Graham Stuart Thomas facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Graham Stuart Thomas
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Graham Thomas holding his namesake rose, bred by David Austin
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Graham Stuart Thomas
13 April 1909 Cambridge
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| Died | 17 April 2003 (aged 94) Woking
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| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Botanist, garden designer, author, artist |
| Known for | Roses, garden design, garden writing |
| Awards | OBE; Victoria Medal of Honour; Veitch Memorial Medal |
Graham Stuart Thomas (born April 3, 1909 – died April 17, 2003) was a famous English gardener. He was known for his amazing work with garden roses and for helping to restore over 100 gardens for the National Trust. He also wrote 19 books about gardening, which are still very popular today. Graham Thomas loved alpine plants (small mountain plants) from a young age.
Clair Martin, a rose expert from Huntington Botanical Gardens, said that Graham Thomas helped save many old types of roses. These roses were almost lost forever.
Contents
Early Life and Passion for Plants
Graham Stuart Thomas was born in Cambridge, England. His family loved gardening and music. His dad, William Richard Thomas, worked for Cambridge University. Graham became interested in plants when he was only six years old. Someone gave him a fuchsia plant as a gift.
Another time, he spent his birthday money to buy alpine plants. He bought them at Cambridge Market. By the time he was eight, he knew he wanted to work with plants.
When he was 17, he joined the Cambridge University Botanic Garden. This allowed him to attend university classes about gardening and botany (the study of plants). These classes were his only formal education in gardening. But working at the botanic garden gave him lots of practical knowledge. He even helped design the rose garden there.
A Career in Horticulture
In 1930, Graham Thomas started working at Six Hills Nursery in Stevenage. He worked with a plant expert named Clarence Elliott. The next year, he became a foreman at T. Hilling & Co (Hillings). This was a very large nursery near Chobham, Surrey.
While at Hillings, Thomas met the famous garden designer Gertrude Jekyll. She was 88 years old at the time. He wrote her a letter, and she invited him for tea. She taught him a lot about garden design as an art. Around this time, Thomas started collecting old types of shrub and climbing roses. Many of these roses were not popular because they only bloomed once a year.
Thomas later became a partner at Sunningdale Nurseries. This was one of the most respected nurseries in the country. He worked with Jim Russell. They became known for their garden designs. These designs focused on the shape of plants and their leaves, not just their flowers. At Sunningdale, Thomas gathered his entire collection of roses. He also introduced new or rediscovered garden plants. One famous plant he introduced was the perennial Geranium 'Claridge Druce'. Thomas stayed a director at Sunningdale nursery until 1971.
Books About Roses
Graham Thomas wrote his first important book about roses. It was called The Manual of Shrub Roses. It described many types of roses and gave advice on how to grow them. He wanted to bring these "lovely things from retirement."
His most famous books about roses followed. These included Old Shrub Roses (1955), Shrub Roses Of Today (1962), and Climbing Roses Old And New (1965). These books made him very influential. They also gave important information about old rose types. At the time, newer roses like hybrid teas and floribundas were more popular.
Working with the National Trust
Graham Thomas started working with the National Trust in the late 1940s. The National Trust is a group that protects historic places and natural beauty. He first worked at Hidcote Manor when it became part of the Trust in 1948.
In 1955, he became the official gardens adviser for the National Trust. He worked with them for 20 years. This gave him the chance to work with many different plants in beautiful old gardens. Some of these gardens include Sissinghurst Castle and Mount Stewart.
His most famous work is at Mottisfont Abbey. He called it his "masterpiece." This is where his amazing rose collection found its final home. It is also where you can best see his garden design skills.
He also helped restore the gardens at Sezincote in 1968.
Awards and Lasting Legacy
In 1975, Graham Thomas received the OBE award for his work with the National Trust. OBE stands for Officer of the Order of the British Empire. He also received other awards for his gardening work. These included the Royal Horticultural Society's Veitch Memorial Medal in 1966 and the Victoria Medal of Honour in 1968.
He won a Gold Medal from the RHS for his paintings and drawings. He also received the Dean Hole Medal from the Royal National Rose Society. In 1996, he got the Garden Writers' Guild Lifetime Achievement Award.
Graham Thomas is remembered through many garden plants named after him. These include a strong honeysuckle called Lonicera periclymenum 'Graham Thomas'. There is also a famous rose called 'Graham Thomas'. This rose was created by David Austin in 1983.
He also inspired many other rose growers, like Peter Beales. Peter Beales worked with Graham Thomas for a short time at Hillings.
Books by Graham Stuart Thomas
Here are some of the books Graham Stuart Thomas wrote:
- The Old Shrub Roses (1955)
- Colour in the Winter Garden (1957)
- Shrub Roses of Today (1962)
- Climbing Roses Old and New (1965)
- Perennial Garden Plants (1975)
- Plants for Ground Cover (1977)
- Gardens of the National Trust (1979)
- The Art of Planting (1984)
- Complete Flower Paintings and Drawings of Graham Stuart Thomas (1987)
- The Rock Garden and its Plants: From Grotto to Alpine House (1989)
- Ornamental Shrubs, Climbers and Bamboos (1992)
- The Graham Stuart Thomas Rose Book (1994) (This book combined his earlier rose books)
- Cuttings from My Garden Notebooks (1997)
- Treasured Perennials (1999)
- Graham Stuart Thomas' Three Gardens of Pleasant Flowers: With Notes on Their Design, Maintenance and Plants (2001)
- The Garden Through the Year (2002)
- Recollections of Great Gardeners (2003)
External Links
- 2001 interview with Graham Thomas
- Graham Stuart Thomas's botanical drawings at the RHS website
- Graham Stuart Thomas's article on his favorite roses
