Beth Chatto's Gardens

There will be little need to introduce Beth Chatto, one of the great woman gardeners of our time and said to be today's Gertrude Jekyll. She has not only won ten consecutive gold medals at the Chelsea Flower Show, but also the coveted Victoria Medal from the Royal Horticultural Society.

Beth's special expertise is in her familiarity with plants' suitability to varying soils and conditions, her own garden being a transformation of several acres of swampland from her husband's fruit farm. Here she has divided the garden in its natural variations to suit widely differing plants from a water-garden to a dry gravelly Mediterranean-type garden. She adheres to her one strict rule of planting - 'Pick the plants that naturally thrive in the conditions you have in your garden'. A rule I have tried to follow, but so often break.

This garden presents a very harmonious picture throughout the seasons with carefully placed foliage and texture, this being as important as colour to Beth. In the garden a series of pools runs along a shallow hollow, edged with moisture loving plants. Further up the slopes are sweeping beds containing a rich abundance of bulbs and herbaceous perennials backed with shrubs and trees.

Gardeners will find valuable information and an example of suitable planting for their own microclimate here. Beth's recognition of soil conditions and her use of the sculptural and architectural value of plants, results in a most pleasing picture of contrasting form and undulating colour, a tapestry in greens.

- Beth Chatto books for sale - (link disabled when Java is blocked)

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