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About Beth Chatto's Plants & Gardens
World renowned garden and extensive plant nursery created by award-winning plantswoman Beth Chatto OBE, near Colchester, Essex. Over several decades Beth transformed 7.5 acres of overgrown wasteland, deemed unfit for fruit growing, into a series of beautiful, informal gardens with distinctively different conditions. Informed by her husband Andrew Chatto’s life-long study into the homes of garden plants and their preferred natural habitats, the garden has been planted based on the principle of using the right plant for the right place; selecting plants best suited for the specific conditions in each area. Ecological and sustainable practices have always been at the heart of Beth Chatto’s Plants and Gardens.
Our Gravel Garden, once a car park, was inspired by a dried-out riverbed and sits atop a five metre deep layer of naturally occurring sand and gravel. It is never watered, apart from when planting, despite being situated in one of the driest parts of the country. Grasses, bulbs and perennials intermingle with mounds of lavender, cistus and santolina, underplanted with creeping carpets of thyme and lamb’s ear. This drought-resistant planting scheme offers plenty of interest throughout the year, proving that it’s possible to have a beautiful garden which doesn’t require irrigation, also offering inspiration for visitors keen to create similar planting schemes at home. Adjacent to the Chatto’s split-level house, a Scree Garden, with raised beds, showcase a large collection of alpines typically found growing on naturally stony, mountainous slopes.
In a boggy hollow lies the Water Garden where a spring-fed ditch feeds a series of ponds, surrounded by borders filled with moisture loving plants.
Beyond, the Reservoir Garden sits on a south-facing slope, showcasing a variety of prairie-style plants and ornamental grasses. Finally, areas of peace and tranquility are found along shady walks beneath mature oaks and in the Woodland Garden.
The nursery offers a wide range of perennials with the majority of plants propagated from those grown in the gardens, all grown in peat-free soil and sold according to the planting conditions that suit them best, in keeping with the Beth Chatto ethos of the ‘right plant in the right place’.
Featured on and in BBC Gardeners’ World interview with Carol Klein, various newspaper and magazine articles and book mentions.
Website:
https://www.bethchatto.co.uk
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