Helen Dillon's Garden Book

Helen Dillon is revered worldwide as one of the most skilled and perceptive gardeners of our time. In this book she encapsulates--in her inimitably witty and accessible style--her deep love of plants, assured sense of design and lifetime of gardening know-how. Here is illumination for every gardener, from the beginner wondering why nothing will grow in the garden of a new house to the sophistic aiming at exquisitely subtle effects. Drawing on over thirty-five years' experience in her Dublin garden, she underpins practical advice on looking after plants and the basics of planting and propagating with thoughtful ideas on garden style in which she reveals herself not only as a plantswoman but as a creator, reinventing all the time. Interspersed with her knowledgeable observations of particular plants (silver leaves, winter skeletons), styles (gravel gardening, designing with water, a blue border) and themes (a garden requiring less than an hour's work a week, gardening for old age) are musings on such subjects as the virtues of a builders' big plastic bucket for weeding or the satisfying social interactions to be enjoyed in a garden center. Wide-ranging in her interests and delighting as she informs, in her Garden Book Hel Dillon teaches us all how to garden, and garden well.