Beth Chatto's Gravel Garden

i was expecting a lot from this book but now as i got it I am not too pleased with it. too many descriptions of what is there in the garden without photos to confirm the statement. sometimes there are (random to me) photographs of separate specimens shown here and there - but i can find these in an encyclopedia.It would have been much better with far more illustrations of the garden and the plants combinations.

Bought as a gift. The recipient is very happy with it. Pleased with the content and quality. Arrived timely.

When it comes to dry gardens -- designing or describing them -- plantswoman Beth Chatto is simply The Best. Her Gravel Garden (in print and in person) is a model for us all, whether in native Mediterranean climates or globally-warmed temperate ones. This book, a magnificently illustrated and photographed upgrade of Chatto's landmark original, The Dry Garden, is by no means just for the coffee table (though it would be perfectly happy there): it's ensconced on my reference shelf and comes off it frequently, whenever I need information and/or inspiration for the gardens I create at the eastern end of the Mediterranean. (With a little help from the author herself and the pages of this book, I've also lectured on Beth Chatto's Dry Garden and another she influenced at Hyde Hall, a flagship garden of the Royal Horticultural Society). Though the book is no substitute for a visit to East Anglia, it certainly brings you very close to it -- and should be required reading for anyone planning to plant in a dry climate.BarbaraJerusalem

Beth Chatto's garden is in one of the driest parts of England. And she created a garden intentionally to show how to have a really lovely garden in such testing conditions. We visited her amazing garden and have loved reading her well written book about what must be done to succeed..

interesting

Great read and very helpful for planting ideas.

Another Beth Chatto classic, but not as good pictures as normal. Definitely a good reference for creating a gravel garden.

Great book, great gardener. An inspiration.

Principles, process, plan and plant lists, it's all here. Beth Chatto walks us through a year in her gravel and scree gardens, pausing to vividly create her sensations in us poetically and in lush, clear photographs. Of course, even when she wrote this book in the 90's, she was not especially young, and she did have a team of employees to do the heavy lifting, all of it, I think, while she supervised, directed and recorded. But her deep knowledge and love come to the surface with the digging, and she is a wonderful sharer of all that.

WONderful 'walk' through Beth's lovely gardens! For those with 'trying terrain', this is a must read.

This book was everything I expected, and more. As a horticulturist I pass over a lot of books that are simply attractive coffee table books. That is not the case with this work. Though the photography is stunning, the author makes a point to identify the plant material used in each photo (genus, species and in many cases the cultivar too). This is what makes the book both informative and inspirational. I appreciate the author's discussion of what didn't work in her designs. She discusses the process of how her gravel and scree gardens came to be and is humble enough to admit that not everything works as we would have imagined. A great reference for gardeners who are adopting water conservation into their designs.

great garden guide

Wonderful guide and I love the beautiful pictures.

Ms. Chatto's writing style is eloquent and poetic along with informative. As the maker of a new gravel garden myself, this book was the perfect manual to help with ideas.

Covers plantings well. Needed more ideas for a total rock yard, not just the planting portion.

The book was falling apart . The binding was broken.

I thought this book would give me good ideas about a desert garden. Yes, it named and pictured the plants but I wanted a design for a garden and it was no help there