Biographies are followed by page references to authors’ contributions. Italics indicate the mention of one author by another.
Simon Akeroyd, horticulturist and garden writer, has worked at RHS Gardens Wisley and Harlow Carr. He is now the National Trust’s Garden and Countryside Manager at Polesden Lacey, Surrey. 303.
Jon Ardle is Technical Editor at The Garden, with a specialis interest in bonsai and orchids. 151
Stephen Barstow, an oceanographer, gardens in Norway, where he has developed an extensive collection of unusual edible plants. He is author of Around the World in 80 Plants (2014). 208.
William Bateson VMH (1861–1926) was the first person to use the word ‘genetics’ to mean the study of biological inheritance. He was also the first to popularise Gregor Mendel’s theories on inheritance in Britain. He became Director of the John Innes Institute in 1910. 231–234.
Vanessa Berridge launched and edited The English Garden magazine before becoming a freelance writer on gardening and garden history. She has a London and a Gloucestershire garden. 249, 257.
Chris Beardshaw is a garden designer and broadcaster who has also worked in commercial horticulture and teaching. He presented the BBC series British Gardens in Time. 212, 227.
Matthew Biggs, plantsman and broadcaster, is the author of gardening books such as the Complete Book of Vegetables (2009). He is a regular panellist on BBC Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time. 66, 187, 224, 247.
Viscountess Byng of Vimy, Evelyn (1870–1949), born in London, lived in India and Canada after her marriage to Lord Byng, a WWI Field Marshal and then Governor General of Canada. Up the Stream of Time (1945) is her autobiography. 266, 276
Adrian Bloom VMH, nurseryman, gardener and writer, developed the garden at Foggy Bottom and introduced many popular perennials through Blooms of Bressingham nursery in Norfolk. 161, 173.
Val Bourne is a garden writer living in Gloucestershire. She is a member of the panel that judges the perennial and dahlia trials at RHS Garden Wisley. 104, 140.
E A Bowles VMH (1865–1954) is most remembered for the garden he created at Myddleton House, Middlesex. A writer and self-taught botanical artist, he served as RHS Vice-President for 28 years. Many plants bear his name. 11, 104, 105, 119.
Rosie Boycott, former newspaper editor, is Chair of the London Food Board. A writer and broadcaster, she also owns a smallholding in Somerset. 189.
John Brookes, influential garden designer with an international practice, has a career spanning 50 years. He has served as Chairman of the Society of Garden Designers. His own garden, Denmans, is in West Sussex. Among his most famous books are Room Outside (1979) and The Small Garden (1996). 292.
Bob Brown is the plantsman-owner of Cotswold Garden Flowers, a Worcestershire nursery specialising in unusual perennials. He writes, lectures and travels widely in search of new plants. 104, 111.
Jane Brown writes about landscape and garden history. Her many books include studies of Lancelot Brown, Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll, as well as the great gardens of the twentieth century. 145, 147.
Ursula Buchan was for many years a gardening columnist, including for The Garden. She now writes books and lectures, particularly on garden history. 7, 19, 22, 29, 43, 53, 70, 176, 179, 220.
Philip Clayton spent two years as a student at RHS Garden Wisley before joining The Garden. He is the magazine’s Features Editor and a member of Hortax (the horticultural taxonomy group). 125, 217.
Nigel Colborn VMH is a plantsman, writer and broadcaster. He is chair of RHS Trials Advisory Committee and a judge at flower shows, including Chelsea. 104, 132, 291, 302.
Sarah Coles is a garden writer who travels widely. She has served on the committee of the Historic Roses Group of the Royal National Rose Society. 122.
Ian Currie is author and editor of Weather Eye magazine and Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society, 28.
Lila Das Gupta, former journalist, is a media trainer and communications specialist who also runs a ‘meetup’ group called Perfume Lovers London. 298.
Helen Dillon is a gardener, plantswoman and writer living in Dublin, Ireland. Her garden has been open to the public for the last 20 years. She lectures frequently in the United States and New Zealand, as well as in Britain. 212, 219.
Nigel Dunnett is Reader in Urban Horticulture at the University of Sheffield. His research interests include sustainable planting design, green roofs and rain gardens. 62, 76, 81, 95.
Geoffrey Dutton (1924–2010) was a scientist, author and poet. He created a wild garden on 3.6ha (9 acres) of marginal farmland in Perthshire, described in Harvesting the Edge (1994) and Some Branch Against the Sky (1997). 15, 17, 23, 29, 256.
