North Thames & East Anglia Beth Chatto Gardens Event

Join us in the height of Summer to explore and learn about the world renowned gardens and extensive plant nursery, created by award winning plants woman Beth Chatto OBE.

On the day we will split everyone into smaller groups depending on numbers with the day as follows:

• Garden tour: exploring the renowned Beth Chatto Gardens: 7.5 acres of ecological, informal gardens based on Beth Chatto’s famous principle of right plant, right place.  This tour will be accompanied by one of the Garden team and Dr Chris Gibson who will give the wildlife benefits of the garden.
• Nursery tour behind the scenes: join a member of our propagation department behind the scenes, looking at how we produce our plants from seed, cuttings and division, all grown in peat-free soil This will also incorporate Widening your plant palette talk – an opportunity to expand your plant palette. We’ll look at the drought resistant, wildlife friendly plant palette we use for external projects.
• History of Beth Chatto Gardens and External projects talk: find out more about how we’ve been bringing ecological and sustainable gardening to public spaces in our local area, including Chattowood, a nearby housing development, and the Meanwhile Garden, a former brownfield site transformed into a public pocket-park. Including time for Q&A

Schedule:

10.00am – Arrival, tea & coffee in Willow Room

10.20am – Welcome by Noel Brock, Frognal Gardens and North Thames Regional Chair

10.30am – Garden Tour First Session (each group, split into A/B/C will go according to their timetable

11.45am – Nursery tour behind the scenes - Second session (each group, split into A/B/C will go according to their timetable

12:45pm – Lunch, vegetarian buffet

1.30pm – History of Beth Chatto Gardens and External projects talk - Third Session (each group, split into A/B/C will go according to their timetable

2.45pm – Free time to further explore the gardens and do a “LoveBug” bio-blitz with Noel and Caroline (if the weather permits!)

5.00pm Finish

About the gardens

Beth Chatto’s Plants & Gardens, near Colchester in Essex, comprise 7.5 acres of inspirational, world-renowned gardens created by Beth Chatto OBE VMH, one of the most influential gardeners of the modern era.

Guided by her husband Andrew Chatto’s life-long study into the homes of garden plants and their preferred natural habits, the gardens are designed around the principle of “the right plant for the right place”. What began as a challenging, unpromising site - boggy in parts and extremely try and infertile in others – in one of the driest parts of the UK, has been transformed into a series of informal gardens where five distinct areas demonstrate how plants thrive when matched to their preferred growing conditions.

The Gravel Garden, created in the early 1990’, began as an experiment to prove that a garden with poor, free-draining soil can flourish without irrigation, when planted thoughtfully. The raised beds of the Scree Garden are home to species that naturally inhabit mountainsides and other harsh environments, thriving in low-fertility conditions with sharp drainage.  In contrast, the tranquil Water Garden occupies a naturally boggy hollow with richer soil, allowing lush, moisture-loving plants to flourish. Beyond it, the Reservoir Garden spreads across a gentle south-facing slope, showcases a dynamic tapestry of perennials and ornamental grasses. The Woodland Garden offers dappled light beneath a canopy of mature oaks, with carpets of groundcovers weaving between shade-loving bulbs, perennials, ferns and shrubs.

Beside the gardens, the adjacent nursery offers more than 2,000 different varieties of plants, most of them herbaceous perennials, produced and grown on site in peat-free compost. Visitors can also enjoy a giftshop and a tearoom serving light refreshments.

Beth Chatto’s Plant & Gardens champions ecological gardening and sustainable planting, with strong focus on biodiversity and water-wise planting. We are passionate about extending these principles to the public landscape.

Our recent external projects include drought-resistant landscaping at Chattowood, a local housing development, and the Albert roundabout in Colchester. Both designs apply the principle of planting directly into sand to create resilient planting schemes that require minimal care and thrive without irrigation. We are also work with local councils to advise on sustainable, climate-resilient planting strategies for public spaces.

The Beth Chatto team

Julia Boulton

Julia is the CEO of Beth Chatto’s Plants & Gardens and Beth’s eldest grandchild. Raised in the Midlands, she spent her childhood summer holidays at the Gardens, developing a deep connection with both the place and her grandparent’s work. After a career in general management at Donington Park race circuit, she joined the business in 2012, bringing her commercial expertise, a strong personal tie to its history and a clear ambition for the future.

