Beth Chatto transformed an overgrown wasteland deemed unfit for fruit farming, into a series of informal gardens. As the conditions within the garden vary widely, five distinct areas have been created providing useful examples of working with nature to find the right plant for the right place.
The world-famous drought-resistant Gravel Garden, created in 1992, began as an experiment to replace sun-scorched grass with a living garden of drought-tolerant plants.
The Gravel Garden, once a car park, was originally planted by Beth and her team as an experiment to test a range of drought-tolerant plants. The garden is famous for the fact that it is never watered, despite being situated in one of the driest parts of the country and having naturally occurring, free-draining soil.
TRAVEL WORDS 
Nice to be able to wander round with you this morning. The house is almost back to ‘normal’ and I’m feeling much more relaxed. Our books are back on shelves and one of them is a Beth Chatto. We have too much crammed in a small space. I do envy those grasses xx
Lovely to have you accompany me Jo. I don’t envy you having to clean the whole house after your holiday – you probably feel like another one now! I love the grasses too, especially at this time of the year, which is how I came home with two more.
Yes, definitely inspirational and also beautiful.
I sometimes wish I had moved to the east where it is drier.
You’ve definitely tempted me to make the effort to visit in one of my forays dahn sahf.
It’s not an easy place to get to though, with having to negotiate the dreaded M25, no other direct route.
Aaagh. Still, forewarned and all that…
Many thanks for this, Jude. I get the Beth Chatto newsletter, but it’s good to have your viewpoint and planting info. I find myself increasingly interested in creating late season interest. Also trying to have the garden still look like a garden in the winter. Maybe a challenge too far.
No winter garden here as it is always too wet and we don’t get the sparkling frosts very often. Things get very soggy and turn to mush. I do have several evergreens though and the twisted hazel provides a sculptural effect.
Very much a garden for the times and climate we are going through now. Looks beautiful too
Difficult knowing quite what plants to buy as the weather is so varied. Hot and dry and then torrents of rain and flash floods. This dry garden copes because it has excellent drainage.
Yes the weather makes gardening and choosing plants a real challenge.
I agree with, ‘I want to know how they keep the gravel weed free.’ 😊
Best wishes, Pete. x
Plenty of gardeners / volunteers probably! Weed burners? Organic sprays? My gravel car park area is now almost completely covered with grass and weeds / wild flowers. Impossible to keep clear though I tried my best for about 5 years.
Our driveway looks more like a meadow than a gravel drive. I am so tired of trying to clear the weeds and plants that grow in it. x
I know the feeling. It’s exhausting and backbreaking work.
I once paid someone £140 to clear our driveway of weeds completely, and replace all the stones. It looked lovely for about two weeks. I am reluctant to use weed killer because of ‘nature’, and Julie wants us to have it all brick-weaved. x
Brick weaved would look nice, but expensive.
envious of the space (mind and physical) to experiment
In a small space you have to choose plants that suit the area and space carefully. I’m spending a lot of time editing plants now after 9 years.
yeah something I need to do
Really amazing for a non-watered garden. The warm weather is here and I spent two and a half hours watering around 95% of my gardens. First big soaking the garden has had in quite a while.
They water the plants when they first go into the ground and that’s that. Plants live or die! It’s very good drainage in that area and it is in the driest part of the country, though that’s changing. When I was visiting there was an enormous thunderstorm with torrential rain for half an hour so everything got a good soaking then, including me! Beth Chatto’s motto is ‘right plant, right place’ – not always easy to get right.
I must agree with right plant right place. Early on I tried some plants that I liked but weren’t suited to here mainly didn’t survive the prolonged wet seasons or droughts, but that was more a lack of water.
Sorry to hear you got a drenching
Amazing to think this is never watered, it looks so abundant! I love your collage with the vertical details of seedheads etc – very effective 😀
They water the plants when they first go into the ground, but then this area relies on natural rainwater. I’m glad you like the vertical collage, I thought I would try something different.
A different sort of garden to visit – I like it.
It was the one place I really wanted to return to on this visit, and the one place I did. Although even this was interrupted by a heavy rainburst.