The Dry Garden

by Beth Chatto

With today's increasingly hot summers and dry winters, gardeners need guidance on plants that will thrive in our changing climate. Beth Chatto's classic work The Dry Garden suggests an array of easy-to-care-for plants that naturally flourish in dry conditions and provide a year-round display of beautiful foliage and flowers. She shares her immense knowledge, from soil types and garden-design principles to plant characteristics and growing tips.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Horticulture, Plants, Reference

237 pages, Paperback

First published November 13, 1995

Reviews

[Karen Floyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Because I had read and enjoyed "Beth Chatto's Garden Notebook," I bought "The Dry Garden" at the Boston Flower and Garden Show this year. They are not comparable books, though both are good. The Dry Garden was written much earlier and the tone is different and not as personal as the Notebook. Chatto describes the development of her dry garden (or Mediterranean garden) at her home and nursery near Colchester, England. She learned which plants could be grown in dry situations by trial and error, from gardening friends, and from studying books. Though most books tend to err on the cautious side, and pushing the limits of what can be grown where can result in pleasant surprises - as well as abysmal failures. In 1978 Chatto was already seeing signs of climate change and realizing that the world was getting warmer and drier and that our gardening practices would have to change and adjust to this. She tells us about improving soil, garden design, plants and their placement. There are suggested plans, accompanied by line drawings, and she also suggests how each plan can be adapted for different tastes and size requirements. The second half of the book is devoted to a dictionary of plants for dry locations. I admit to being daunted by this, but was pleasantly surprised to find it not tedious or boring. She usually tells where each plant originated, and often who first discovered it, which I found interesting. So many plants grown in Britain and North America did not originate there. This book is a valuable resource for gardeners and plant lovers. Now I'll have to find a copy of "The Damp Garden."

[Schopflin · Rating 3 out of 5]

It felt strange to be reading about plants suitable for drought conditions in the midst of a rainy English autumn, but I learnt a lot fron Chatto's book. For example, rain doesn't necessarily help if, as I am, you are working with poor gravelly soil resting on thick clay. And I recognised some of her plants - chosen for their suitability - in the garden I have recently inherited. Chatto's scale, resources and ambition are very different from mine, but I enjoyed her writing. The black and white photos are limiting though - very much of their time - perhaps some publisher needs to invest in a revised edition with colour photographs?