Pamela Schwerdt

Last updated

Pamela Schwerdt MBE (5 April 1931 - 11 September 2009) was the joint head gardener at Sissinghurst Castle Garden from 1959 to 1990, and a pioneering horticulturalist.

Contents

Early life and education

Pamela Schwerdt was born on 5 April 1931 in Surrey, [1] the granddaughter of Edith Vere Dent, who founded the Wild Flower Society in 1886, and the daughter of Violet Schwerdt MBE, who was subsequently editor of the society newsletter following on from her mother and sister. From 1936 the family lived in Newfoundland then Nova Scotia, returning to England in 1945, where Pam attended Lady Eleanor Holles School in Hampton, Middlesex. [2]

In 1951, aged 18, she joined Waterperry School of Horticulture for Ladies, at Waterperry Gardens in Oxfordshire. She was attracted by the fact that the clothes list included "two pairs of gumboots and a mackintosh" rather than the "cap and gown" required at Wye College, and this reflected the practical nature of the training offered by the school's founder, Beatrix Havergal. Whilst there she formed a close friendship with Sibylle Kreutzberger, a fellow student, with whom she was to work for the rest of her life. She passed the Waterperry diploma and was also awarded the Chittenden Prize for achieving the highest marks in the Royal Horticultural Society's National Diploma of Horticulture. She stayed on the teaching staff after the course, remaining for eight years in total. [1]

Career

By 1959 both Schwerdt and Kreutzberger felt Waterperry was "like being at school forever". Schwerdt contacted various gardening correspondents, including Vita Sackville-West, in search of a walled garden to start a nursery. Sackville-West said she did not know of a site but subsequently wrote to say she needed a head gardener for the garden she had created at Sissinghurst Castle: would Pam be interested? Schwerdt replied "yes, but we are two". [2]

From 1959 until retirement in 1990 she was the joint head gardener, with Kreutzberger, at the garden at Sissinghurst Castle in Kent. Kreutzberger focused on propagation, and Schwerdt had a higher public profile, although they were often seen and addressed as a pair. "Women were rare in horticulture in those days", recalled Kreutzberger in 2006. "When we first went to Sissinghurst, people used to point at us as though we were baboons at the zoo." [3]

She served on several RHS committees, including the Floral A Committee (now Herbaceous Committee) for 32 years 1977–2008 and the Floral Trials Subcommittee (now Floral Trials Assessment Panel) for 30 years 1979–2009, [4] [5] both latterly as vice chair, and she was often a judge at RHS shows. She was made an associate of honour of the Royal Horticultural Society in 1980 [6] and received the Victoria Medal of Honour in 2006, at the same time as Kreutzberger. [7] She was appointed MBE in 1990. [8] In 1992 she received, with Kreutzberger, the third International Carlo Scarpa Prize for Gardens awarded by the Fondazione Benetton. [9]

In 1991 the two women bought a house together at Manor Farm, Condicote, near Stow-on-the-Wold in Gloucestershire, where they made a garden that was much admired. [10] [1]

Schwerdt died on 11 September 2009 at the age of 78, from a lung cancer caused by asbestos exposure, although the coroner could not determine where this came from. [11] [12] She never married. [3]

Horticultural innovation and influence

The widely copied "Sissinghurst look", [13] owed as much, if not more, to Schwerdt and Kreuzberger as to Sackville-West (who died in 1962, only 3 years after the new head gardeners joined). "It's as much their garden as Vita's," said Alexis Datta, head gardener in 2010. [14]

Signature characteristics were planting a profusion of flowers in colourful tonal displays, dense rose beds, the use of topiary and trellises to give sculptural shapes, and selective wildness. [13] Partly by using annuals and tender perennials, they were able to make planting that Sackville-West considered to be over by mid July, last into autumn. [5] This way of extending the season was copied in other gardens owned by the National Trust, and by home gardeners. During her tenure, visiting figures rose from about 6,000 a year in 1959 to 197,000 in 1991 (the year after she retired). [2]

She was passionate about the need for close observance of plants, which she described as "living with plants". [5] She gave lectures, in the UK (including on the English Garden School's Plant and Plantsmanship course for eight years) and USA, [3] although in general shunned publicity, saying "Gardening doesn't need celebrities, it's a celebrity in itself". [5]

Their work was documented in various books, including "Gardening at Sissinghurst" by Tony Lord ( ISBN   0-7112-0991-X) and "Sissinghurst: Portrait of a Garden" by Jane Brown ( ISBN   0-7538-0437-9).

