GARDEN HISTORY GIRL

'Lily Pool', Plate 16 from Ellen Willmott's book of her own photographs titled 'Warley Garden in Spring and Summer', published 1909 Those of us who research and write about the famous gardener, Miss Ellen Willmott (1858-1934), and spend a lot of our free time wondering what her garden at Warley Place in Essex used to be like in its heyday [obviously having nothing better to do...], sometimes overlook the plants she grew aside from her great loves: roses and narcissus. For my

One of Miss Ellen Willmott's few existing 'autochromes' c.1908. The plant featured was identified recently by experts at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew as the orchid, 'Stanhopea tigrina'. By kind permission of the Berkeley family and the Spetchley Gardens Charitable Trust Introduction This is another of my blogs regarding aspects of Miss Ellen Willmott’s (1858-1934) myriad horticultural activities – and this time I'm writing about some of the orchids she grew in her gardens at W

'The Garden House'. Plate 37 from 'Warley Garden in Spring and Summer' by Ellen Willmott, 1909 Introduction Anyone that reads my blogs...

Rosa 'Ellen Willmott'. Photograph by Eric Timewell. This rose has been delightfully described as “an Audrey Hepburn of a rose, nothing...

'Flowers Before Fares' from 'Funny Folks' magazine. Courtesy Dr David Turner on Twitter. In 1884, the Midland Railway company started a...

For December, I’ve indulged myself somewhat by writing a blog containing some of my favourite garden history topics – the horticultural...

A prickly tale: Eryngium giganteum Miss Willmott's Ghost