Graham Stuart Thomas: Graham Stuart Thomas, who has died aged 94, was a deeply knowledgeable horticulturist whose understanding and use of plants shaped many well-known gardens.
As a great rosarian, he brought old roses back from retirement, and his books are still studied avidly.
One of the most influential figures in British gardening, he approached the layout and planting of gardens as an art form, and over seven working decades changed the perception of gardens and plants.
Born in Cambridge into a keen amateur gardening family, his interest in plants began at the age of six when he was given a fuchsia. By eight, he had decided to make gardening his career. After local schooling, he studied at the Cambridge University Botanic Garden.
In addition to becoming well versed in classical horticultural techniques, he kept a diary of his experiences and had the opportunity to raise plants from seeds that had been brought back from plant-hunting expeditions.
In 1931, he became foreman at Hillings 300-acre wholesale nursery near Chobham, Surrey. From there he would cycle to discuss plants, groupings and methods of cultivation with the formidable garden designer Gertrude Jekyll. She instilled in him an interest in the garden as art. He also began to collect old rose species.
In the mid-1940s, Thomas became a partner at the most revered nursery in England, Sunningdale Nurseries. Here he and Jim Russell developed and became known for planting schemes that relied as much on form and foliage texture as on flowers. His invaluable contribution came at a time when he, Russell, Peter Beales and David Austin were promoting the revival of this most-loved yet neglected English plant.
In 1936, Edward Bunyard published Old Garden Roses, a book destined to whet appetites with a wealth of historical background. Thomas furthered people's interest, producing a booklet, The Manual Of Shrub Roses, aimed, he said in his introduction, at"bringing forth these lovely things from retirement".
There followed his famous and encylopaedic trilogy: Old Shrub Roses (1955), Shrub Roses Of Today (1962) and Climbing Roses Old And New (1965), the latter two enhanced by his exact drawings and paintings.
In her foreword to Old Shrub Roses, Vita Sackville-West admired his honesty in saying: "Some of the old roses demand an acquired taste before they can be appreciated as being a far quieter and more subtle thing than the highly coloured hybrid teas, polyanthas and floribundas of the modern garden."
In 1948, when the National Trust acquired its first garden, Thomas began to assist it informally and in 1955, he was appointed gardens adviser to the trust.
He provided lessons in rationalisation while achieving high aesthetic standards. In particular, he laid out the rose garden in the old, walled kitchen garden at Mottisfont Abbey in Hampshire; although a self-deprecating man, he called his design a masterpiece.
In 1970, he produced Plants For Ground Cover, which was followed in 1976 by The Modern Florilegium. Other books followed.
Several plants bear his name, notably the modern rich yellow rose R Graham Thomas, and the vigorous honeysuckle Lonicera periclymenum Graham Thomas. He was honoured by the Royal Horticultural Society with its Veitch Memorial Medal in 1966 and the Victoria Medal of Honour in 1968. He received an OBE in 1975.
A private man, , his other love was music, and he enjoyed singing with a madrigal choir. He never married.
In The Art Of Planting (1984) he wrote: "Whether you look upon gardening as a hobby, a science or an art, the fundamental point returns again and again: that we garden because of the beauty of plants.
Graham Stuart Thomas: born April 3rd, 1909; died April 17th, 2003.