Background

Graham Stuart Thomas was born on April 3, 1909, in Cambridge, England, United Kingdom. He was the son of William Richard Thomas.

Education

Graham Stuart 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.

Career

In 1931 Graham Stuart Thomas became the foreman at T. Hilling & Co. 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 a partner 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 Edwardian Era, to be part of England’s cultural heritage.

In 1948, when the National Trust acquired its first garden, Thomas began to assist it informally. In 1955, he was appointed gardens adviser to the National Trust. This gave him the opportunity, for the next 20 years, to explore a vast palette of plants. After retiring from Sunningdale in 1973, he continued to work as a consultant and to write.

Many of his books, which he illustrated with his own artwork, are considered essential gardener reference sources and include The Old Shrub Roses (1955), Perennial Garden Plants (1976), The Complete Flower Paintings (1987), The Graham Stuart Thomas Rose Book (1994), Cuttings from My Garden Notebook (1997), Treasured Perennials (1999), Thoughts from a Garden Seat (2000), and The Garden through the Year (2002).

At the time of his death, he had just finished his memoirs, which were published posthumously. For his contributions to horticulture, Thomas was named to the Order of the British Empire in 1975, in addition to receiving many other honors.

Achievements

• Graham Stuart Thomas was one of the greatest rosarians of all time. He is credited with rediscovering and cultivating some seventy types of plants, including varieties of hostas, geraniums, anemones, and twenty-seven rose cultivars. The rose was named after him. He influenced a number of other notable rose growers, including Peter Beales.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Graham Stuart Thomas Rose Book

    (An omnibus edition of three classics - The Old Shrub Rose...)

    1994
  • Cuttings from My Garden Notebooks

    (That he can turn his hand to personal narrative Thomas ha...)

    1997
  • The Garden Through the Year

    (It is not likely that anyone has restored and maintained ...)

    2002
  • Thoughts from a Garden Seat

    (Graham Stuart Thomas, plantsman and writer on gardens, ta...)

    2000
  • The Complete Flower Paintings and Drawings of Graham Stuart Thomas

    (This book illustrates more than a hundred species of flow...)

    1987
  • The Old Shrub Roses 1955
  • Perennial Garden Plants 1976
  • Treasured Perennials 1999

Membership

Graham Stuart Thomas was a keen member of the Garden History Society.

Personality

Graham Stuart Thomas was a private and modest man, always generous in sharing his knowledge. His other love was music, and he enjoyed singing regularly with a madrigal choir.

Interests

• music

Connections

Graham Stuart Thomas didn't have his own family.

Father:

William Richard Thomas

mentor:

Gertrude Jekyll

References

• Contemporary Authors
  2011