A look at how Beth Chato's use of gravel as a "creative act" in the ultimate gravel garden.

I’m a fan of pea gravel in garden design for several reasons: an attractive hardscape cover, it offers an element of sound when walked upon but more importantly provides a permeable surface to manage stormwater.  From studying the uses of gravel in the garden I learned of Beth Chatto’s use of gravel in her garden. I wanted so very badly to see “the ultimate gravel garden.”

The Beth Chatto Gardens are an informal collection of ecological gardens created by plantswoman Beth Chatto in 1960 from the gravel soil and bogs of the farm belonging to her husband Andrew Chatto. 

Her work is a great reference for gardeners adapting water conservation into their design.

According to the RHS “Beth Chatto, more than anyone else in the world has influenced gardeners by her choice of plants for any situation and her ability to show them off to perfection, and her planting is a masterclass on how to use both leaf and flower to best advantage.”

She designed her own gardens, seven acres of which are open to the public. Five large ponds, each slightly lower than the other, lie at the heart of the garden, and on the perimeter is are patches of woodland creating shade gardens.  There are countless ideas to be found for garden planning, shade gardens, ideas for small gardens and large, backyard gardens, rock gardens, English garden design and so on.

The most special (at least for myself) is the large gravel garden created by Beth Chatto in 1992 to replace the old car parking lot where drought-resistant sun-lovers have been planted in a fluid sequence of island beds. Before planting, this ¾ acre of yellow sand and gravel was 'improved' with the addition of home-made compost, to give the plants a good start. Since then, however, the area has not been irrigated in any way, despite periods of drought, since it is a horticultural experiment to see which plants will survive and maybe inspire visitors who face similar challenges creating drought resistant plantings. As the RHS writes “Her whole garden shows that making a garden is a creative act - pictorial, sculptural and decorative.”

Beth Chatto expected plants to “fend for themselves or die!”

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