Beth Chatto's Shade Garden: Shade-Loving Plants for Year-Round Interest

First published as Beth Chatto's Woodland Garden by Cassell in 2002, this Pimpernel Classic edition includes an afterword by David Ward, Head Gardener at Beth Chatto's Gardens.

"Most gardens have dark areas - a north-facing border, an area shaded by a hedge, fence or house wall, a bed in the shade cast by shrubs or trees with greedy roots - and for many gardeners these are a challenge, and often a trial. Fortunately there are plants adapted by Nature to a vast range of conditions and, by choosing suitable plants, we can transform almost any problem site into something beautiful."

In this book legendary plantswoman Beth Chatto shows how the problem of shade in a garden can be turned to advantage. She tells how she transformed a dark, derelict site into a woodland garden that is tranquil and serene yet full of life and interest in every season. She describes, too, a wealth of plants that will thrive in shady beds and borders and on walls.

Beth Chatto (1923-2018) was born in Essex and lived there throughout her long life. Thirty years before The Green Tapestry was written, she set about transforming several acres of wasteland at her husband's fruit farm near Colchester into a garden in which she grew a range of plants from Mediterranean sun-lovers to waterside bog plants. Her interest in species plants, fostered by her husband's lifelong study of plant ecology, led her to start her famous nursery of unusual plants.

Steven Wooster is a graphic designer and an award-winning garden photographer, whose work has illustrated many successful gardening books including Beth Chatto's Shade Garden, Woodland Garden, The Gravel Garden and The Green Tapestry.

David Ward is the Head Gardener at Beth Chatto's Gardens.