We have been visiting the Beth Chatto Gardens, only five kilometres from home, for years but strictly as paying visitors until one fateful visit in summer 2019. The events of and following that visit are documented in this blog Murder at the Garden Pond: Thalia dealbata – the (not very) beautiful assassin | Chris Gibson Wildlife.

I have much to thank Thalia for: it brought me to the notice of the Beth Chatto management team. At a meeting with Julia (Beth’s granddaughter) and Dave (Head Gardener) they addressed the issue with Thalia very satisfactorily, and shortly afterwards Julia rang and invited me to ‘join the team’ as Wildlife & Sustainability Adviser, the dream ‘retirement’ role for me! Susan, the publicity officer, soon coined the term ‘Wildlife Advocate’ which I quickly adopted, and since April 2021 I have been doing just that…advocating for the wildlife of the garden, and advocating to anyone who will listen about the amazing part it plays in our Essex bioscape. In that time the Gardens have changed for the better: peat and pesticide use is no more, and water, chemical fertilizer and single-use plastics are now much reduced with plants to reduce further, as might be expected in the ‘home of Ecological & Sustainable Plants & Gardens’

My aim is to enthuse and engage visitors, staff and management alike about the wildlife riches that share our garden, a place that I have dubbed the Incidental Nature Reserve. Beth Chatto Plants & Gardens is a business, but its practices are now so aligned with sustainability that it as biodiverse as anywhere else in Essex. The garden may only be 2.8 hectares in extent, but they and the adjacent nursery and sales area really punch above their weight: never was this more apparent than in 2024, the silent summer of few insects, when the only place locally I could reliably find them was in the Gardens.

ACTIVITIES & EVENTS

Wildlife Safaris will run throughout the summer: planned dates are 16 May, 20 June, 18 July, 1 August, 15 August, 29 August and 19 September, each lasting an hour 1100-1200 and 1200-1300 . Free once you have got into the garden: a booking system is likely to be introduced – watch this space!

Moth Mornings are also planned in 2025 on 21 June and 19 July (book via the garden website Courses & Workshops – Beth Chatto’s Plants & Gardens). These run from 0900-1100, and involve examination of the contents of the moth trap run the night previously, together with the opportunity to walk around the garden looking for insects and other wildlife before it opens to the public.

The Wild Side of the Garden – full day course Saturday 9 August (book via the garden website Courses & Workshops – Beth Chatto’s Plants & Gardens) We share our gardens with an array of creatures that choose to take advantage of the spaces we provide. This day course will provide an overview of biodiversity in the garden, from spontaneous (non-planted) plants (the so-called weeds), through the vast numbers of insects and other invertebrates, right up to the birds and other vertebrates they help support. We will use time in the classroom to consider the principles of how the plant, animal and fungi kingdoms are organised, with a more detailed examination of how we can tell different groups of garden insects apart. This will be supplemented by real-life experience of seeing all sorts of garden wildlife around the Beth Chatto Gardens, including examination of the contents of a moth trap that (weather permitting) will have been run the night before the course. All moths caught will be released unharmed, and indeed anything that we see in our walks around the garden will remain unmolested!

Botany for Gardeners – full day course Saturday 6 September (book via the garden website Courses & Workshops – Beth Chatto’s Plants & Gardens) All gardeners deal in the names of plants, and giving the correct name to the right plant is crucial. By means of illustrated talks, supplemented with hands-on examination of plants from the garden (a hand-lens would be useful if you have one), we will cover the identification features – particularly relating to the flowers – of many of the significant families and genera of garden and wild plants. You will get to use identifications keys, both the formal botanical keys and the user-friendly equivalents featured in the tutor’s new book. To give context to these identification skills and techniques, we will look also at the principles of classification, taxonomy and botanical nomenclature that provide a consistent framework for communication, whether in the garden centre or the wider wild world, as well as a delve into the realms of history, mystery and magic as expressed in the richness of English names.

TALKS

Two of the popular talks I offer are especially relevant: The Wild Side of Beth Chatto’s Garden and Gardening with Wildlife in Mind, although many others cover related aspects of the natural world. For further details visit my TALKS page.

BETH CHATTO WEBSITE blogs and input www.bethchatto.co.uk

As of early 2024, the A-Z listing of plant genera Name – Beth Chatto’s Plants & Gardens offered for sale has been supplement with my evaluation of the ecological value of each plant.

I have had input into several of the blogs available on the website at Advice & Guides – Beth Chatto’s Plants & Gardens, including

Year-round pollinator plant menu

‘My Dormouse Lady’

Planting at Chattowood Development – Beth Chatto Gardens

What happened when we stopped mowing the grass?

Ten top plants to bring wildlife into your garden

MY BLOGS

Since before my involvement in the Beth Chatto Gardens, I have been posting photo blogs about this special place, especially focussed on the wildlife we have encountered and enjoyed. In reverse chronological order, most recent first, they are all linked below, in addition to on the LIST OF BLOGS page…

Dec 2024 The Wild Side of Beth Chatto Gardens: … and the year turns full circle

Nov 2024 The Wild Side of Beth Chatto Gardens: the advent of winter

The Wild Side of Beth Chatto Gardens: a time for renewal

Oct 2024 The Wild Side of Beth Chatto Gardens: Autumn glories

Sept 2024 The Wild Side of Beth Chatto Gardens: a last blast of summer

Aug 2024 The Wild Side of Beth Chatto Gardens: Summer peaks, Autumn approaches…

July 2024 The Wild Side of Beth Chatto Gardens: focus shifts to the ponds

Marvellous moths morning at Beth Chatto Gardens – late July

June 2024 The Wild Side of Beth Chatto Gardens: is summer finally here?

Marvellous moths morning at Beth Chatto Gardens – late June

May 2024 The Wild Side of Beth Chatto Gardens: May goes out with a splash…

The Wild Side of Beth Chatto Gardens: the height of Spring