Beth Chatto's Garden

In one of the driest areas in England, in one of the driest years ever, we had the great fortune to visit Beth Chatto's garden (author of many titles including:  The Dry Garden and Beth Chatto's Gravel Garden).  We were welcomed by Beth - who is looking marvellous at any age - but spectacularly well for 87.

Beth gave us a brief introduction to the history of her 50-year-old garden and how she learned about the plants that would thrive in this hostile environment.  Aided in her journey by Sir Cedric Morris, painter and gardener, she developed a passion and appreciation for unusual species (rather than cultivars) that were specifically adapted to the conditions in her garden.     

David Ward continued the tour - nothing like a garden where you can stand in the centre of it and not disturb a thing.

I enjoyed seeing the swoop of plants left to their own devices.

A new favourite Ballota.  Haven't done any poking about to see if it is growable here.

This plant is perfectly pet-able.

This isn't what I thought I'd see when I visited an English garden - but all the same, so very beautiful.

Just outside the gate - this is what the countryside looks like, which makes you understand how remarkable the next sections of the garden are - off to the bog!

yellow repeated here and there

and again for good measure:

I've never seen perkier Achemilla.

This gives you a better idea of the swoop and size of the garden beds.

If it was too sunny, you could always take refuge in the woodland.

Or do some damage to your wallet....providing you lived in England and could take the little plants home, sigh.  Because once you saw a pretty little ground cover like this:

You could come here to find it.  Great nursery - things well explained and laid out.

Then, when you'd made your selection, you'd grab some plant tags and a pencil and mark your own tag. 

So what would be my three lessons from this garden?  I think I'll start to look for a few more species plants for my problem areas.  Second, if I'm going to plant any more Astrantia, I'll buy more and plant them together - treating them as a sum to be clumped is so much more effective. 

And third, I'm going to hunt out more seed to see if I can find treasures like the one below. As a note, look how helpful it is to have handwritten notes in the garden telling you about those little bits and pieces that draw the eye.

Oh, and four, I'm going to be like Beth and garden just as long as I possibly can.