Anna Pavord's Great Gardens: Dillon Garden, Dublin

This is the ground of the suburbs

Ranelagh, a leafy residential suburb of Dublin, is home to one of Ireland's most highly respected gardeners.

Helen Dillon has become the country's unofficial gardening ambassador and, with the help of her husband, has transformed the grounds of their handsome Regency home into one of the country's most beautiful and inspirational city gardens, right. Now an established garden writer, broadcaster and author of several garden books, over the past 25 years Dillon has made some dramatic changes which have included replacing a lawn with a serene, canal-style water feature, inspired by her holidays in Morocco and the Alhambra in Granada.

Very much a family-affair, all the borders and plants are meticulously tended and maintained by Dillon and her husband, Val. The garden itself lies at the back of the house, hidden from the road, though the small but perfectly formed front garden hints at the delights that await behind.

Anna Pavord says: "Helen Dillon's garden on the outskirts of Dublin has become a place of pilgrimage for garden lovers. It is a model: design, plantsmanship and maintenance are all impeccable. Trelliswork, box hedges, trained fruit trees provide screens between one part and the next, so the long, thin rectangle provides endless surprises. Bend your knee to the best Cornus controversa 'Variegata' you are ever likely to see."

Where and when

45 Sandford Road, Ranelagh, Dublin (00 353 1 497 1308; www.dillongarden.com). The garden opens every day from 2pm-6pm through March, July and August. In April, May, June and September it opens Sundays only, 2pm-6pm. This month you'll be going to look at the hellebores and spring bulbs. Admission costs €5 (£3.30) per adult. A garden visit plus a short talk in the drawing room, with refreshments, costs €10 (£6.60) per adult. There is very limited disabled access because visitors must navigate narrow garden paths.

Anna Pavord is The Independent's gardening correspondent