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.

Austrian botanist and author. The specific epithet, Waldsteinia, was named for him.

Garden designer in the style of Gertrude Jekyll. Born in Devon, England, she went with her family first to New Zealand then settled in Australia. In the 1920s she developed a village with 'English' gardens at Mooroolbark. She wrote for Australian Home Beautiful and the books Gardens in Australia (1943), Cottage and Garden (1947) and A Gardener's Log (1948).

Frank Kingdon Ward traveled widely in the Himalayas and published several readable accounts of his experiences in the 1920s including The Riddle of the Tsangpo Gorges and The Romance of Plant Hunting. He collected unusual Primula, Lilium, Rhododendron and Gentiana. He studied the distribution of the Meconopsis in Tibet.

Plants he collected included Meconopsis bentonicifolia, Cotoneaster conspicuus, Cotoneaster sternianus, Cotoneaster wardii, Primula alpicola, Primula burmanica, and Rhododendron wardii.


First President of USA, the genus, Washingtonia (a genus of palms) was named for him.

Plants named for his home, Mount Vernon, include Picea orientalis 'Mount Vernon' and Prunus laurocerasus 'Mount Vernon'.

German botanist for whom the genus, Weigela, was named.

 

 

Host of PBS' The Victory Garden for five years in starting in 2002.

Miss Willmott is known for her garden at Warley Place in Essex, part of which became a reserve for the Essex Naturalists' Trust in 1978, though little of her garden remains. She became renowned for her knowledge of plants, her patronage of plant hunters (notably Ernest Wilson), the book she published on roses and her prickly temperament. Her habit of scattering seeds of eryngium or 'Miss Wilmott's ghost' in friend's gardens didn't endear her to those who didn't especially fancy eryngiums! She developed the garden at Boccanegra on the Italian Riviera.

The specific epithets of warleyensis and willmottianum are named for her. Plants associated with these names include: Iris warleyensis, Campanula 'Warleyensis', Epimedium warleyensis 'Ellen Willmott', Rosa warleyensis, Lysionotus warleyensis, Corylopsis warleyensis, Ceratostigma willmotti, and Potentilla nepalensis ‘Miss Willmott’

One of the most famous plant hunters, who collected in the East for Harry Veitch's nursery and others including the Arnold Arboretum in Boston where he was Director when he was killed in a car accident in 1930.

Wilson is credited with "discovering" between 3,000 and 5,000 species during his many trips to China.

Among the new plants he introduced to Europe is the easily grown and popular Lilium regale. Other introductions include the Acer griseum (paperbark maple), Davidia involucrata (The 'Handkerchief Tree'), Kolkwitzia amabilis, Cornus controversa (the giant dogwood) and Magnolia wilsonii.

Plants bearing his name include Acer wilsonii, Corydalis wilsonii, Exochorda giraldii var. wilsonii, Gentiana wilsonii, Hypericum wilsonii, Magnolis wilsonii, Primula wilsonii, Syzygium wilsonii and Trachelospermum jasminoides 'Wilsonii'.

Jim Wilson appeared for 10 years as host of PBS' The Victory Garden and as host of HGTV's Great Gardener series. He has been in the horticulture industry for over 50 years and is a well-known author. Among his published works are: Landscaping with Wildflowers, Landscaping with Herbs, South Carolina Gardeners Guide, Bulletproof Flowers for the South, and Jim Wilson's Container Gardening. Jim is past president of the Garden Writers Association of America, a member of its hall of fame, and spokesperson for its Plant a Row for the Hungry program.

Queen Anne's master gardener and the last of British 'Formalists', Henry Wise was superintendent of the royal gardens at the (recently restored) 1701 recreation of the King's Privy Garden for William III at Hampton Court as recorded in the panoramic painting by Leonard Knyff. In partnership with George London, Henry Wise is associated with aspects of the design of gardens at Studley Royal, Castle Howard and Newby Hall in Yorkshire and at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire and Chatsworth in Derbyshire.

The genus, Wisteria (spelled with an e) is named after this professor of anatomy at the University of Pennsylvania.

 

Wyman served as Horticulturist of The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts from 1935-1970. He was instrumental in introducing many new species to the arboretum as well as to the United States in general. He earned a B.A. from Penn State and his M.A. and Ph.D from Cornell University.

Wyman was the editor of the publication, ‘Arnoldia’ and wrote several books including Shrubs and Vines for American Gardens, Trees for American Gardens, and Wyman's Gardening Encyclopedia. He also served as president, director, and trustee of the American Horticultural Society and trustee of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society.

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