Father 1570-1638 and son 1608-1662 both worked as gardener to the Royal family and are buried at St Marys Church Lambeth. At the Museum of Garden History in Lambeth there is a garden laid out using plants they introduced to the UK after trips to Russia, Africa and North America in the early 17th century.

As early traveling plant collectors both John Tradescants’ were responsible for many plant introductions and curios collected on their travels. Plants include Michaelmas daisy, Cistus, Acer,  Maple and Tradescantia

‘Musaeum Tradescantianum’ was the first museum catalogue published. Tradescant willed that the collection was to go to his widow on his death, but Elias Ashmole obtained the collection by deed of gift and established the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. Some of these original items can still be seen in that museum and Ashmole is also buried at the Museum of Garden History. The tomb of the Tradescants stands beside the knot garden near that of Captain Bligh of the Bounty, and is covered in carvings representing their interests in life which showed them both to be ‘curious men’.

A pre war garden designer Gertrude Jekyll worked with architect Sir Edward Lutchens in the UK and North America. She wrote 12 books and many of her gardens have been preserved or re established from detailed plans that were left behind. She was interested in naturalistic planting and the Arts and crafts movement.

Her name is much associated with the development of textured borders arranged and grouped in individual colours such as white gardens or ‘gold’ borders composed entirely of material in various shades of yellow and orange.

Examples of her gardens such as Hestercombe (Somerset) and Upton Grey (Hampshire) have been restored, as have parts of her own much-loved garden at Munstead Wood in Surrey.

Georg Arends was a German nurseryman who bred many perennial plants. His business was successful until the second world war and Rosa ‘Georg Arends’ and Rhododendron ‘Georg Arends’ are named after him.

Plants he bred include ‘Arendsii’ versions of Aconitum, Arabis, Phlox and Hosta sieboldiana. He also specialised in Bergenia breeding ‘Abendglocken’, ‘Morgenrote’ and the white flowered ‘Silberlicht’. (I was told Bergenia were called Elephant plants because an elephant could stamp on them and they would survive. However a more popular name is Elephant Ears after the leaves.)

These gardening books are just crying out to be written so we suggest some titles and authors.

Do not smoke your grass by Mary Wana

Turn your MP into Compost by Pete Substitute

Money saving tips add up by Alice Summ

Trollius, Yaks and other plant transportation by Dick van Bike

Michael J Berry

Private gardening commissions in Morecambe and Lancashire over several years. Now semi-retired

Specialises in home grown tomatoes in his own plot near the west coast.

In a well known water feature a Gnome was placed on a rock in the center of a pond - The feature was called ‘Gnomeman is an Island’

Two Garden Gnomes walk into a bar. The third one ducks.

Gnomes grow a vegetable that helps brush your teeth - ‘Bristle Sprouts’

It is over 300 years since the birth of a Swede Carl Linnaeus(1707-1778).  His father’s garden ‘inflamed his mind from infancy with an unquenchable love of plants’ that led to a nickname ‘Little Botanicus’.

In 1735 he published his first edition of ‘Systema Naturae’ a classification system for all living things followed by ‘Species Plantarum’ dealing with plants and horticulture. He authored many botanical books and his library was used as the basis to found the Linnaean Society of London which is still going strong and recently published:

‘Order out of Chaos’ Linnaean Plant Names and their Types

By Dr Charlie Jarvis

‘A major new work from the Linnean Plant Name Typification Project.’

Linnaeus devised his class system for plants based on the number and arrangement of the male and female parts of a flower, his so called ’sexual system.’ For example the ‘Sweet William’ - Dianthus barbatus has 10 stamens per flower and is in the Linnaeus class Decandria. The name Dianthus barbatus comes from Greek Di the god Zeus and anthos meaning a flower. barbaratus means bearded and refers to the hairs in the mouth of the flowers. The Sweet William was widely cultivated in the mid 18th Century and had a number of garden form of which Linnaeus lists at least 10 including albo white, roseo pink and flore multiplici a double flowered variety.

• Let Linnaeus encourage you to look closely at plants and Flowers in particular

• Consider what is behind the name of your plant and how and why it has been chosen

Percy Thrower 1913-1988

One of the first iconic gardeners Percy was involved with most forms of media. Best remembered for his BBC appearances he was one of the first ‘personality gardeners’. He started on radio ‘Gardening Club’ in 1956 then TV’s ‘Gardening World’ through the 1970’s. As a regular contributor to the magazine ‘Amateur Gardening’ in the 1970’s and the Daily Mail he gave tips and information to a new generation of hobby gardeners. These gardeners were less interested in self sufficiency but had started to consider style colour and the aesthetics of gardening.

Percy started one of the first garden centres which was in Shrewsbury and is still open today. In addition to a range of plants he sold garden furniture, plastic pond liners and the like. At the time he said ‘You come in for a packet of seeds and something else catches your eye’. The centre was one of the first to develop container grown roses that could be sold out of season. Orthodox planting was November to March but growing roses in large tin cans enabled the roses to be offered through early summer for immediate planting and effect. His tips live on in his garden centre web site an example of which is given below

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