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Horticultural Society</span> Registered charity in the UK

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sissinghurst Castle Garden</span> Garden in Kent, England

Sissinghurst Castle Garden, at Sissinghurst in the Weald of Kent in England, was created by Vita Sackville-West, poet and writer, and her husband Harold Nicolson, author and diplomat. It is among the most famous gardens in England and is designated Grade I on Historic England's register of historic parks and gardens. It was bought by Sackville-West in 1930, and over the next thirty years, working with, and later succeeded by, a series of notable head gardeners, she and Nicolson transformed a farmstead of "squalor and slovenly disorder" into one of the world's most influential gardens. Following Sackville-West's death in 1962, the estate was donated to the National Trust. It was ranked 42nd on the list of the Trust's most-visited sites in the 2021–2022 season, with over 150,000 visitors.

Sissinghurst is a small village in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England. Originally called Milkhouse Street, Sissinghurst changed its name in the 1850s, possibly to avoid association with the smuggling and cockfighting activities of the Hawkhurst Gang. It is in the civil parish of Cranbrook and Sissinghurst.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Graham Stuart Thomas</span> English horticulturalist and garden designer

Graham Stuart Thomas, 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

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tatton Park Flower Show</span>

RHS Flower Show Tatton Park held at Tatton Park, near Knutsford, Cheshire, first began in 1999 by the Royal Horticultural Society. The show houses the RHS National Flower Bed Competition, Young Designer of the Year Award and a wide range of inspirational show gardens, smaller 'Back to Back' gardens, visionary gardens and a number of marquees displaying prize plants and flora exhibits. Other key features of the show are the floral marquee and plant plaza, the arts and heritage pavilion, and the floral design studio.

A plantsman is an enthusiastic and knowledgeable gardener, nurseryman or nurserywoman. "Plantsman" can refer to a male or female person, though the terms plantswoman, or even plantsperson, are sometimes used. The word is sometimes said to be synonymous with "botanist" or "horticulturist", but that would indicate a professional involvement, whereas "plantsman" reflects an attitude to plants. A horticulturist may be a plantsman, but a plantsman is not necessarily a horticulturist.

The Victoria Medal of Honour (VMH) is awarded to British horticulturists resident in the United Kingdom whom the Royal Horticultural Society Council considers deserving of special honour by the Society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andromeda Botanic Gardens</span> Botanical garden in St Joseph, Barbados

Andromeda Botanic Gardens is an organic 8-acre (3.2 ha) botanical garden and a historic cultural attraction in the village of Bathsheba, Saint Joseph in Barbados. It is an authentic garden created by multiple award-winning horticulturalist Iris Bannochie, a female, Barbadian, self-taught scientist. It is unique, having been created from the 1950s as both a private botanical garden and a pleasure garden by an individual. Named from the Greek mythological figure of Andromeda it started as a private plant collection around Ms Bannochie's home, who was also the leading expert on horticulture on the island. Ms Bannochie wrote various academic papers from topics including the lifecycle of the whistling frog, and the vitamin C content of the Barbadian cherry. She was a mentor to many and considered the queen of Barbadian horticulture. At one point, she was responsible for introducing over 90% of the ornamental plants found in Barbados. Iris Bannochie created the garden from 1954 on land owned by her family since 1740. During the 1950s Barbados was a plantation economy with no history of garden creation. Iris Bannochie travelled the world and collected plants for Andromeda. She showed plants from Andromeda both independently and with the Barbados Horticultural Society many times at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in London, winning numerous medals. In 1982, Ms Bannochie's display was titled Andromeda Gardens at the Show and her exhibition of palms was the largest selection of that plant family ever seen at the Chelsea Flower Show. She was also the recipient of the RHS Veitch Medal and a fellow of the Linnean Society. In 1990, the garden had 40,000 visitors.

