Miss Willmott's Ghosts: the extraordinary life and gardens of a forgotten genius

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Liberating” Seeds in Other People’s Gardens Miss Willmott’s ghost, with its appropriately ghostly silver coloration, pops up here and there in some of the world’s best gardens. Photo: www.gardenia.net Ellen Willmott became an influential member of the Royal Horticultural Society, joining it in 1894. Miss Willmott and Gertrude Jekyll were the only two women amongst 58 men to be awarded the RHS Victoria Medal of Honour (VMH) in 1897, the year of its institution to mark Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. Ellen didn’t turn up to collect her prestigious medal, causing a scandal. Some unkind voices said it was because she had a falling out with other members. Miss Willmott’s Ghost looked fabulous for the rest of the summer. She became ghostlier (yet still attractive) with the arrival of autumn, the cones turning into dark seedheads and the bracts and stems fading to almost white. The seeds can be sown indoors from January to April in trays of seed compost and transplanted to 7.5cm individual pots when big enough to handle. Once acclimatized they can be planted out in the garden where you want them to flower. Sow indoors. Surface sow onto moist well-drained seed compost. Just cover with vermiculite. Propagate 18-22°C. for 2-4 weeks. Do not exclude light. Germination can be slow. Seal seed container in a polythene bag and leave for 2 further weeks, then cold stratify. Move to a fridge 4°C for 3-6 weeks. After this return to warmth but no more than 18°C. If germination does not occur within 6-10 weeks return to fridge for further 3-6 weeks. Examine regularly whilst in fridge and immediately remove any seeds which show signs of germination. Move to 8cm pots. Acclimatise and plant out after danger of frost has passed.

Now, more reasoned heads than mine will suggest that it’s most likely I accidentally introduced it through the soil of another plant or that a goldfinch (they loveeryngium seeds!) dropped a seed from another garden, but I like to think that the ghost of Miss Willmott herself planted it as a reminder to let my garden be as natural as possible. Miss Willmott’s Ghost lurks in a rough corner of my garden. It branches like a candelabra, with many metallic heads all dressed in silvery-white bracts, each resembling an Elizabethan ruff. It was at its peak as July ended. But if moonlight falls on them, the silvery white skeletons remain wonderfully spooky. You could, I suppose, buy a plant of Miss Willmott’s ghost, but it makes far more sense to grow it from seed, readily available from many seed companies. Just sow it outdoors in early spring or, better yet, late fall (it needs a bit of a natural cold treatment to sprout well) in a sunny spot and let it do its thing. In year two (or three: in my short-season climate, it tends to act as a triennial), the flowers will go to seed, drop to the ground and take care of planting themselves. Thus, it becomes almost a perennial … but a perennial that pops up here and there, never exactly where you expected it.

Here are pages showing plants growing alongside others

Looking out at the garden, through the kitchen window, the shrub roses are still, in mid-October, blooming in the beds. The morning sky is fine, and the low sun is shining on the lawn. The garden looks tranquil, trouble free. But things are on the turn. By early afternoon, the dark shade that hid in corners and under bushes during summer emerges with preternatural speed and subjugates the garden. Leaves are already changing colour on deciduous trees, shrubs, and climbers. Once storm Babet arrives there will be more leaves on the ground than those remaining on stems and branches. Nature restores herself. Fallen leaves return fertility to the soil, rotting down, ready to feed next year’s growth.

a b c d e f g h i j k Le Lièvre, Audrey (2004). "Willmott, Ellen Ann (1858–1934)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (onlineed.). Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/ref:odnb/48838 . Retrieved 12 April 2010. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) Willmott, Miss Ellen Ann (MHS Objects associated with: IRN 2415)". Museum of the History of Science . Retrieved 28 October 2019. The latest species added to the Seeds List: Eryngium giganteum, better known as Miss Willmott’s ghost (this is the common name, NOT a cultivar name). Ellen Willmott (1858 – 1934) was an English heiress who became the leading plantswoman of her generation. It is claimed that Miss Willmott grew over 100, 000 different varieties of plants at her estates, the principal one being Warley Place in Essex.For those in zone 6 and below, at this time I recommend to follow the advice from “Practical considerations for sowing in late fall –winter” (I changed the title from “sowing in the winter”).

It was well worth the wait. In fact, from spring to autumn, Miss Willmott’s Ghost had me captivated. Heavily veined green leaves emerged in November. Then the first flower cone appeared. Over the next month, stems powered out of the ground and branched out, forming a plant of about 90cm by 90cm. By this point, the bracts and cones had developed a newly-minted silveriness. Sadly, the performance is coming to an end and Miss Willmott’s Ghost will leave the stage. I’ve yet to work out how to replace her. Any suggestions? To learn more about the obsessive and brilliant Ellen Willmott I highly recommend Sandra Lawrence’s wonderful book, ‘ Miss Willmott’s Ghost: the extraordinary life and gardens of a forgotten genius’. Publisher: Manilla.

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In addition to her career in horticulture, Willmott also had other, lesser known accomplishments in particular photography and ornamental turning. [3] In 1932, Willmost presented her Holtzapffel lathe, some examples of her ornamental turning work, and a number of photographs and slides of horticultural subjects to the History of Science Museum, Oxford. [21] Later life [ edit ]

And since it self-sowed and long survived her, it eventually become known as Miss Willmott’s ghost. Ellen Ann Willmott FLS VMH (19 August 1858 – 27 September 1934) [1] was an English horticulturist. She was an influential member of the Royal Horticultural Society, and a recipient of the first Victoria Medal of Honour, awarded to British horticulturists living in the UK by the society, in 1897. Willmott was said to have cultivated more than 100,000 species and cultivars of plants and sponsored expeditions to discover new species. [2] Inherited wealth allowed Willmott to buy large gardens in France and Italy to add to the garden at her home, Warley Place in Essex. [3] More than 60 plants have been named after her or her home, Warley Place. [4] Early life [ edit ] Man-made gorge at Warley PlaceWillmott’s prodigious spending during her lifetime caused financial difficulties in later life, forcing her to sell her French and Italian properties, and eventually her personal possessions. [2] She became increasingly eccentric and paranoid: she booby-trapped her estate to deter thieves, and carried a revolver in her handbag. [9] [3] Willmott was arrested on suspicion of shoplifting in 1928, although later acquitted. [22] Willmott was one of only two women, alongside Gertrude Jekyll, to receive the Victoria Medal of Honour in 1897 (newly instituted that year for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee). [2] In 1904 she became one of the first women to be elected a fellow of the Linnean Society of London. She also received the grande médaille Geoffroi St Hilaire from the Société d’acclimatation de France in 1912, and the Dean Hole medal from the Royal National Rose Society in 1914. [1] Stunning in the garden on a summer’s day, the plant is even more impressive on a moonlit night, when flowers give off what can only be described as a ghostly glow. Miss Wilmott’s ghost indeed! A definite star for your moon garden! When I returned home, in a rush of excitement to obtain the plant for my garden, I bought some seeds. I knew already that Miss Willmott’s Ghost was a biennial and wouldn’t flower before its second growing season. It was the first time I’d had to chill seeds in the fridge, though, to break their dormancy. That took some explaining to my family.