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.
Abbotsbury Gardens 250 years old in 2015
It’s the end of the year and what a busy year it has been. The gardens have achieved remarkable longevity as they are 250 years old this year and they are still managed by the same family many generations later. We celebrated by holding events in the garden throughout the…
Garden updates
The year 2015 corresponds near enough to the 250th year that the walled garden at Abbotsbury was conceived. It was built for Elizabeth Fox Strangways, the 1st Countess of Ilchester, primarily as a sheltered kitchen garden where espaliered fruit trees were grown on the walls and vegetables were harvested for…
May 2015
Firstly apologies for the delay in writing another Blog entry - spring is our busiest time for plant production and the combination of two weeks of hot weather followed by a return to cold nights has kept us fully occupied potting, watering and moving plants in and out of polytunnels…
Inspirational spring plants and Garden development
At last spring is well under way with the woodland valley full of bursting Magnolias and vibrant Camellias, Daphnes, Corylopsis, and the waxy beaded flowers of Stachyrus chinensis. I had a walk around the garden with fellow plantsmen and passionate gardeners Jim Gardiner and Roy Lancaster on a chilly…