Tony Lord is a United Kingdom gardener, photographer and author. In 2005 the Royal Horticultural Society awarded him the Victoria Medal of Honour (V.M.H) for his work as a garden photographer, horticultural consultant and writer.

Frances Mary Perry MBE VMH was an English gardener, administrator, writer and broadcaster.

Penelope Hobhouse MBE, née Chichester-Clark, is a British garden writer, designer, lecturer and television presenter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Augustus Bowles</span> British horticulturist (1865–1954)

Edward Augustus Bowles was a British horticulturalist, plantsman and garden writer. He developed an important garden at Myddelton House, his lifelong home at Bulls Cross in Enfield, Middlesex and his name has been preserved in many varieties of plant. The standard author abbreviation Bowles is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Veitch Memorial Medal</span> International prize issued annually by the Royal Horticultural Society

The Veitch Memorial Medal is an international prize issued annually by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beatrix Havergal</span> British horticulturist

Beatrix Havergal (1901-1980) was an English horticulturist.

<i>Heliopsis helianthoides</i> Species of flowering plant

Heliopsis helianthoides is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, known by the common names rough oxeye, smooth oxeye and false sunflower. It is native to eastern and central North America from Saskatchewan east to Newfoundland and south as far as Texas, New Mexico, and Georgia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Spiller</span> English horticulturist and teacher (1924–2019)

Mary Rose Spiller was an English horticulturist and teacher who devoted her life to the dissemination of successful horticulture, particularly by women, in Britain. She wrote two gardening books: Growing Fruit (1980), and Weeds, Search and Destroy (1985).

The Wild Flower Society is a society for a wide range of flower enthusiasts, from serious botanists to beginners. It arranges field trips and meetings, publishes the Wild Flower Magazine, offers prizes and has a children's section. Most members keep diaries of observations, and may photograph plants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waterperry Gardens</span>

Waterperry Gardens are gardens with a museum in the village of Waterperry, near Wheatley, east of Oxford in Oxfordshire, England.

William Gregor MacKenzie ALS VMH (1904–1995) was a gardener and horticultural curator born in Scotland, where his father was head gardener at Ballimore, near Loch Fyne in Argyllshire.

John Craig Wallace was a horticulturalist and writer. He was Director of Parks for Belfast City Council (1972–1988) and founded the Rose Society of Northern Ireland.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Pamela Schwerdt (Obituary)". The Telegraph. 25 September 2009.
  2. 1 2 3 Lord, Tony (6 October 2009). "Pamela Schwerdt obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 "She led visitors up her gardens' paths". The Sydney Morning Herald. 5 October 2009. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
  4. ↑ "Former Sissinghurst gardener, 78, dies". Horticulture Week. 2 October 2009.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Pamela Schwerdt: horticulturalist". Google Groups. The Times. 25 September 2009. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  6. ↑ "RHS mourns passing of committee stalwart". The Gardeners Corner.
  7. ↑ "RHS honours champions of organic gardening, orchids and community horticulture". Royal Horticultural Society. 29 June 2006. Archived from the original on 1 September 2006.
  8. ↑ Supplement to the London gazette, 16th June 1990, The London Gazette, 16 June 1990, pp. B15
  9. ↑ "The International Carlo Scarpa Prize for Gardens, III Annual Award, 1992". Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche.
  10. ↑ "The Garden House". national Garden Scheme.
  11. ↑ "Renowned gardener died from asbestos exposure, inquest told". Cotswold Journal. 6 August 2010.
  12. ↑ "Horticulturist died from asbestos exposure". Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard. 7 August 2010.
  13. 1 2 "Get the Sissinghurst Look" (PDF), Gardens and Landscapes, p. 9, May 2018
  14. ↑ Gavin McEwan (13 August 2010). "Interview – Alexis Datta, head gardener, Sissinghurst Castle Gardens". Horticulture Week.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.