Brent Elliott was appointed RHS Historian in 2007, having previously served as the Society’s librarian and archivist. He is the author of many books, including Victorian Gardens (1986). 33, 46, 198, 298.
Ambra Edwards, author of Gardening in a Changing Climate (2011), is a gardening writer and regular contributor to magazines and national newspapers. 34, 37.
George Forrest VMH (1873–1932), born in Falkirk, Scotland, was a plant collector who travelled in northwest China and Tibet. Hundreds of the plants he introduced, including many rhododendrons, are still in cultivation today. 265, 270, 272.
Mike Grant, formerly Senior Botanist at RHS Garden Wisley, is Editor of The Plantsman. 232, 239.
Spence Gunn writes about commercial horticulture, in partnership with Claire Shaddick. In the past he edited Horticulture Week and later Kew magazine. 241.
Sarah Jane Gurr is Professor of Molecular Plant Pathology at the University of Oxford, President of the British Society for Plant Pathology and (in association with Oxford Botanic Garden) has taken part in the Chelsea Flower Show. 243.
Andrew Halstead, a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society, was until his retirement in 2013 the RHS expert on garden pest problems. 72, 254.
Susie Holmes is an independent soil science and growing-media consultant who specialises in peat alternatives. 81, 91.
Richard Hutson studied meteorology during his service as a navigation officer in the Royal and Merchant navies. 19.
Gertrude Jekyll VMH (1843–1932) was a nurserywoman and prolific garden designer whose ideas on the use of colour have been highly influential. She lived at Munstead Wood, Surrey, in a house designed by Edwin Lutyens. 147, 161, 164, 169, 172, 173, 292.
Geoffrey Jellicoe (1900–1996) was one of England’s foremost landscape architects. He designed gardens at Shute House, Dorset, and Sutton Place, Surrey. 161, 163, 181.
Hugh Johnson, an expert on wine and trees, gardened at Saling Hall, Essex, for 40 years. He wrote a monthly column, Tradescant’s Diary, for The Garden from 1975 to 2008. 11, 34, 52, 82, 83, 215, 255, 261, 290.
Mary Keen is a garden designer, writer and lecturer who regularly contributes to The Garden magazine. She gardens in the stony Cotswolds, describing this as her favourite project. 129, 177, 232, 238.
Wesley Kerr, broadcaster and writer, has a lifelong interest in London’s heritage. He is a member of the RHS Chelsea Show Gardens Panel and was appointed to the Royal Parks Board in 2013. 295.
Tony Kirkham has worked with trees all his life. He has been Head of the Arboretum at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew since 2001, and is a trustee of the Tree Register. 104, 120.
Stephen Lacey is a well-travelled garden writer, lecturer and broadcaster, with a particular interest in planting design. He has a garden in north Wales. 34, 104, 108, 266, 284.
Tom La Dell is a landscape architect, ecologist and environmentalist. He is trustee of Brogdale Farm in Kent, where the National Fruit Collection is held. 195.
Lucinda Lambton is a photographer, television presenter and writer whose work focuses on architectural history and British heritage. She is a past president of the Garden History Society. 33, 35.
Roy Lancaster VMH was the first curator of the Hillier Arboretum, Hampshire. A notable plantsman, author and broadcaster, he has travelled widely to see gardens and plant habitats in different parts of the world. 11, 34, 56, 104, 107, 146, 149, 267.
Joy Larkcom is an influential and highly-respected writer on vegetable-growing. She lives in west Ireland. 184, 192, 201.
Lia Leendertz is a freelance garden writer living in Bristol, with a particular interest in allotments. She contributes an opinion column to The Garden. 208.
Stuart Logan, an amateur gardener for two decades, works designing orchards and pruning fruit trees, and has gained the RHS Master of Horticulture. 253.
Lynne Maxwell is a freelance garden writer and editorial consultant living in Peterborough. 81, 89.
Kevin McCloud, design guru, is a writer and presenter of the popular Channel 4 series Grand Designs. In 2006 he formed Hab Housing, which undertakes sustainable housing projects. 62, 77.
Joan Morgan, apple expert and fruit historian, is Chairman of the RHS Fruit Trials Sub-Committee and co-author of The New Book of Apples (2002). She runs the fruit identification service at Brogdale Collections, Kent. 185.
Niall Moore is Head of the Non-native Species Secretariat for Great Britain, the government body responsible for fighting invasive species, based in York. 85.
