Ellen Willmott, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Ellen Willmott

English horticulturist

Date of Birth: 19-Aug-1858

Place of Birth: Heston, England, United Kingdom

Date of Death: 27-Sep-1934

Profession: gardener, botanist

Nationality: United Kingdom

Zodiac Sign: Leo

Ellen Ann Willmott (19 August 1858 – 27 September 1934) 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.
Inherited wealth allowed Willmott to buy large gardens in France and Italy to add to the garden at her home, Warley Place in Essex.
More than 60 plants have been named after her or her home, Warley Place.Having spent her considerable fortune on horticultural projects, employing up to a hundred gardeners (men only), Willmott died penniless.
Her headstrong and impetuous nature turned increasingly towards eccentricity as she aged.
Among her eccentricities were secretly planting seeds of the giant prickly thistle Eryngium giganteum (now known as 'Miss Willmott's Ghost') in the gardens of fellow horticulturalists and carrying a revolver in her handbag.