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.
 

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.

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.


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. 

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.

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.


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.

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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