Dear Friend and Gardener: Letters on Life and Gardening [Hardcover]

Beth Chatto (Author), Christopher Lloyd (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2, 1998

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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

... a delightful collection of letters ... offers a unique insight into their successes and failures. Candid, amusing, revealing and informative Daily Telegraph My favourite read of the year is this entertaining correspondence between our two greatest living gardeners Sunday Telegraph Magazine What links and distinguishes (in both senses) these two writers is that they never pass on a received opinion about a plant or gardening practice or theory. Everything they say is rooted firmly in observation and experience so their thoughts and opinions carry weight and value Hardy Plant It is this book, I suspect, that many gardeners would most like to find at the ends of their beds when they wake up on Christmas morning Independent on Sunday

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. 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.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Frances Lincoln (April 2, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0711212279
• ISBN-13: 978-0711212275
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,196,916 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First-rate writers, who happen to garden, April 6, 1998

By 

Gail M. Ullman (Princeton, New Jersey) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dear Friend and Gardener: Letters on Life and Gardening (Hardcover)

Two old friends, who also happen to be two of England's best known gardeners--correspond for two years in this absorbing and heart-warming book. The conversation was intended to be about their respective gardens and nurseries, and the reader who loves gardens will be richly rewarded. But the correspondence ranges much further--to music, food, family, friends, colleagues, and, inevitably , the weather. Beth Chatto's luminous intelligence and courageous openness set off the forthright and irrepressible Christopher Lloyd. This is a book about love, life, and plants, and a real winner.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Dear Friend and Gardener, October 14, 2009

By 

OldRoses (NJ) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dear Friend and Gardener: Letters on Life and Gardening (Hardcover)

I had trouble with this book. I just couldn't get into it. Was it because I don't share the authors' fascination with the many types of snowdrops? Or maybe because I don't care for opera? And what exactly does opera have to do with gardening? Perhaps it was the writing. The letters were more esoteric discussions than chatty correspondence between two gardeners who are also close friends. Are the English more formal in their letter-writing?

The answer, of course, is that these are not "real" letters. They are merely a literary device suggested and edited by publishers. This was hinted at by Mr. Lloyd in his introduction but I didn't catch on until the very end when the "correspondence" drew to a close. I read the entire book under the impression that I was reading genuine letters originally written with no thought of future publication. Once it was revealed that the "letters" were written specifically to be published in book form, I felt cheated. It should have been clearly stated at the beginning that this is a collection of essays addressed to each other so that the reader is not led to think that s/he is about to be privy to something special.