About Stephen Griffith
I have been the Horticultural manager/Curator for Abbotsbury SubTropical Gardens since taking over after massive storm damage back in 1990. The gardens trustees wanted a fresh new 10 year development plan to revive this historic yet overgrown and neglected garden, to improve the plant content, infrastructure, interpretation and tourism aspects – Prior to Abbotsbury I have been designing and restoring landscapes and gardens in diverse places such as Saudi Arabia, South of France, Sark C.I, Cotswolds and the New Forest. I also lead garden tours world wide, write articles and the odd book. Professional bodies – I am a member of the RHS woody plant committee, M.I Hort, International Camellia Society.
Did you know The Secret Garden was filmed at Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens?
A new film adaptation of The Secret Garden, starring Colin Firth and Julie Walters has landed in UK Cinemas and on Sky Cinema - and Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens is one of the stunning garden locations! Based on the 1911 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, the story follows a young orphan girl,…
The Plant Centre is open again!
Now our Plant Centre is open again, we've got an excellent stock of some of the rarer plants everyone associates with Abbotsbury Gardens. We’ve been busy looking after our plants during the lockdown and have masses of even bigger and better plants ready to go. If you’ve looked at our images…
Tools of the trade
I couldn’t believe it when I looked at my blog page, it was last updated over a year ago so it's about time I put down some thoughts. I have been caught up in the a tendency to use the quick fix in social media by quickly downloading a picture…
A challenging spring and summer
Everyone involved with managing a garden with important botanical collections across the country can vouch that this last winter was a tricky one. I’ve heard of major plant loss in several historic gardens because of the unpredictable late winter and intensity of cold that penetrated the stems of woody plants…