Dear Friend and Gardener: Letters on Life and Gardening - Hardcover

Chatto, Beth; Lloyd, Christopher

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0711234612 ISBN 13: 9780711234611

Publisher: Frances Lincoln, 2013

Synopsis

In this exchange of personal letters two of Britain's leading gardeners - Christopher Lloyd and Beth Chatto - share their successes and failures, and learn from each other's experiences in their two very different gardens.

About this title

About the Author:

Beth Chatto (born 27/06/1923) is a plantswomen, gardener and writer. Whilst having no formal horticultural training, she was inspired by her parents' enthusiastic gardening, her husband's lifelong study of natural associations of plants, and friendship with the great plantsman and artist Sir Cedric Morris. The Beth Chatto Gardens began at Elmstead Market, Essex in 1960. By applying the principles of ecological gardening, she transformed an overgrown area of wasteland into informal gardens that harmonise with the surrounding countryside. Complementing the gardens is a large plant nursery producing a wide range of unusual plants, which attracts thousands of visitors each year. She has won ten Gold Medals the Chelsea Flower Show and was awarded the Royal Horticultural Society's Victoria Medal of Honour (1987), the Lawrence Memorial Medal and an honorary doctorate from Essex University. She is the author of many books including her classics The Dry Garden (1978) and The Damp Garden (revised 2004) as well as Beth Chatto's Gravel Garden (2000) and Beth Chatto's Woodland Garden (2002). An engaging exchange of letters with Christopher Lloyd, Dear Friend and Gardener, was published in 1998. In 2002 she was awarded the OBE for her services to horticulture. A keen advocate of organic gardening, she has lectured worldwide. She lives in Colchester in Essex.

To visit the Beth Chatto Gardens website click here

Christopher Lloyd was among the best informed, liveliest, most worthwhile gardening writers of our time and the author of a host of classics. He lived in Northiam, East Sussex and died in January 2006.

Fergus Garrett, Head Gardener at Great Dixter, first worked at the Beth Chatto Gardens as a student, over twenty years ago, and has remained a close friend of Beth's ever since.

Review:

‘There is a genuine sense of honesty in what they reveal, and many insightful passages.’

'This is not a book to read all at one sitting, but to keep by your bed and sip when the mood takes you - like a heady and delicious nightcap. If you don't have it already, treat yourself. And if you have any gardeners on your Christmas list, any indecisions about presents are now resolved at a stroke.'

â??There is a genuine sense of honesty in what they reveal, and many insightful passages.â??

'This is not a book to read all at one sitting, but to keep by your bed and sip when the mood takes you - like a heady and delicious nightcap. If you don't have it already, treat yourself. And if you have any gardeners on your Christmas list, any indecisions about presents are now resolved at a stroke.'

About this edition

• Publisher: Frances Lincoln
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0711234612
• ISBN 13: 9780711234611
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 320