© 2025 Connecticut Public

FCC Public Inspection Files:
WEDH · WEDN · WEDW · WEDY
WEDW-FM · WNPR · WPKT · WRLI-FM
Public Files Contact · ATSC 3.0 FAQ
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

An Irish Garden

The grand canal, edged with silvery gray Kilkenny limestone, used to be a classic English  lawn.
Photos: Ketzel Levine, NPR News /
The grand canal, edged with silvery gray Kilkenny limestone, used to be a classic English lawn.
Down a flowering path as the shadows lengthen on a late Dublin afternoon.
/
Down a flowering path as the shadows lengthen on a late Dublin afternoon.

NPR's Ketzel Levine recently visited the grand garden of Helen Dillon, in Dublin, Ireland. On Morning Edition, she describes what she found. Levine shares some of her impressions of Dillon's color-filled world with npr.org:

"See how the colors glow?" asks Helen Dillon, as we stand in front of her pulsing blue perennial border. "I'd say it's the way the plants themselves look that make this an Irish garden."

Certainly the light in Ireland does astonishing things to the color of plants. The near-constant presence of clouds and the near-certain absence of sun make flower colors throb and beckon. It's the kind of light that turns a lowly pink cosmos into an achingly beautiful poem.

But the light needs something to play with and that's where Helen Dillon comes in. The woman is a conjurer, mixing plants, colors and shapes in seemingly random combinations, as if she waved a wand and said, "Go!"

Of course any gardener knows it doesn't just happen. As Dillon herself admits, "The whole method to this garden is to wait till it annoys you and then start again." Her tastes are always evolving, her plants combinations always changing.

It would appear, in Dillon's case, that there is nothing so restless as a contented gardener.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Ketzel Levine
NPR Senior Correspondent Ketzel Levine reports for Morning Edition.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.