A couple of new books that landed on my desk have got me thinking about the unsung heroes of horticulture. Not the celebrities we see on television or the well-known figures from gardening’s history but the people who get overlooked or whose achievements have been forgotten over time.
Son of the Secret Gardener by Trevor Millum and William Barron, the Victorian Landscape Gardener by Tamsin Liddle and Peter Robinson, deal with gardeners from opposite ends of the spectrum. The first is an insight into the day-to-day work of a professional gardener caring for a country estate. The second is about a designer who created such gardens but whose name is today largely unknown. (I was sent both books free in return for a fair review.)
Son of the Secret Gardener
The title of Trevor Millum’s book is a deliberate echo of The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, a story based on her garden at Maytham Hall. His grandfather, George Owen Millum, was the inspiration for the gardener in the popular children’s book.
Although Son of the Secret Gardener opens with an overview of George’s career and time at Maytham Hall, it is his son, also called George, that the book is really about. Using diaries that record his day-to-day work in country gardens we get an insight into the life of a gardener in the early 20th century.
It seems that in many ways nothing has changed with an entry for July 1949 noting a hosepipe ban due to a lack of rain. Other things have, thankfully, altered: gardeners no longer fumigate greenhouses with sulphur or even cyanide.
The sheer scale of the work that a professional gardener undertook comes through with every page – taking thousands of cuttings with 300 chrysanthemums in one week, pricking out 3,000 biennials, potting up 100 carnations in one day. Alongside this came looking after the tennis court, croquet lawn and even beating carpets.
With extracts from George’s diaries along with commentary by his grandson, Son of the Secret Gardener gives an insight into a forgotten world: “It shows how the owners of the gardens of the ‘big house’ relied on the knowledge and hard work of low-paid servants”.
William Barron, the Victorian Landscape Gardener
William Barron may not have been a low-paid gardener but arguably his contribution to horticulture is equally unnoticed today.
In their book, Tamisin Liddle and Peter Robinson argue that he is “an unsung hero, unduly eclipsed by more familiar names such as Capability Brown”, going on to state “We believe he is of national significance”.
Indeed, his list of achievements is impressive: designer of both private and public spaces, author, nursery owner, and inventor. The book argues that he made some of the most significant contributions to horticulture of any of his contemporaries “many of whom have found fame only because their masterworks survived in much better condition.”
The authors are on the board of the Elvaston Castle and Gardens Trust – royalties will go to the trust and its restoration work – so it’s not surprising thatthis garden features prominently in the book.
It was at Elvaston that Barron worked with the Earls of Harrington to create a garden that saw him develop his trademark use of rock formations and, in particular, the large scale planting of evergreen trees. It is thought that the use of evergreens at Elvaston inspired planting at Biddulph Grange in Staffordshire.
Wanting to transplant mature trees, he invented a tree moving machine – the original is at Kew Gardens – that enabled him to successfully move mature specimens.
His love of evergreen trees led to a book: The British Winter Garden, which outlined how to use them, varieties and propagation, while the nursery he set up with his son, John, was known for its range of evergreens.
Barron was also responsible for the design of many public spaces from Belper Cemetery in Derbyshire to the People’s Park in Grimsby. The biggest public space was Leicester’s Abbey Park, for which he and his son, John, won the design competition. How many people in Leicester know his name today, I wonder.
William Barron, The Victorian Landscape Gardener by Tamsin Liddle and Peter Robinson is published Amberley Publishing at an RRP of £15.99. You can buy it here for £12.79. (If you buy through this link, I receive a small commission. The price you pay is not affected.)
Son of the Secret Gardener by Trevor Millum is published by Quadrant Books with an RRP of £11.50.
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