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BOOK REVIEWS
The Green Tapestry
Beth Chatto
Collins (London) Hardback
1989 ISBN 0 00 410448 x pp. 1-192 £16.95
This book is a guide to the design and planting
of gardens adhering to basic ecological
principles — choosing a plant or group of
plants that are adapted to the environmental
limitations imposed by a particular site and
plants that will grow as a group without undue
competition and together will provide an
attractive and harmonious gardenscape.
The book is throughout concerned with Beth
Chatto's garden just outside Colchester. A
well-known gardener, Beth Chatto was born in
Essex (at Good Easter) and is the winner of
some 10 Royal Horticultural Society Gold
Medals.
The Green Tapestry is divided into nine
sections plus an index and short glossary.
The first section, the introduction, gives much
information about the establishment of the
garden and nursery and some biographical
material. The remaining eight chapters are
devoted to the plants themselves and the
conditions they are best grown under. The
chapters include Principles of Planting, The
Water Garden, The Dry Garden and The Shade
Garden. Every so often a guide to a
particular group of plants, i.e. ferns,
ornamental grasses or hostas is included.
There is also a full guide to the plants grown
in the gardens and nursery at the end of the