Comments
from Mr. PGC: Throughout
history, many people have made lasting contributions to the
world of plants. In these pages, we hope to pay tribute to
some of them. Our concentration will be primarily on those
who have introduced plants to the gardening world, those who
have helped spread the word about gardening and those who
have made significant contributions to landscaping and
landscaping design around the world.
This list will be constantly growing as we add
new names. If you have someone who you think should be on
the list, please send us an
Email.
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 French designer who fled to the Netherlands subsequent to the
revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 and is associated with
the magnificent Het Loo baroque garden and the Great Parterre at
Hampton Court
laid out for Prince William of Orange (1650-1702) and Princess
Mary II (1662-1695. Marot achieved a high degree of unity by
using similar designs in different ways in stucco ceilings, garden
parterres, wrought ironwork, silk wall hangings, garden urns and
ceiling paintings. Designs attributed to him may
also be seen at
Leiden Botanic Garden, Kasteel Rosendael, Clingendael and
Queekhoven.
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 A Scotsman from Aberdeen, Francis Masson was the first
professional plant collector sent out on behalf of
Kew Gardens. He made
collections in the Cape of Good Hope including many of the
Erica and Stapelia species. He also visited the
Canaries, the Azores, the West Indies and Canada. Francis Masson
(1714-1805 - Aberdeen). South Africa – Protea cynaroides "King
Protea". He added 400 new species to the Kew collection.
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Naval
surgeon and botanist, sailed on Vancouver's 'Discovery' on its
voyage of exploration to the Northwest in the 1790s. He was the
first botanist to see the colossal conifers of the Pacific coast.
Also explored plants in Europe, North & South America, Chile and
Canada. The Latin name of the Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii )
commemorates him.
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A Scotsman, succeeded his father as Curator of the Chelsea
Physic Garden. He was curator for sixty years, and made the garden
the finest of its kind in Europe. His massive Gardener's
Dictionary, enlarged by Thomas Martyn, was the standard
work on gardening in Europe and America for a century.
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A Frenchman who came from a family distinguished as gardeners
for three generations. He was the first garden writer to advocate
planting great avenues of trees. His book, Le Jardin de Plaisir
(1651) set out the principles of French garden design. After the Restoration, Charles II
appointed Mollet head gardener at St James about 1661, and under him the
place was transformed in accordance with the French ideas, ie. the
great avenues planted and the canal made.
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A
leading middle-class painter of the Impressionist movement, Monet
was also an accomplished botanist and a keen gardener. Starting in
1883, he transformed his garden at
Giverny,
France, into the subject for many of his immortal paintings.
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 Had at his Chelsea home one of the most noted gardens in
England. This garden occupied the site of what, until 1876, was
Chelsea Park, now the Elm Park estate. A great avenue in Sir
Thomas' garden led to the river side, where he kept his eight
oared barge; for it was by river he went to Whitehall and the
city. Few gardens were so much frequented by the celebrities of
the day. King Henry VIII often spent whole days there, and other
visitors were Erasmus, Colet, Linacre, to mention but a few.
Sir Thomas More's name is always associated with rosemary, of
which he wrote: "As for rosemarie I let it run all over my
garden walls, not only because my bees love it, but because it is
the herb sacred to remembrance and to friendship whence a spray of
it hath a dumb language."
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