Thomas, Graham Stuart 1909–2003

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Thomas, Graham Stuart 1909–2003

PERSONAL: Born April 3, 1909, in Cambridge, England; died April 17, 2003, in Woking, England; son of William Richard and Lilian (Hays) Thomas. Education: Received horticultural and botanical training at Cambridge University Botanic Garden, 1926–29.

CAREER: Employed by Six Hills Nursery, Stevenage, England, 1930; T. Hilling and Co., Chobham, England, began as foreman, became manager, 1931–55; Sunningdale Nurseries, Windlesham, Surrey, England, manager, 1956–68, associate director, 1968–73; gardens consultant, beginning 1973. National Trust, gardens advisor, 1955–73; writer, illustrator, photographer, and lecturer on horticulture.

MEMBER: Royal Horticultural Society (vice president), Royal National Rose Society (vice patron; honorary president of Historic Roses Group), Garden History Society (vice president), National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens, British Hosta and Hemerocalis Society, Irish Garden Plant Society (honorary member).

AWARDS, HONORS: Royal Horticultural Society, Veitch Memorial Medal, 1966, and Victoria Medal of Honour, 1968; officer, Order of the British Empire, 1975; Dean Hole Medal, Royal National Rose Society, 1976; Lifetime Achievement Award, Garden Writers' Guild, 1996; Founder's Medal, National Trust, 1996.

WRITINGS:

SELF-ILLUSTRATED

The Old Shrub Roses, Phoenix House (London, England), 1955, 5th edition, Dent (London, England), 1979.

The Manual of Shrub Roses: A Concise Account of the Wild Species, the Old French, and New Hybrid Roses, Sunningdale Nurseries (Windlesham, Surrey, England), 1957, 3rd edition, 1962.

Colour in the Winter Garden, C.T. Branford (Boston, MA), 1957, 3rd edition, Dent (London, England), 1984.

The Modern Florilegium, Sunningdale Nurseries (Windlesham, Surrey, England), 1958.

Shrub Roses of Today, Phoenix House (London, England), 1962, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1963, revised edition, Dent (London, England), 1980.

Climbing Roses Old and New, Phoenix House (London, England), 1965, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1966, revised edition, 1983.

Plants for Ground Cover, Dent (London, England), 1970, revised edition, 1989.

Perennial Garden Plants; or, The Modern Florilegium: A Concise Account of Herbaceous Plants, Including Bulbs, for General Garden Use, Dent (London, England), 1976, 3rd edition, 1990.

Three Gardens of Pleasant Flowers (memoir), Collin-gridge (Twickenham, England), 1983, revised edition published as Three Gardens: The Personal Odyssey of a Great Plantsman and Gardener, Timber Press (Portland, OR), 2001.

The Art of Planting, or, The Planter's Handbook, Dent (London, England), 1984.

The Complete Flower Paintings and Drawings of Graham Stuart Thomas, Harry N. Abrams (New York, NY), 1987.

The Rock Garden and Its Plants: From Grotto to Alpine House, Dent (London, England), 1989.

The Art of Gardening with Roses, Timber Press (Portland, OR), 1991, published as An English Rose Garden, Michael Joseph (London, England), 1991).

Ornamental Shrubs, Climbers, and Bamboos, Timber Press (Portland, OR), 1992.

AUTHOR OF REVISION; BOOKS BY GERTRUDE JEKYLL

Colour Schemes for the Flower Garden, Ayer (Salem, NH), 1983, reprinted as Colour in the Flower Garden, Sagapress (Sagaponack, NY), 1995.

Lilies, Ayer (Salem, NH), 1983.

(With Edward Mawley) Roses, Ayer (Salem, NH), 1983.

Wall and Water Gardens, Ayer (Salem, NH), 1983.

Wood and Garden, Ayer (Salem, NH), 1983.

OTHER

Great Gardens of Britain, Mayflower (New York, NY), 1979.

Gardens of the National Trust, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (London, England), 1979.

Trees in the Landscape, Jonathan Cape (London, England), 1983.

(Editor) Recreating the Period Garden, Collins (London, England), 1984.

A Garden of Roses, illustrated by Alfred Parsons, Salem House (Topsfield, MA), 1987.

The Graham Stuart Thomas Rose Book, Timber Press (Portland, OR), 1994.

(Editor) Margery Fish, We Made a Garden, Sagapress (Sagaponack, NY), 1995.

Cuttings from My Garden Notebook (essays), Saga-press (Sagaponack, NY), 1997.

Treasured Perennials, Sagapress (Sagaponack, NY), 1999.

Thoughts from a Garden Seat, 2000.

The Garden through the Year, Sagapress (Sagaponack, NY), 2002.

Author of numerous pamphlets on historic garden properties owned by the National Trust. Contributor to books, including Shell Gardens Book, edited by Peter Hunt, Phoenix House (London, England), 1964; and The Book of Garden Ornament, edited by Peter Hunt, Dent (London, England), 1974. Contributor of illustrated articles to horticultural journals.