Today, Julia is focused not only on safeguarding the organisation’s future, she’s also deeply committed to honouring Beth’s legacy through environmentally responsible practice - reducing the organisation’s environmental footprint and championing the importance of green public spaces thorough sustainable planting and mindful, ecological practices.

At Chattowood, a local housing development, the Beth Chatto team introduced a drought resistant planting scheme in sand; the Meanwhile Garden, beside Firstsite Art Gallery, and the Albert roundabout in Colchester further showcase how thoughtful, environmentally sensitive planting can enrich public spaces and support biodiversity.

Julia recently appeared as a speaker on the In the Footsteps of Giants US lecture tour, curated by Garden Masterclass, where she joined a panel exploring the legacy of three iconic British gardens created by extraordinary women. Her contribution highlighted Beth’s pioneering work and also underscored the continued relevance of sustainable horticulture in a rapidly changing world.

Åsa Gregers-Warg

Åsa Gregers-Warg is the Head Gardener at Beth Chatto’s Plants & Gardens. Born in Sweden, she began her horticultural career as an intern at Bergius Botanic Gardens, Stockholm, before studying horticulture and landscape construction. To deepen her plant knowledge, Åsa spent several years working in a nursery, growing and selling plants, before moving to the UK. She joined the Beth Chatto team in 2001, working alongside Beth in the garden. Today, her work includes offering expert advice, giving talks, writing articles and creating content that helps carry forward Beth Chatto’s ecological philosophy and legacy.

Åsa has also overseen the planting design at Chattowood, a local housing development where the Beth Chatto team introduced a drought resistant planting-scheme inspired by the Gravel Garden. She is working closely with CEO Julia Boulton to advise councils on resilient, sustainable planting for public spaces.

Emily Allard

Emily is the Propagation Expert at Beth Chatto’s, where she has worked for over thirty years. Her plant growing expertise is also sought after by leading garden designers. She has grown specialist plants for show gardens at RHS Chelsea Flower Show and RHS Hampton Court Flower Show, including the Freedom From Torture Garden featured at Chelsea in 2025.

Emily plays a vital role in carrying forward the legacy of Beth Chatto, one of Britain’s most influential horticultural pioneers. Through her dedicated teaching and mentoring, Emily nurtures emerging talent across the horticultural world, ensuring that Beth’s guiding principles continues to inspire future generations of gardeners and growers.

Steve Marshall

Steve is our Head of Horticulture, maintaining the vital link between the gardens and the nursery. His love of plants and working outdoors was began while volunteering with B.T.C.V. Norwich, where he planted trees, helped restore heathland and built boardwalks.

He went on to work for the National Trust, at Acorn Bank in Cumbria, Knightshayes Court in Mid Devon and Coleton Fishacre in South Devon. After spending a year living on the edge of the Black Forest in Germany, Steve returned to East Anglia and joined the team at Beth Chatto’s.

Since then, Steve has contributed widely across the organisation: improving our website by adding plant photos and detailed horticultural information and researching new additions to our range. He has previously managed the mail order department, established a volunteering programme and worked in the garden.

Malin Anderson

Malin is a horticulturist with degree in garden conservation from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. After graduating, she worked with Stockholm based garden designer Marika Delin, where she led the planting and maintenance team across a range of residential projects. She first joined Beth Chatto's for a two-month winter placement in 2022, returning as a full-time member of the garden team in January 2023. Malin was appointed Garden Manager in June 2025.

Dr Chris Gibson

Chris Gibson is an all-round naturalist and passionate advocate for wildlife who spent more than 30 years in statutory nature conservation in Britain, mainly dealing with the delivery of sustainability into land use and development. This followed a PhD study of the ecology and biology of a plant now seen as key to the maintenance of many grasslands, Yellow Rattle Rhinanthus minor.

Since taking early retirement in 2016, Chris has become closely associated with the Beth Chatto Gardens, finally joining the team some four years ago.

He is a Trustee and Fellow of the British Naturalists’ Association, an organization that awarded him the David Bellamy Award for a naturalist of distinction in 2009. With a passion for nature, he spends most of his time trying to help others grow into the same passions, through guided walks and tours, photography, blogging and writing books: his latest, British and Irish Wild Flowers and Plants was published in 2024.