Beth Chatto's Plants & Gardens

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Beth Chatto's Plants & Gardens The official page of Beth Chatto's Plants & Gardens. The award-winning Gardens of Beth Chatto OBE VM Beth began to transform the area in 1960, in her 40s.
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The gardens of Beth Chatto OBE VMH used to be overgrown wasteland with poor gravel soil and boggy hollows. Some areas were formerly used for fruit farming, but it was deemed unfit. It became her life’s work and her contribution to the gardening world since then has been staggering. She won gold at the Chelsea Flower show 10 times, over 10 years. She wrote many influential books and she lectured all over the world. Beth sadly passed away in 2018 aged 94, but her legacy remains; her plants, her books, her gardens, her influence and her charity; the Beth Chatto Education Trust. Beth Chatto’s plants and gardens are an inspiration, a place to come to learn about plants, to be inspired by beautiful gardens and planting based on Beth’s ethos: ‘Right plant, right place’. The Gravel Garden, which is never irrigated and used to be the carpark, is now world-renowned. It’s an example of drought-resistant planting: sustainable planting, so important to our way of gardening now. The Gravel Garden gently descends into the dramatic water gardens where lush green growth creates a scene of harmony and tranquillity throughout the year. From late winter to early summer the Woodland gardens are embroidered with gentle drifts of plants and the Reservoir Garden has been recently replanted, opened by Beth on her 94th birthday.

90% of the plants in the ample plant nursery are grown here on site. Plants are lovingly cared for, to ensure their high quality and many are propagated from the plants Beth herself added to the Gardens. Plants are also available to buy online at www.bethchatto.co.uk/plants

An extract from Dear Friend and Gardener'You wondered in your letter how I combine colchicums with other plants. As you ...
13/10/2026

An extract from Dear Friend and Gardener

'You wondered in your letter how I combine colchicums with other plants. As you suggest, they are natural mountain-meadow plants, scattered among short grasses and other herbage cropped short by grazing animals. Here I have some in a small area of strimmed turf, together with Cyclamen hederifolium, both of which seem to be competing well with the grass roots. Each year we add more of both to the area, so gradually it is becoming a pink and white tapestry in autumn, contrasting with the white and yellow of snowdrops and species narcissus in spring. Elsewhere they grow through carpets of Geranium macrorrhizum, dwarf periwinkles, Viola riviniana Purpurea Group (my ears pricked up at the sound of your dark-flowered form), and the dwarf, but spreading geraniums, like forms of G. x cantabrigiense.'

Julie Skelton: photography

This Wednesday 14th October, we are opening our Garden to the National Garden Scheme. All of our entrance admission wil...
12/10/2026

This Wednesday 14th October, we are opening our Garden to the National Garden Scheme. All of our entrance admission will be donated to them.

We have our Wildlife and Nature expert Dr Chris Gibson running wildlife tours around the Garden at 11.30am & 2pm.

Please do visit and support the NGS.

For more information on the National Garden Scheme visit:
https://ngs.org.uk/

Or to book your ticket to the Garden:
https://www.bethchatto.co.uk/entrance.htm

Plant of the Week - Thymus 'Caraway Scented' 🪴Wiry mats of tiny, dark green leaves with a wonderfully strong scent of ca...
12/10/2026

Plant of the Week - Thymus 'Caraway Scented' 🪴

Wiry mats of tiny, dark green leaves with a wonderfully strong scent of caraway seed, topped with small pink and mauve flowers in summer.

We offer a selection of thymes, nearly all of which are suitable for culinary use as well as for their garden value. Sun-loving and happiest in sharply drained soil, they make excellent evergreen, prostrate groundcover, particularly in gravel gardens, rockeries and other dry, sunny situations.

All species and forms of thymus are an outstanding source of nectar and pollen for bees, butterflies and other insects throughout their long summer flowering period. At the height of the season, whole plants can be covered with butterflies, alongside the tiny, jewel-like mint moth, whose larvae use thyme as one of their foodplants. The spreading growth of many thymes also helps to conserve water and provides valuable refuge for beneficial insect predators such as ground beetles.

Aspect: Full sun
Flowering period: June–July
Height: 10cm
Spread: 20cm
Soil: Light, well drained

This week with gardener Scott:I had an exciting opportunity last weekend helping the Beth Chatto team at the Great Dixte...
09/10/2026

This week with gardener Scott:

I had an exciting opportunity last weekend helping the Beth Chatto team at the Great Dixter autumn plant fair. Having previously visited the garden a few times with work, this was a chance to go behind the scenes, working with Åsa and Emily. We set up our stall early, spoke with hundreds of visitors across the weekend and got to meet lots of friends, old and new. It was a privilege to stay in the house overnight, and to get to explore the amazing gardens at dawn and dusk. Thank you to all the amazing team at Great Dixter House and Gardens for a brilliant weekend.

Returning to the garden it was straight back to work, where the team got into waders and waterproofs. The ponds that stretch the length of the Water Garden are undergoing a major rejuvenation project this autumn, perhaps their first large scale works since the 1980s. Although the team regularly maintain the ponds by getting into them, cutting back plants and removing blanket w**d for example, this work needed the help of some bigger machinery. After careful planning to reduce the impact on our wildlife, the plants and the wider garden, as much as possible, Jim and Ned set about the task. Our aim is to reduce the deep silt layer of organic matter that has built up over the years, which has made the ponds shallow and increasingly difficult to manage, including keeping the large clumps of Thalia dealbata and Pontederia cordata in check.