SIDELIGHTS: The name Graham Stuart Thomas is known among horticulturalists, gardeners, and readers of gardening books. Noted as a rosarian and garden designer both in his native England and abroad, Thomas spent much of his time propagating and naming varieties of roses which, due to lack of widespread interest, would most likely have been lost to cultivation. The term "shrub rose" originated in Thomas's efforts to document one of the many varieties of old garden roses that have lost their place to hybrid teas, their less-fragrant but more disease-resistant cousins in the modern flowerbed—indeed, one variety of shrub rose now bears his name. In addition to his work with rose cultivars, Thomas served as designer in the restoration of almost one hundred historic gardens, including those at Hidecote Manor and Cliveden.

Thomas's lifetime love of plants began during his childhood when a godfather gave him a fuchsia plant. His only formal training in the subject was obtained through botany lectures at Cambridge University, which he was able to attend because he was volunteering at the university's botanical gardens. In 1931 he became the foreman at T. Hilling and Company in Chobham. Here he met garden designer Gertrude Jekyll, who became a mentor. Advancing to the position of manager, he remained at T. Hilling until 1956, when he became director of Sunningdale Nurseries. During his time at T. Hilling and Sunningdale, Thomas started his mission to save varieties of old garden roses from extinction. He considered these plants, many of which had disappeared from cultivation after the Ed-wardian Era, to be part of England's cultural heritage. Thomas is credited with rediscovering and cultivating some seventy types of plants, including varieties of hostas, geraniums, anemones, and twenty-seven rose cultivars. In addition to this work, Thomas was a longtime advisor to the National Trust, and as such supervised the restoration of 110 public gardens in Great Britain. After retiring from Sunningdale in 1973, he continued to work as a consultant and to write.

Thomas began his writing career with an article on the oak-leaved hydrangea; he then produced a series of highly-regarded books on horticultural topics. A trained botanist, Thomas illustrated many of his texts with the botanically correct drawings that once won him a medal from the Royal Horticultural Society. Many of his more noteworthy illustrations have been collected in The Complete Flower Paintings and Drawings of Graham Stuart Thomas, described by Allen Lacy of the New York Times Book Review as "a book to be treasured by all who love gardening and painting—not to mention intelligence and style as manifested in the written word."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Thomas, Graham Stuart, Three Gardens of Pleasant Flowers, Collingridge (Twickenham, England), 1983, revised edition published as Three Gardens: The Personal Odyssey of a Great Plantsman and Gardener, Timber Press (Portland, OR), 2001.

PERIODICALS

American Reference Books Annual, 1994, review of Ornamental Shrubs, Climbers, and Bamboos, p. 668; 1996, review of The Graham Stuart Thomas Rose Book, p. 659.

Booklist, October 15, 1994, review of The Graham Stuart Thomas Rose Book, p. 386; May 1, 1998, review of Perennial Garden Plants, p. 1491; October 1, 2001, Alice Joyce, review of Three Gardens: The Personal Odyssey of a Great Plantsman and Gardener, p. 290; November 15, 2002, Alice Joyce, review of The Garden through the Year, p. 557.

Horticulture: Art of American Gardening, March, 1994, review of Perennial Garden Plants; or, The Modern Florilegium: A Concise Account of Herbaceous Plants, Including Bulbs, for General Garden Use, p. 66; March, 1995, review of Three Gardens of Pleasant Flowers, p. 69; April, 1995, review of The Graham Stuart Thomas Rose Book, p. 76; June, 1998, Jane Barker Wright, review of Cuttings from My Garden Notebooks, p. 72.

Natural History, May, 1999, Anne Raver, reviews of Cuttings from My Garden Notebooks, The Art of Gardening with Roses, and The Graham Stuart Thomas Rose Book, p. 16.

New York Times Book Review, December 6, 1987, Allen Lacy, review of The Complete Flower Paintings and Drawings of Graham Stuart Thomas, p. 32; December 3, 1989, p. 74; May 31, 1998, review of Trees in the Landscape, p. 19; December 6, 1998, reviews of Cuttings from My Garden Notebooks and Trees in the Landscape, p. 34.

Observer (London, England), December 11, 1994, review of The Graham Stuart Thomas Rose Book, p. 19.

Reference and Research Book News, March, 1995, review of The Graham Stuart Thomas Rose Book, p. 52; November, 2001, review of Three Gardens, p. 240.

Spectator, December 17, 1994, review of The Graham Stuart Thomas Rose Book, p. 66; April 11, 1998, review of Trees in the Landscape, p. 40; November 27, 1999, review of Treasured Perennials, p. 57.

Times Literary Supplement, September 16, 1983; June 22, 1984; January 16, 1998, review of Cuttings from My Garden Notebooks, p. 19.

Wall Street Journal, December 13, 1994, review of The Graham Stuart Thomas Rose Book, p. A16.

Washington Post Book World, December 6, 1987, pp. 14-15.