Mr.
Bowles according to Hadfield, was England's "last
great modern gardener." He was an English gentlemen of
Huguenot ancestry and of the highest culture and
intelligence. He lived in a typical old family house
and grounds, Mydelleton House, Enfield. The estate
comprised of old trees, a quarry turned into a pond
and frontage on the New River which in the early years
of the 17th Century was a source of water for London.
Bowles became interested in gardening through Canon
Ellacombe. Family bereavements made it necessary for
him to stay at home and he devoted his time to natural
history, particularly entomology. Finally, his garden,
horticultural writing and his long connections with
the Royal Horticultural Society made him extremely
well known and influential in English garden history.
He brought many plants from abroad. He traveled widely
frequently with Reginald Farrer.
During 1914 and 1915 he published his first three
books:
My Garden in Spring
My Garden in Summer
My Garden in Winter
The objectives of these books was to show the
pleasure which could be obtained from a garden planned
with much diversity. He stated later in his life that
within his 5 acres he had experimented with most
plants which appeared in lots marked "new" or "rare."
He tried each of them three times in different
positions. Hadfield states that "no other trilogy of
garden books combine so much practical sense, wide
learning and relevant ancedote".
He was much interested in hardy cycamens, anemones,
snowdrops and iris. When I was taken to see his garden
in late 1932 he told me that he was much interested in
species of Allium.
He also published Handbook of Crocus and
Colchicum (1924) and Handbook of Narcissus
(1934). The book on Crocus was of outstanding and
excellence.
He presided over Royal Horticultural Society
Committees until a few weeks before his death. His
garden now belongs to the University of London.
Hadfield concludes his discussion by pointing out that
he was "a link between the lively figures of the late
Victorian Age and the world that followed what he
called 'Hitler's War'."
