Graham Stuart Thomas

In addition to his garden designs, books and illustrations, Thomas is remembered by name in various garden plants, including the vigorous honeysuckle Lonicera periclymenum 'Graham Thomas' and the 1983 David Austin rose 'Graham Thomas'.

In 1975, Thomas received the OBE for his work with the National Trust. Other awards included the Royal Horticultural Society's Veitch Memorial Medal in 1966 and Victoria Medal of Honour in 1968. He received a Gold Medal from the RHS for his paintings and drawings, the Dean Hole Medal from the Royal National Rose Society and the Garden Writers' Guild Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996.

Thomas became partner at Sunningdale Nurseries – then the most revered nursery in the country – with Jim Russell. The partners became known for planting schemes that focused on form and foliage, as much as flowers. At Sunningdale, Thomas established his entire collection of roses. It was here also that he began introducing new or rediscovered garden plants – notable introductions from this period include the perennial Geranium 'Claridge Druce'. While Thomas would become associated with many other projects, he would remain a director of the Sunningdale nursery until 1971.

He also assisted with the 1968 restoration of the Sezincote gardens.

Thomas's first important publication about roses was a booklet called The Manual of Shrub Roses, describing all the varieties, with advice on cultivation. In the foreword he described the booklet's aim as: "To bring forth these lovely things from retirement." His classic books on roses – Old Shrub Roses (1955), Shrub Roses Of Today (1962) and Climbing Roses Old And New (1965) followed and cemented his influence. They also provided much-needed information about the history and extent of the genus at a time when old varieties were being overshadowed by their repeat flowering and showier cousins hybrid teas and floribundas.

Thomas began an informal association with the National Trust in the late 1940s, initially working at Hidcote Manor when it passed to the Trust in 1948. The relationship was formalised when he became its official gardens adviser in 1955. This was a relationship that was to continue for the succeeding 20 years and gave him the opportunity to work with a vast array of plants in spectacular historic settings, such as Sissinghurst Castle and Mount Stewart. It is Mottisfont Abbey – a creation that he himself described as a "masterpiece" – where his rose collection found its final home, and where his garden design skills can be best appreciated.

In 1930, Thomas joined the then famous Six Hills Nursery in Stevenage, working under alpine expert Clarence Elliott. The following year he became foreman at T. Hilling & Co (Hillings), a renowned 300-acre nursery near Chobham, Surrey.

Graham Stuart Thomas OBE VMH (3 April 1909 – 17 April 2003), was an English horticulturist, who is likely best known for his work with garden roses, his restoration and stewardship of over 100 National Trust gardens and for writing 19 books on gardening, many of which remain classics today. However, as he states in the Preface to his outstanding book, The Rock Garden and its Plants: From Grotto to Alpine House, "My earliest enthusiasms in gardening were for....alpines." p8