Famous gardener Beth Chatto dies at 94

The well known gardener and writer Beth Chatto has died at her home in Elmstead Market near Colchester.

Beth, who was born on 27 June 1923, died peacefully with her family by her side on the evening of 13th May 2018. She was 94.

Among her many achievements was pioneering special plants to grow in a dry climate, like the one at her home in Elmstead Market near Colchester, where she created one of the world's most famous gardens.

In a gardening career spanning six decades, Beth Chatto’s many awards included ten successive Gold Medals at RHS Chelsea, the RHS’s highest award, the Victoria Medal of Honour, and the RHS Lawrence Medal both in 1987, the Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998 from the Garden Writers Guild (now the Garden Media Guild), and two honorary doctorates, from Essex University in 1987, and from Anglia Ruskin University in 2009.

Tributes came from fellow gardeners, including Monty Don.

In 2002, Beth Chatto was awarded the OBE in the Queen’s Birthday honours, and her most recent honour came in 2014 when she received The John Brookes Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Garden Designers.

She leaves behind her two daughters, five grandchildren and five great grandchildren.