Drought-Resistant Planting: Lessons from Beth Chatto's Gravel Garden

by Beth Chatto, Steven Wooster (Photographer)

Overview

Legendary gardener and plantswoman Beth Chatto describes how she transformed a piece of wasteland into a lush and blooming garden in this beautiful book, filled with helpful tips and practical advice.

The story of how Beth Chatto created her gravel garden on 'possibly the driest, and the most windswept, piece of soil in England' has a message of hope for gardeners everywhere. At the outset she promised herself: 'This garden was not to be irrigated in times of drought. Once established the plants must fend for themselves or die.' 

The results, eloquently described by the author and beautifully portrayed in Steven Wooster’s specially commissioned photographs taken through the seasons, testify to the triumphant outcome of the adventure.

Showing how her principles can be applied on any scale, this book is an essential read for any gardener facing water shortages and poor soil. Rich with hard-won tips and expressed in Beth Chatto’s matchless style, this is a gardening classic.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780711238114
Publisher:	Frances Lincoln
Publication date:	07/01/2016
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	7.60(w) x 9.60(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Beth Chatto (born 27/06/1923) was a plantswomen, gardener and writer. Whilst having no formal horticultural training, she was inspired by her parents' enthusiastic gardening, her husband's lifelong study of natural associations of plants, and friendship with the great plantsman and artist Sir Cedric Morris. The Beth Chatto Gardens began at Elmstead Market, Essex in 1960. By applying the principles of ecological gardening, she transformed an overgrown area of wasteland into informal gardens that harmonise with the surrounding countryside. Complementing the gardens is a large plant nursery producing a wide range of unusual plants, which attracts thousands of visitors each year. She won ten Gold Medals the Chelsea Flower Show and was awarded the Royal Horticultural Society's Victoria Medal of Honour (1987), the Lawrence Memorial Medal and an honorary doctorate from Essex University. She was the author of many books including her classics The Dry Garden (1978) and The Damp Garden (revised 2004) as well as Beth Chatto's Gravel Garden (2000) and Beth Chatto's Woodland Garden (2002). An engaging exchange of letters with Christopher Lloyd, Dear Friend and Gardener, was published in 1998. In 2002 she was awarded the OBE for her services to horticulture. A keen advocate of organic gardening, she lectured worldwide. She died in 2018.

Award-winning photographer STEVEN WOOSTER specializes in the photography of gardens and plants. He lives in London.

Table of Contents

Introduction 6

What is a gravel garden? 8

Beginning the Gravel Garden 17

Planting in the First Season 19

Mulching and Maintenance 25

Gravel Garden Plans 28

The Fresh Colours of Spring 30

Waking up with a Start 33

Pruning and Grooming 35

Fascinating Fritillaries 38

Wild Tulips and April Showers 43

Electrifying Euphorbias 44

Additional Touches 50

Summer's Abundance 52

Threads of Gold 55

Pinks and Mauves 61

Self-seeders 70

Room for Gigantic Plants 70

Background Trees and Shrubs 71

Problems with Conifers 72

Elegant Alliums 76

High Summer's Gauzy Veil 82

Good Neighbours 85

Handsome Verticals 88

Spreaders and Dot Plants 91

Clematis, against the Odds 93

The Last Weeks of Summer 96

A Haze of Mauves and Blues 100

Scene Lifters 103

Grey and Silver Plants 104

Adding Impact 107

Pleasing Partnerships 110

Pleasures Still to Come 112

Dependable Sedums 114

Autumn Tapestry 118

Stars in the Fading Light 121

Eye-catching Plants 126

Autumn Bulbs 129

Late Autumn HighLightst 132

A Passion for Bergenias 134

Tidying up for Winter 140

Winter Pictures 142

Dessicated Seed Heads 146

Shapes and Colours 148

Shimmering Grasses 151

Signs of New Life 156

Nature's Feeding Programme 158

Pruning and Shaping 160

The Scree Garden 162

Ground work 165

Designing the Beds 166

Hard Landscaping 167

Waiting to Plant 168

Putting Plants Together 170

Small Sedums 172

A Transformation 175

Scree Garden Plans 180

Basic Plants in the Gravel Garden 182

Basic Plants in the Scree Garden 184

Bibliography 186

Index 186

Acknowledgments 192

Photographer's Note 192

Editorial Reviews

"If ever there was a book to make one a better, more knowledgeable gardener, this is surely it."—The English Garden

"Beth Chatto combines, as well as anyone at work today and better than most, an eye for good plants, knowledge of their ways and a sensitivity when putting them together."—Ursula Buchan, Spectator

"Beth Chatto has to be the plantswoman of the century because she knows how to please plants . . . a desire to emulate these beautiful plantings should be enough to drive all serious gardeners to read the book."—Mary Keen, Garden

"Edited with a true artist's eye [...] the beauty of the structural flowering hummocks, the pools, pockets and ribbons of colour, the textural contrasts with punctuating verticals and Mrs. Chatto's now famous plant "veils", is unsurpassed."—Helen Yemm, The Daily Telegraph

From the Publisher