#beth chatto

[vintagehomecollection]

Beth Chatto's garden is a lesson in controlled planting design. Water plays an important role, moisture tolerant species merging into lawns and finally the taller backdrop of trees.

Creative Gardens, 1986

[harrisonarchive]

Pictured: George (photographed by Chris Murray) and Olivia (in 2008) at Friar Park; plus, Beth Chatto.

“[Olivia noted,] 'You don't have to know anything or everything to make a garden and George set out quite independently to do it his own way. "It's amateur hour" was a mantra and clearing away the dark Victorian palette of laurel and yew and overgrown box was key to being able to move the garden forward.' Beth Chatto's visit to the gardens proved key as a confidence-building exercise. With typical practicality she had said: 'You know, George, if you had an old sofa in your house that you didn't like you'd throw it out!' The comment was a liberation and that was how they began to lift the gloom to make way for a new layer. Beth also introduced the Harrisons to grasses, and in the clearings that replaced the long-lost gardens, a new layer of planting began to unroll in confident swathes that are of considerable size. George became something of a plant collector himself, visiting the Hillier Arboretum and the gardens of Cornwall. They planted freely at Friar Park, preferring not to get bogged down in the history and not to be precious about working in the new layer. Olivia explained George's free approach to the garden as being a way of coping with the events in his life. 'He preferred not to think too much beyond the here and the now for fear of being overwhelmed by the scale of what lay around him. Gardening was the ideal antidote and the title of his song 'Be Here Now' described that perfectly.' He liked to be spontaneous and to get the plants in to keep everything moving. In doing so he discovered the combination of maples and ferns, and the revelation that if you combined them with Japanese wind anemones you could pull off a look that worked well within the mood of the place. In the autumn, the lake is now ablaze with the color of the maples, and tucked away throughout the grounds there is a new layer of whimsy that complements Crisp's irreverent approach to tradition. A boat, dry-docked in the trees, commemorates their son's 21st. It is just one of many touches that are in the spirit of the old stone crocodile in the lake that issues the water from the bore hole and Crisp's sign 'Herons will be prosecuted!' He was a lawyer. In 1997, George was diagnosed with cancer and as soon as he returned from his first treatment he started the woodland walk. The garden continued to provide sanctuary until he died in 2001, and Olivia continues to move it forward.” - article by Dan Pearson, The Guardian (2008) “Each year we used to go to Chelsea and George would take copious notes and come home with a list of plants he wanted to buy. […] In terms of landscape design, he liked the idea of Capability Brown, so we started calling him Capability George. He thought that everyone, as a matter of course, should have themselves regularly overwhelmed by nature.” - Olivia Harrison, Evening Standard (2008)

[jillraggett]

Plant of the Day

Sunday 17 December 2023

A good plant for a container display Echeveria ’Red Sea Monster’ has dark green and frilled at the edge with bright red. The flower stems are tall (up to 50-60cm) and topped with dark pink flowers.

Jill Raggett

[the-alternate-realities]

Post by @vintagehomecollection · 1 image

💬 0  🔁 226  ❤️ 395 · Beth Chatto's garden is a lesson in controlled planting design. Water plays an important role, moisture tolerant specie

[psikonauti]

Garden designed by Beth Chatto

[brigantias-isles]

Beth Chatto Gardens ❀

[fuzzysparrow]

The Beth Chatto Gardens

One of the most influential plantswomen in Britain, Beth Chatto OBE VMH transformed an overgrown wasteland into an extensive, beautiful garden. Continuing to oversee the developments well into her …

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[jillraggett]

Plant of the Day

Tuesday 26 December 2023

Ideal for growing between paths, stonework or edging beds in a sunny spot with freely draining soil is Erigeron karvinskianus 'Lavender Lady' (Mexican fleabane). This semi-evergreen perennial forms a low mound of wiry stems covered from summer with daisy-like, yellow-centred, pale pink-lavender flowers.

Jill Raggett