The ponds are not lined at all, but actually just dug out of the natural clay base found here, with block retaining wall edges, and fed by Elmstead Brook that runs through the garden from the top end, past Beth's house and away.

The garden team has been working hard to remove plants where needed ahead of the work and we’re now beginning the process of rectifying the lawns and borders. It’s a big task for us this autumn and we hope by spring the ponds and gardens will look better than ever. Thanks for your help Ludi, Sarah and Lily!

Enjoy your weekend.

This week in propagation 🌱We've hit that point of the year where in the growing department we find ourselves in that lim...
08/10/2026

This week in propagation 🌱

We've hit that point of the year where in the growing department we find ourselves in that liminal stage, teetering on the edge between, 'the weather looks alright.' and 'we can't get caught out!' But humming and hawing isn't our style, so preparations for the wetter months ahead have begun!

Emily, Debbie and Jess headed down to the Scree Garden, for where much of the year Beth's succulent collection is displayed. These showstoppers have returned to their greenhouse hibernation spot until their return next year. I couldn't tell you how many we have. It's a lot. Some people would say we have 'enough', although I imagine Emily would disagree.

Recent visitors to the garden might have noticed we are doing some exciting work on our ponds. Ned and Jim have been resident superheroes, breathing new vitality into these gorgeous spaces. The growing team were called in to help remove some of the mud which had escaped the machines.
We were in some way the detritivores of the process. Of course, we didn't digest any, but Kiran was able to bring out her artistic side.

Elsewhere, Kirsten and Beth have started our winter protection work.
It's a huge part of our year, and the duo started this task by bringing in our stock of Acanthus mollis, which some may know as bear's breeches. We find in pots they do much better in our polytunnel during the colder, damper months.

Richard was exceptionally happy to have a team of help this week on our stock beds, where he was joined by Lily, Ludi and Sarah in a manner of w**ding, lifting and planting. A super job!

Until next time.
Rob

Join us this Half Term for our Pumpkin Trail around the Garden. We also have daily craft activities and a fantastic pump...
07/10/2026

Join us this Half Term for our Pumpkin Trail around the Garden. We also have daily craft activities and a fantastic pumpkin throne to have your photograph taken on! Kids go free, with a paying adult.

Prebook your ticket:
https://www.bethchatto.co.uk/entrance.htm

An extract from Beth Chatto's Drought Resistant Planting'Autumn is a good time to see which plants are making bold state...
06/10/2026

An extract from Beth Chatto's Drought Resistant Planting

'Autumn is a good time to see which plants are making bold statements - full stop plants I sometimes call them, coming at the end of a sentence. Plants which by their shape, scale and texture cause you to pause and take breath after absorbing what might appear a bewildering combination of small-scale plants with intricate foliage.'

Skelton: photography

An extract from Dear Friend and Gardener'The colchicums have been late this year - a good thing, perhaps extending the s...
06/10/2026

An extract from Dear Friend and Gardener

'The colchicums have been late this year - a good thing, perhaps extending the season for many weeks. We have quite a wide range, some finished long ago. Others now at their best. They are specially welcome in the Wood Garden where few things flower at the end of the season. Colchicums are really mountain meadow plants, appearing in the short turf of the high meadows scythed for hay, but I have planted them in sunlit openings, in big bold drifts, outlining the pathways. The impact of purple and white is exciting in what could now be a rather sombre scene.'

Skelton: photography

We're delighted that our propagation expert Emily recently featured in Septembers Which? Gardening magazine in a feature...
05/10/2026

We're delighted that our propagation expert Emily recently featured in Septembers Which? Gardening magazine in a feature about Propagating in Autumn.

Photography by Jonathan Buckley

You can subscribe to Which? Gardening:
https://signup.which.co.uk/wlp-gardening

Plant of the Week - Helianthus ‘Carine’ 🪴A lovely, pale creamy-yellow sunflower, very similar to the much-loved ‘Lemon Q...
05/10/2026

Plant of the Week - Helianthus ‘Carine’ 🪴

A lovely, pale creamy-yellow sunflower, very similar to the much-loved ‘Lemon Queen’, but shorter in stature and with striking dark stems. It flowers generously from late summer into autumn, bringing a softer touch to the traditional sunflower palette.

If the name helianthus isn't familiar, you’ll probably know them better as sunflowers. The name comes from the Greek helios, meaning ‘sun’, and anthos, meaning ‘flower’. Native to North America and Mexico, they grow naturally in a range of habitats, from dry prairies and meadows to moister woodland edges.
These sun-loving flowers come in shades of yellow through to orange and red. Given a rich, fertile soil, they can be remarkably generous plants.

Like many daisy-shaped flowers, the open flowerheads are a valuable source of nectar and pollen for insects, attracting bees, hoverflies and butterflies. Once the flowers fade, the seedheads can also provide food for birds, while the foliage is enjoyed by the caterpillars of several moth species.

Aspect: Full sun
Flowering: Aug | Sep | Oct
Height: 1.2m
Spread: 90cm
Soil: Rich and fertile

Address

Beth Chatto, Clacton Road
Colchester
CO77DB

Opening Hours

Tuesday 10am - 4pm
Wednesday 10am - 4pm
Thursday 10am - 4pm
Friday 10am - 4pm
Saturday 10am - 4pm

Telephone

01206 822007

Website

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