Toby Musgrave is a garden historian living in Denmark. His books include Heritage Fruits and Vegetables (2012) and The Plant Hunters (1998). 82, 86, 271.
Alice Oswald is an award-winning poet with interests in gardening, ecology and music. She lives in Devon. Memorial (2011) is her sixth book of poetry. 146, 158.
Anna Pavord is gardening correspondent for the Independent and author of the bestselling The Tulip (1999). 11, 104, 115.
Josephine Peach is an organic chemist and has spent most of her working life at the University of Oxford. She opens her Gloucestershire garden under the National Gardens Scheme. 243.
David Pearman is a former President of the Botanical Society of the British Isles and co-editor of the New Atlas of the British and Irish Flora (2002). 84, 85.
Matthew Pottage is Garden Manager for the Hardy Ornamental department at Wisley and a committee member of the British Conifer Society. 16, 25.
Graham Rice, writer and plantsman, is the author of more than 20 books and runs the RHS’s New Plants blog. He divides his time between Pennsylvania and Northamptonshire. 104, 130, 134.
Tim Richardson was founding editor of New Eden magazine. He writes about gardens, landscape design and history. His books include The New English Garden (2013). He is also founder of the Chelsea Fringe. 162, 181, 297.
Alan Romans, lives in Scotland, and drew on his experience in the seed potato industry to write The Potato Book (2013). 203.
John Sales VMH joined the National Trust in 1971 and for 25 years was Chief Gardens Advisor, in which role he pioneered the use of systematic historical surveys of parks and gardens. 82, 99, 146, 157.
John Scrace is a freelance plant pathologist with experience of diagnosing problems both on garden plants and commercial crops. He lectures and gives advice at the main RHS flower shows. 259.
Claire Shaddick is a freelance journalist specialising in commercial horticulture, who regularly contributes to Horticulture Week and The Vegetable Farmer magazines. 225.
Nigel Slater describes himself as a cook who writes. He has been food columnist for The Observer for 20 years. Tender (2011) is the story of his London vegetable patch. 183, 206.
Lalage Snow is a photographer, journalist and film-maker who lived in Kabul for several years and has worked on projects for organisations such as Oxfam and Afghan Aid. 282.
Nicola Stocken Tomkins is a London-based garden writer and photographer whose work has appeared in many publications. 277.
Roy Strong, art historian, was director of the Victoria and Albert Museum from 1973 to 1987. He has written extensively on history and garden design. Remaking a Garden–The Laskett Transformed (2014) describes developments at his formal garden in Herefordshire. 146, 156.
Julian Sutton runs Desirable Plants, a Devonshire nursery specalising in choice herbaceous perennials and South African Iridaceae. 136.
Elspeth Thompson (1961–2010) was gardening columnist for the Sunday Telegraph and the author of many popular books, including The London Gardener (2004). 126.
Ken Thompson is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Sheffield whose key interests include the ecology of gardens, urban ecology and biological invasions. He is author of An Ear to the Ground (2006) and Where do Camels Belong? (2014). 11, 62, 63, 65, 86.
M A H Tincker was a scientist at the Welsh Plant Breeding Station, Aberystwyth, in the 1920s and later Keeper of the Laboratory at RHS Garden Wisley. 216.
Jean Vernon is a garden writer living in the West Country who contributes to the Daily Telegraph, The Garden and the RHS website. 34, 40, 305.
Keith Wiley was Head Gardener at The Garden House, Buckland Monachorum, from 1978 to 2003 and made his name creating innovative planting schemes inspired by natural landscapes. He now runs Wildside Nursery. 61, 73, 285.
Matthew Wilson is Managing Director of Clifton Nurseries in West London, having previously held the post of RHS Head of Creative Development. He writes about gardening and design, and is a regular panellist on Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time. 213, 300.
James Wong is an ethnobotanist with an interest in underutilised edible plant species, a TV presenter and author. He was appointed an RHS Ambassador in 2014, with a remit to champion horticultural science. 143.
Helen Yemm is a writer, broadcaster and gardening coach. She writes a weekly column for the Telegraph, is author of Gardening in Pyjamas (2013) and has a ‘pint-sized’ garden in East Sussex. 82, 93, 221.
Chris Young is Editor of The Garden. With a background in landscape architecture, he was Editor of the Garden Design Journal and Editor-in-Chief for the RHS Encyclopedia of Garden Design (2009). 7, 34, 49.