One of the greats of British gardening, Beth Chatto OBE has entered the realm
of national treasuredom. Plants-woman, designer, author, 10-time gold-medal
winner at Chelsea, holder of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Victoria
Medal of Honour and, of course, the owner of the celebrated Beth Chatto
Gardens at Elmstead Market, near Colchester, in Essex - her horticultural
skills seem boundless. With the concept of “right plant, right place” – in
other words, put a plant in conditions close to its natural habitat and it
will thrive without help – running as a thread throughout her career, she
has inspired a generation of gardeners to take their lead from nature.
When you’re a fan of Chatto’s work, as I am, visiting her at the gardens is
rather like meeting the Queen. Yet she welcomes me so warmly that I feel
instantly at ease. I had forgotten how beautiful she is – with her wonderful
complexion, lively, almond-shaped eyes and an effortless elegance, she looks
at least two decades younger than her 85 years.
Although she is scheduled to have an operation to regulate her heartbeat in
the days following my visit, she is attentive and active. I was warned prior
to our meeting that she can tire easily, yet Chatto seems determined to do
as much as possible.
The garden has been the inspiration for many of her influential books,
including The Dry Garden (1978), The Damp Garden (1992) and Beth Chatto’s
Gravel Garden (2000). It was created on land that was previously part of a
fruit farm, owned by her late husband, Andrew, 14 years her senior, whom she
married in 1943. “We met during the war,” she says. “I was a schoolgirl of
about 17, considering going to college.”
A scholarly man, who died in 1999 after suffering from emphysema for 25 years,
Andrew devoted much of his life to research into plant habitats. Chatto says
it was he who inspired her interest in gardening and refers to him
frequently, modestly deferring to his superior knowledge. “He’s such an
important influence in my life,” she says. “My parents were keen, but they
had a conventional garden, using mostly cultivars.”
The couple lived initially in his parents’ in Colchester, but in the late
1950s moved to a modernist house they’d built on the edge of the farm –
where Chatto still lives today. Even inside, the garden is a constant
presence. Large windows frame views and vignettes of the planting on every
side and invite a tapestry of textures, colours and shapes into the house.
“Before we even came here, I had the idea that one day I’d like to make a
little business of my own growing unusual plants,” she says. The garden
opened in 1960, albeit on a small scale: “I’d no idea of making it public,
and I still feel that it is my private garden, which I’m happy to share with
like-minded visitors. I value the emotional support that having visitors
gives to me. The fact that people enjoy it, that they find peace and beauty
here, means a lot to me.”
Chatto credits her husband almost entirely for her success. “My two daughters
were teenagers before I began to think about making a business,” she says.
“Andrew had looked after us and given me the security and freedom to
experiment.” Her husband’s failing health and the trials of running a fruit
farm concentrated her mind on developing the garden commercially, though
what we see today took time to emerge.
“For the first seven or eight years, much of the land was a wilderness,” she
recalls. Yet there were assets, too, not least a rare natural water source
in the drought-prone east of Essex, where rainfall can be as little as 20in
a year. “There were a few fine 300-year-old oaks and a spring-fed ditch ran
through the hollow.” Today, the ornamental gardens cover about five acres; a
further 10 are occupied by the nursery, which opened in 1967, and working
areas.
Finding water was not the only challenge. “There was land that was so dry, the
native weeds curled up and died. That eventually became my gravel garden,”
she says. This she created in 1991, on the site of a car park. Apart from
watering in the young, drought-tolerant plants during the first year, she
has never artificially irrigated it.
Chatto has a knack for turning problem areas into an asset, and there are
several distinct areas in the garden, each requiring a different approach.
The large water gardens are dominated by a series of ponds surrounded by bog
plants and swathes of lush grass. A long, shady walk runs parallel to one of
the boundaries. Here, shade-tolerant planting – including ferns, tiarella
and pulmonaria – carpet the ground beneath oaks and other specimen trees
added by Chatto. By contrast, the gravel area is a mass of sun-loving
perennials, with asters, rudbeckias and sedums glowing through hazy grasses.
The garden may have started out to give pleasure to a family, but it has
developed into a self-contained horticultural powerhouse, attracting
visitors from all over the world – about 40,000 a year. “It’s like sowing an
acorn, which is my symbol,” says Chatto. “I have an acorn and an oak tree on
a weather vane, which was a wonderful present from my staff.” Incredibly, it
is tended by only one full-time and four part-time gardeners and volunteers
– many of whom are foreign students. Chatto remains resolutely hands-on and
is keen to pass on the knowledge she has gained through experience.
As we walk around, it is apparent that even after more than 45 years, she is
still inspired by the place. The depth of her knowledge is such that it
feels trite to ask her to name a few of her best-loved plants. My instinct
proves correct when she quips, unprompted: “I don’t have favourite plants –
how could one choose a favourite child?” Having said that, she admits that
she has to rein herself in to avoid having too many of a particular species.
Chatto uses grasses brilliantly, and was doing so long before it became
fashionable. She creates seemingly effortless but thoroughly satisfying
combinations. Therein lies her genius – there may be others out there with
an equal understanding of plants, but nobody else has her eye. Shape, scale,
proportion, texture, colour – all are balanced with the skill of a
plate-spinner.
She also factors in horticultural considerations – how big a plant will get,
how fast or slowly it will grow, what conditions it needs to thrive and how
it is maintained. The result is a garden that works on every level –
practical, horticultural and aesthetic – with layer upon layer of carefully
placed plants, as enticing asmillefeuillepastry.
It all seems entirely uncontrived, but, on closer inspection, one notices
geometric lines and angles. The big picture is built up gradually, with
small groupings of three or more plants forming a satisfying melange of
verticals and horizontals, and fluffy and solid plants. “I need the trees
and shrubs to form a background, to paint the sky and lead the eye upwards
towards the clouds,” Chatto explains. “Then one adds the embroidery, which I
enjoy so much.” Nothing is allowed to get out of hand, but stagnation is not
an option, either. “A garden is not a picture hanging on a wall,” she says.
“It changes not only from hour to hour, week to week or month to month, but
from year to year.”
Chatto has certainly noticed the effects of climate change. Drought is nothing
new in her part of the world, where (the past two years aside) there is
sometimes no rain for up to 10 weeks in the summer. “The most interesting
change is the lack of cold weather,” she says. “Only 10 years ago, we had
icicles hanging down, and when the children were little, they used to skate.
Now we hardly have enough ice to bear a duck.”
I left Chatto’s corner of Essex with a gift of some bergenias tucked under my
arm. I’d never particularly liked these large, leafy plants before,
but find myself converted, having seen a sea of foliage blushing crimson in
the hazy autumn light. I shall grow them in my garden as a memento of an
exceptional day spent with an extraordinary woman.
Beth Chatto – A Retrospective will be the inaugural exhibition at the
refurbished Garden Museum (formerly the Museum of Garden History) when it
opens on November 18. It is housed in St Mary-at-Lambeth, beside Lambeth
Palace, the London home of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The new gallery, by
Dow Jones architects, is a freestanding structure designed not to interfere
with the interiors of the church, the site of which dates to the 11th
century. For details, call 020 7401 8865 or visit www.gardenmuseum.org.uk
