Garden to visit

The late plantswoman Beth Chatto created gardens of world renown at her home Essex, by choosing the ‘right plant for the right place’

The late Beth Chatto created her worldrenowned gardens in Essex by choosing the right plant for the right place. Here we look at the lovely legacy she’s left behind

When Beth Chatto OBE started her garden in Essex in 1960, her planting ideas were ahead of their time. The site wasn’t a promising location: it was overgrown with brambles, with very dry areas next to boggy ditches. Beth and her husband Andrew approached its design by working with the conditions, developing

“...the Chatto philosophy has influenced gardeners across the globe, especially with concerns about drought”

the idea of using the ‘right plant for the right place’. In doing so, they turned their seven-acre site into a thriving plant paradise that has become world famous. The Chatto philosophy has influenced gardeners across the globe, especially in more recent years with growing concerns about drought and climate change. Time-strapped gardeners also find their approach helpful, saving time and effort by gardening in harmony with nature. Beth was born in 1923 and reached the grand old age of 94 before her recent passing in May. She married her fruit farmer husband Andrew in 1943, a kindred spirit who shared her deep passion for

plants. Together they studied where plants came from, the climate and soil they grew in, then sought to match plants to specific sites and soil types. As Beth received requests for plant catalogues, so the idea of creating a nursery at the gardens was born. Beth showed plants at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and won a string of gold medals. Her first book, The Dry Garden, was published in 1978. Other titles – The Damp Garden, Drought-Resistant Gardening and The Shade Garden followed.

“The Gravel Garden was once a car park, but it’s now filled with drought-tolerant Mediterranean plants”

Today the gardens are a delight to visit. They comprise lots of different planting zones with distinct growing conditions, which has meant that a wide range of plants can be grown in a relatively small area. The Water Garden, for instance, was once just a hollow with a high water table, but Beth knew that the damp conditions were ideal for moisture-loving irises and gunnera, even in Essex, which is famous for its low rainfall. The area now contains four ponds designed to reflect the clouds in the sky, surrounded by the lush foliage of hostas, rushes and sedges. These are joined by bold, architectural plants such as gunnera and rheums, with pops of colour from the irises, trollius and astilbes. In July, spectacular drifts of candelabra primulas dazzle with their orange, pink and magenta blooms popping out among the ferns and gunnera.

Gravel Garden

A short walk away is Beth’s worldrenowned Gravel Garden. This area was once a car park, but it’s now filled with drought-tolerant Mediterranean-style plants, which thrive in the low rainfall and nutrient-poor soil. Plants such as agapanthus, eryngiums, poppies, oregano and Californian fuchsia (Zauschneria californica) have transformed this once-barren plot into a riot of spring and summer colour. The Scree Garden is home to a collection of alpines including alpine pinks, sedums (hylotelephiums) and yellow sisyrinchiums, as well as a fabulous container collection of tender succulents such as aeoniums and echeverias.

Elsewhere, under a dense summer canopy of oak trees, Beth has created a Woodland Garden for shade-loving bulbs, perennials and shrubs. Erythroniums, hellebores and lilies-of-the-valley make the most of the light filtering through the bare tree branches in spring, followed by flowering currants (ribes), hostas and the lush green foliage of various ferns. As gardeners we often find ourselves struggling to grow plants that are obviously unhappy, but a visit to the Beth Chatto gardens reminds us there is another way: one that can be beautiful and bountiful, where plants of all types can thrive.