Some of the personalities responsible for the introduction of garden worthy plants in Gloucestershire. Garden plants don't just happen; they are usually the work of a keen hybridiser, a selection made by an eagle-eyed garden owner or nurseryman, or are newly introduced from the wild. The details below were put together by John & Daphne Chappell of Cinderdine, Dymock, near Newent.

E B Anderson (1895-1971)

E B Anderson was past president of the Alpine Garden Society and a skilled grower of dwarf bulbs and alpine plants. He created the last of his seven gardens at Lower Slaughter in Gloucestershire in 1961. From here he introduced Iris 'Katharine Hodgkin' and wrote several books on rock gardening. The name Bertram Anderson lives on in a popular golden-leafed thyme, a narrow-leaved Pulmonaria, and a handsome, dark-leaved Sedum.

James Atkins (1802-1884)
Nurseryman of Northamptonshire, in partnership with Jeyes (of Jeyes Fluid fame) specialised in alpines. He retired to Painswick in 1871 where he pursued his gardening interests. Exchanged plants with Kew, travelled and collected plants.

John Banister (1650-1692)
John Banister was born in Tigworth in 1650. After receiving a Master of Arts degree at Oxford in 1674 he spent four years botanising in Oxford and arrived in Virginia in 1678. He was to spend the rest of his life collecting and recording plants and insects in Virginia and sending plants to England. He was accidentally shot while botanising in 1692. The genus Banisteria—a tropical family of trees and shrubs is named in his honour.

Henry Nicholson Ellacombe (1822-1916)
Gardened at Bicton Rectory (now in Avon)—as did his father before him—he gathered plants from many sources. The garden became famous for the wide range of plants which grew there and he was highly respected by all contemporary gardeners. Exchanged plants with Kew and supplied many for illustrations in the Botanical magazine. Author of In a Gloucestershire Garden.

Joe Elliot (1915-1998)
Trained at The Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, he started Broadwell Nursery in 1946 specialising in alpines and other unusual hardy plants. Member of the councils of the RHS and the AGS and author of Alpines in Sinks and Troughs. He is now retired from the nursery trade.

Henry John Elwes (1846-1922)

Ornithologist, lepidopterist and plant collector, he combined all these interests in his many travels. He was inspired by James Atkins of Painswick to collect and care for plants. He created at Colesbourne a garden from which no less than one hundred subjects were supplied for plates and descriptions in the Botanical Magazine, a feat no other garden has approached. Henry travelled to all the bulb-producing countries of the world bringing back some of our favourite spring flowering garden plants. Galanthus elwesii, the snowdrop he found in the mountains of Turkey in 1874, honours his name. The Andean alpine bulb, Hippeastrum elwesii, which he brought from Chile in 1906 is seldom grown today. In 1880 he wrote a Monograph of the Genus Lilium which remains the authoritative work on that subject. Along with Dr. Augustine Henry he wrote The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland.

T J English
Long established firm of nurserymen and rose growers, breeding and exhibiting roses mainly between the wars. Still trading at Stanborough near Coombe Hill.

Mark Fenwick (1860-1945)
Described as 'the best all round amateur gardener', he wrote many papers on horticultural subjects. Created a super garden 'Abbotswood' at Lower Swell near Stow on the Wold, listed by English Heritage as Grade II. Sometimes open to the public.

Giant Snowdrop Company
Began trading from the garden created by the late Walter Butt. Rekindled a waning interest in Snowdrops and were undoubted responsible for saving many of the oldest garden hybrids from oblivion. Unfortunately the company ceased trading due to the owner's ill health.

Sir George Holford (1860-1926)
Sir George Holford developed the famous Arboretum at Westonbirt, founded by his father R S Holford. Sir George became a leading orchid hybridist and on his death his celebrated collection was acquired by his orchid foreman HG Alexander, who turned it into a commercial enterprise.

