Women Who Shaped Garden History
Elmstead Market, Essex, England. Created by Beth Chatto beginning in 1960, these gardens are a living demonstration of the principle of “right plant, right place.” Each area is designed around the natural conditions of the site, and the famous gravel garden has never been irrigated.
The site was originally part of a fruit farm on dry, gravelly soil with a boggy ditch running through it. Rather than amend the conditions, Chatto used them as the basis for different garden areas: the dry garden for Mediterranean and steppe plants, the damp garden for moisture-loving species, and the woodland garden for shade plants. Each area proves that choosing plants adapted to your conditions produces results that are more beautiful, more sustainable, and less labor-intensive than fighting your site.
Created in 1992 on a former car park, the gravel garden is the most famous part of the site. Chatto planted it with species adapted to dry, nutrient-poor conditions — salvias, alliums, euphorbias, sedums, and ornamental grasses — and never watered it. The garden has thrived through droughts and wet years alike, proving that ecological planting can produce extraordinary beauty without irrigation. It is one of the most influential gardens of the late 20th century.
The gardens and the associated nursery are open to the public. The nursery sells plants selected for their suitability to specific conditions, continuing Chatto's mission of helping gardeners work with their sites rather than against them.