28
book with the plants arranged alphabetically by
genus (not English names). There are a few
lists of plants for particular purposes, i.e.
those attractive to bees or butterflies or
plants valued for their foliage rather than
blossom.
The book, as expected from a major publisher,
is beautifully designed with an attractive and
interesting layout. The colour photographs by
Ronald Sutherland and Steven Wooster are
superb, doing full justice to the beauty of
this well tended English country garden.
The gardens and nursery, together about seven
acres in extent, were created on a farmland
site and Beth Chatto, wisely, rather than
trying to alter the existing nature of the
landscape has produced an interesting and
varied garden by adapting the existing
features. Although in the process some
potentially valuable natural features were
lost, for example, a patch of wet meadow with
rushes and marsh thistle was dug over for an
open sunny border, on the positive side,
however, a colony of common spotted orchids was
retained as a feature of this site. Another
feature retained was a fine boundary oak
pollard Beth Chatto described it as "... the
finest thing in my garden" which is a rather
nice comment to hear in this day and age.
Beth Chatto's writing is at times endearingly
honest and forthright. She is obviously an
innovative and talented gardener and I liked
the remark about a client who had altered her
original planting. "Where I had made a mixed
planting of predominantly foliage plants, these