14/05/2018
An truly inspiring woman! A sad day for horticulture
Date 14th May 2018
It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Beth Chatto OBE VMH, the acclaimed gardener, writer and plantswoman.
Beth Chatto, who was born on 27 June 1923, died peacefully at home with her family by her side, on the evening of 13th May 2018, aged 94. There will be a private funeral with a memorial service to follow.
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.
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.
Beth’s spirit will live on in the gardens and her gardening ethos will continue through the work of the Beth Chatto Education Trust, established to inspire the next generation of gardeners.
She leaves behind her two daughters, five grandchildren and five great grandchildren.
