Graham Stuart Thomas OBE (3 April 1909 – 16 April 2003), was an English horticulturalist, artist, author, poet and garden designer.
He was born in Cambridge and studied in the University Botanic Garden at Cambridge University. For thirty years he was Gardens Adviser to the National Trust and in 1975 received the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his work with that organization. He supervised the restoration of some of the most famous gardens in Great Britain including Mottisfont Abbey in 1957, Sezincote in 1968, and Eyford Park in 1976.
His autobiography, told in terms of the three gardens he successively owned, is told in Three Gardens.
In addition to the OBE, Graham Thomas was one of the sixty-three holders of the Victoria Medal of Honour. He was awarded the Veitch Memorial Medal by the Royal Horticultural Society as well as their Gold Medal for his paintings and drawings, and the Dean Hole Medal by the National Rose Society. The Garden Writers' Guild gave him a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996. In 1983, a yellow rose was named in his honor by rose breeder David Austin.
He was probably best known for his work in gathering and popularizing old and new shrub roses. In addition to having an encyclopedic knowledge of horticulture, Thomas was an artist whose paintings and drawings illustrate his many books. He was also a talented photographer, poet and musician who has been described as "one of the towering figures of the art and craft of gardening of all time".
Read more about Graham Stuart Thomas: His Books Include
Famous quotes containing the words graham, stuart and/or thomas:
“But since Thy loud-tongu’d Blood demands Supplies,
More from BriareusHands, than Argus Eyes,
I’ll tune Thy Elegies to Trumpet-sounds,
And write Thy Epitaph in Blood and Wounds!”
—James Graham Marquess of Montrose (1612–1650)
“I read, with a kind of hopeless envy, histories and legends of people of our craft who “do not write for money.” It must be a pleasant experience to be able to cultivate so delicate a class of motives for the privilege of doing one’s best to express one’s thoughts to people who care for them. Personally, I have yet to breathe the ether of such a transcendent sphere. I am proud to say that I have always been a working woman, and always had to be ...”
—Elizabeth Stuart Phelps (1844–1911)
“When the salt sheet broke in a storm of singing
The voices of all the drowned swam on the wind.”
—Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)