Beth Chatto Archives

May 25, 2026 Cyrus Pringle, Anders Dahl, Theodore Roethke, How Not to Kill a Peony by Stephanie J Weber, and Beth Chatto

The Daily Gardener Podcast Album Cover with a pot of rosemary - the herb for remembrance - beckoning gardeners to remember to listen to the show. Updated September 2025.

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Patreon Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Today’s Show Notes The garden writer Jamaica Kincaid once said, “I always take this personally — I think a frost is something someone is doing to…

May 13, 2026 Enid Annenberg Haupt, Beth Chatto, Laurie Lee, In a Green Shade by Allen Lacy, and Daphne du Maurier

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Patreon Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Today’s Show Notes This is the time of year to throw a spring garden party. It doesn’t have to be fancy. A few chairs. A pitcher…

May 8, 2026 Henry Baker, Emil Christian Hansen, Gustave Flaubert, The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng, and Maurice Sendak

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Patreon Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Today’s Show Notes Mother’s Day is this Sunday. And if you’re a gardener, you’ve probably had the experience of someone you love showing up with a…

January 28, 2026 Leslie Young Correthers, Catherine Hauberg Sweeney, Dorothy Wordsworth, A Year in the Life of Beth Chatto’s Gardens by Fergus Garrett, and Winter Garden Courage

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Patreon Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Today’s Show Notes Late January can feel like a long-held breath. Not dramatic. Just persistent. The garden is still. But it isn’t idle. It’s watching the…

A Year in the Life of Beth Chatto’s Gardens by Fergus Garrett

As Heard on The Daily Gardener Podcast: A Year in the Life of Beth Chatto’s Gardens by Fergus Garrett This book follows one garden, on one piece of difficult, drought-prone land in Essex, observed honestly through an entire year. Beth Chatto built her garden through close observation rather than force, fertilizer, or fantasy. This is…

Pruning the Willows: Wisdom and Lore from Beth Chatto’s Garden

A close-up of two soft, fuzzy pussy willow catkins on a branch, set against a plain green background.

by Beth Chatto ‘How often do you prune your willows?’ you may ask. It varies. We have to consider the vigor of different varieties and also, of course, the amount of time we have to spare. We do not always do what is ideal. If you can manage it, I think it is probably best…

Traces in the Snow: Beth Chatto’s Poetic Walk Through a Winter Garden’s Hidden Life

A paw print in the snow, showing clear impressions of four toes and a pad.

by Beth Chatto The first thing I noticed as I watched my own boots sink below the blue-shadowed surface were the footprints of many other occupants of the garden. The mallard duck had left their heavy, plodding trails before flying off, hopefully, to someplace where the water is not totally frozen over – probably to…

January 13, 2021 Gardening Trends for 2021, John Gilbert Baker, Joseph Francis Rock, Holly, and Ivy with Beth Chatto, A Small Porch by Wendell Berry, and Helen Morgenthau Fox on Garden Cinderellas

A Winter’s Green: Beth Chatto on the Enduring Allure of Holly and Ivy

by Beth Chatto Holly and ivy are the primary images of many Christmas cards, symbols of life carrying on when much else appears dead or has vanished beneath the frozen surface. I would almost go so far as to say they should be in every garden, but perhaps I should substitute “something evergreen” instead of…

January 7, 2021 Beautiful Bark on Deciduous Trees, Louise Imogen Guiney, Vivi Laurent-Täckholm, Enticing Plant Descriptions in Garden Catalogs, A Passion for Detail by Charlotte Moss, and Frank Lebby Stanton on Rosy Living

The Power of Words: Beth Chatto on Writing Plants Into Life

by Beth Chatto Since before Christmas, I have been nibbling, in odd moments, at my new catalog. I try to write word pictures of plants, which might make them irresistible. When I began the nursery twenty years ago, I issued a very small list with descriptions of plants, as I saw them, in place of…

Beth Chatto’s Garden Notebook

As Heard on The Daily Gardener Podcast: Beth Chatto’s Garden Notebook Beth’s book was a monthly record of everything she did in her garden. Her chapters covered the garden but also bits of her life. From a personal standpoint, Beth shared her successes as well as her failures. She was a business owner and ran…

Beth Chatto’s Garden Notebook by Beth Chatto

As Heard on The Daily Gardener Podcast: Beth Chatto’s Garden Notebook It’s so hard to believe, but on this day last year, we lost Beth – one of the most influential plant people of the last half-century. Beth’s naturalistic gardens taught gardeners to incorporate new and different varieties of plants. Beth’s book was a monthly…

May 13, 2019 Class on Herbs, Enid Annenberg Haupt, Allison Hargraeves, the Corpse Flower, National Public Gardens Week, John Burroughs Journals, Vassar College, Beth Chatto, Growing Herbs in Shade, and Enid Haupt’s 1971 New York Apartment

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter | Daily Gardener Community Monologue Have you ever taken a gardening class? If you’re in the Calgary area, there’s an excellent class taking place tonight from 7 to 9 PM. It’s…