Lawrence Johnston (1871-1938)

Lawrence arrived at Hidcote in 1907 and was to create what is now one of the most famous gardens in the world. Johnston's informal planting within formal design was to lead the way for many of the great twentieth century gardens that followed. His plant-hunting trips led to the introduction of the popular house plant Jasminum polyanthum AGM. His name is commemorated in a scarlet verbena and a sweet-smelling yellow rose, whilst the name 'Hidcote' has been applied to almost two dozen plants found there.

Major H P Leschallas (1881-1946)

The Major began gardening in 1911 and was one of the first to perfect the technique of growing rare alpines in the open at his garden 'Whitehill', Prestbury, near Cheltenham. His book The Small Alpine Garden, issued in two parts, describes his years of experiment and experience to the benefit of future generations of alpine gardeners. Dianthus 'Whitehill' AGM and Saxifraga 'Whitehill', which he raised in the 1930's, are still available today.

Helen Milford (1877-1940)

Helen returned to her native South Africa in 1935 and 1938 to collect plants for the small alpine nursery which she ran from her home at Chedworth in the Cotswolds. The plants she collected in the Drakensburg mountains proved hardy in Britain, hut her death and the intervention of war meant they were overlooked for many years. Two of the plants she introduced, Helichrysum milfordiae AGM and Crassula milfordiae, were eventually named in her honour.

George Osmond (1907-1989)

George trained at Wisley returning to his native Wickwar to run Archfield Nursery for almost 60 years. A gardener of the old school, he took a particular interest in heathers. Of two good Calluna vulgaris cultivars raised by him in 1970, 'Wickwar Flame' AGM is still widely grown today, whilst the cultivar 'Bunsall' could be in danger of disappearing. Dianthus 'Inglestone', raised in 1938, should be more widely grown to enhance its chance of survival, as Dianthus 'Kingswood', introduced in 1980, seems to have been lost.

Daniel Prosser (1865-1951)
Born in Barnwood, the family later moved to Stone, Falfield, where the Rose growing became a commercial venture using stock obtained from Tortworth Court. In 1884 he moved to Matson and the rose grounds which were a mecca for rose lovers until his death in 1951.

John Sanday
A Rose Nursery now in Avon but still trading.

Captain G H Simpson-Hayward (1875-1936)
Inherited Icomb Place in 1898 and promptly created an extensive garden growing a wide range of alpines and rare botanical specimens. Played cricket for the MCC and collected plants on their overseas tours. An artist, he painted butterflies and plants. Further research will credit him with the introduction of more plants.

Mary Somerset, Duchess of Beaufort (1637-1714)
One of the earliest of Britain's distinguished lady gardeners, an enthusiastic horticulturist, devoting to her gardens at Badmington and Chelsea a lavish and intelligent expenditure. Very little is known about her personal life but it is known that she cultivated a great number of rare plants in the stove houses and gardens of Badmington. Unfortunately most of her introductions were tender greenhouse plants. The genus Beaufortia —tender, Australian heath like shrubs, is named in her honour.

Keith Steadman
Has been a keen gardener for over thirty years. On retirement from business he took to propagating and selling some of his rarer plants, which had become unobtainable. Now has a thriving small nursery.

Ernest Henry Wilson (1876-1930)
The E.H. Wilson Memorial Garden was opened in Chipping Campden, Gloucester in 1984 and commemorates one of the world's most prolific plant collectors. 'Chinese' Wilson, as he became known, was born in Chipping Campden in 1876 and introduced to cultivation over 1,200 plants. The garden, open every day free of charge, is planted exclusively with Wilson's introductions. These include the paper bark maple Acer griseum AGM, and the plant for which he wished to be remembered, the very beautiful Lilium regale AGM. His first voyage to China in 1899 was to collect Davidia involucrata for Veitch's nursery. From 1907 to 1910 he hunted chiefly for the Arnold Arboretum, of which he became Curator.