Beth Chatto’s dry garden in the UK was a revelation for us and, to this day, we see it as a major influence in the whole shift of direction with the New Perennials or New Naturalism movement that is more commonly attributed to Piet Oudolf.
Beth Chatto was planting on an old riverbed in an extremely low rainfall area and she wanted a garden that did not rely on any irrigation at all. Clearly this bears no relationship to our conditions. We never irrigate because we don’t have to; we never suffer from low rainfall. But it is the absence of garden edgings I want to draw attention to.
Garden edgings are basically about containing the garden and giving definition. To do away with them altogether completely changes the look and makes it far more natural in appearance – albeit while not being natural at all. I really like the look and debated about it when we were putting in the Court Garden but decided not to for practical reasons.
It came back to mind recently, firstly with the visit of Australian, Michael McCoy and then looking at some of Penny Zino’s photographs of her summer gardens in North Canterbury. I don’t have permission to use their photos here but you can find them both on Facebook where they post photos able to be viewed by anyone or go to their own sites – https://www.flaxmeregarden.co.nz/gallery for Penny Zino and https://thegardenist.com.au/ for Michael McCoy. I am not an Instagram user but Michael is active on that forum too as @michaelmccoyongardens. If you browse their photos, you will find examples of these seamless transitions – paths meandering through plantings in the Chatto style and very charming it is, to my eyes at least.
All of us appear to have chosen the same path surface in fine, cream grit and that, in itself, gives definition and lightness. Our grit is 50% crushed limestone and 50% crushed shell, bought from a local supplier of gravels and rocks. Beth Chatto used a mulch around the plants that is the same colour as the path grit but pebble-sized so it looks the same at first glance but it is in fact easier to rake to the side when digging is required. I didn’t notice that at the time but it is clear in my photo records. Not having seen their gardens except in photos, I don’t know whether Zino and McCoy have also carpeted their entire area in the same as mulch or whether they just allow the paths to peter out into leaf litter and soil as it goes further into the plantings.
It made me reflect on why it is not a practical option for us and why I decided against it. There are several reasons – climate, the presence of large trees, plant selection and maintenance. I think it is a dry garden technique and we are anything but. If the path surface extends through the garden as mulch, it looks best if there isn’t a whole lot of leaf litter and debris on the surface. With the number of large trees we have and being in a windy climate, we have falling leaves and debris all year round. Keeping the cream-coloured paths clear is a big enough job for us, without having to leaf rake or blow all the garden surface too.
Added to that, in our soft climate, we have rampant growth and managing perennials means constant cutting back, digging and dividing, restricting and deadheading to prevent too many self-sown seedlings. Plant selection becomes critical if you want that seamless look because every time you dig a plant, you disturb the mulch and make a mess. When set in cream grit mulch, it would be easier from the start to choose plants that grow from a central stem – lavender, euphorbias, roses, and salvias come to mind. Plants that form rosettes or spread beneath the ground – like perennial lobelias, alstromerias, asters, echinaceas, rudbeckias – all need regular attention to restrict spread or to keep healthy by dividing. I want to grow all these, too.
It is why we favour composted wood chip mulch. It is easy to top up at the end, cheap to use and, when weathered and composted, it just adds natural humus to the soil. It is best to source a woodchip that isn’t too coarse. Some mulching machines make a big chunky chip which takes much longer to weather and is not attractive to my eyes. Our friendly, local arborist (he lives up our road) provides a good grade of chip which soon becomes anonymous in appearance. When I cut back or deadhead, I often snip the pieces to smaller sizes and leave them in situ to break down naturally. If I had decorative mulch, I couldn’t do that.
Our compromise was to go for that seamless look and meandering paths in the area we now loosely refer to as ‘the grassland’. It is a transitional filler space, primarily using just two native brown grasses, Carex buchananii and Carex coman’s ‘Bronze’ along with a fair swag of interlopers (‘volunteers’ as we call plants that just arrive of their own accord), residual survivors from its earlier uses and bulbs I have added for seasonal interest. So, a limited plant palette overall and most of the maintenance is pulling out seedlings (particularly of the carex) and a bit of occasional grooming of the grasses. It is not carpeted in cream grit but in woodchip – paths and mulch. It is a lower-key look that lacks the contrast and lightness given by the cream grit but it is a long-term, sustainable option in our conditions.
Tikorangi The Jury Garden 
I think you have made the wise decision.
I know we have, Paddy!
Hi, I was interested in your grasslands. Is there a past posting of yours that gives more details?
Thanks, Paul
Yes! Try this one from a year ago – https://jury.co.nz/2022/12/11/the-tussock-walkway-one-year-on/
Thanks, just what I needed.
I love the look of gardens like Beth Chatto’s dry garden, but we couldn’t emulate it either. We get nearly 2000 mms rain per year on average, and much of our garden is quite wet for most of the year, so many of the garden paths are constructed as raised causeways going through sunken garden beds (which are sometimes flooded), so we can use the paths in all weathers. The difference in levels demands the use of a path edging to hold the path material in place. We also have a lot of big trees that drop leaf litter, just as you do, and as most are evergreen that means pretty much all year round, so like your grassland area we use arborist chip mulch as the path surface when we can blend the paths and beds together, and the local grey gravel (which is cheap) on top of a compacted hard core where the paths don’t get leaf litter on them. The snag is that now that the garden is getting well established we can spend as much or more time weeding the paths as we do weeding the beds and borders!
I can certainly relate to all you say! Although we have brilliant drainage on our volcanic soils. I am constantly weeding our cream grit surfaces where every single germinating seedling shows. You would have similar issues to us with managing the spread of mosses? I try and eradicate liverwort and club moss and manage the rest but restricting the spread on the cream grit is ongoing. It is not low maintenance!
No moss or liverwort problems on the arborist chip paths, but if the gravel is very thin, or the path is just hard core (as our driveway is), then moss can take hold and liverwort is a big issue. I try to take advantage of the rare spells of hot dry weather each summer to scrape it all off, as that is when it detaches itself from the surface and curls up, so is easier to remove. I rake it off with a three-pronged cultivator tool, but always lose some of the stones or gravel in the process. If the gravel layer is deep enough neither will take hold, but then it is very difficult to wheel a mower along the path to get to areas of lawn, as the wheels get bogged down in the gravel. As you say, not low maintenance at all.