British gardener, best remembered for plants named for her, such as Ceratostigma willmottianum (sometimes called Chinese plumbago), Potentilla nepalensis 'Miss Willmott' and Syringa vulgaris 'Miss Ellen Willmott'. She helped her mother to design and plant a formal garden before embarking, in 1882, on a daring venture of her own, involving the construction of a rock-strewn ravine, so that she could plant alpines in something resembling their native habitat. Her independent income was sufficient to enable her to subsidise the excursions of plant-hunters who, as well as bringing her plants, repaid her by naming some of the species they discovered after her. Miss Willmott's career as an amateur horticulturalist prospered. She was elected to the Narcissus committee of the Royal Horiculture Society (RHS) in 1897, and was awarded the Medal of Honour in 1907. In 1910 was published her study The Genus Rosa. She never married and instead bought properties in France and Italy, and built gardens there, so that at one time she had more than 100 gardeners on her pay-roll. Her legacy is the plants that she introduced, including the Eryngium giganteum that is still called "Miss Willmott's Ghost". She had over 60 plants named after her or her home Warley Place, near Brentwood in Essex.
British gardener, best remembered for plants named for her, such as Ceratostigma willmottianum (sometimes called Chinese plumbago), Potentilla nepalensis 'Miss Willmott' and Syringa vulgaris 'Miss Ellen Willmott'. She helped her mother to design and plant a formal garden before embarking, in 1882, on a daring venture of her own, involving the construction of a rock-strewn ravine, so that she could plant alpines in something resembling their native habitat. Her independent income was sufficient to enable her to subsidise the excursions of plant-hunters who, as well as bringing her plants, repaid her by naming some of the species they discovered after her. Miss Willmott's career as an amateur horticulturalist prospered. She was elected to the Narcissus committee of the Royal Horiculture Society (RHS) in 1897, and was awarded the Medal of Honour in 1907. In 1910 was published her study The Genus Rosa. She never married and instead bought properties in France and Italy, and built gardens there, so that at one time she had more than 100 gardeners on her pay-roll. Her legacy is the plants that she introduced, including the Eryngium giganteum that is still called "Miss Willmott's Ghost". She had over 60 plants named after her or her home Warley Place, near Brentwood in Essex.
Bio by: julia&keld
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See more Willmott memorials in:
Records on Ancestry
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