection of photos from the site in Photo Gallery, download a beautiful photo of the garden as desktop wallpaper, join a mailing list, or sign the Guestbook.