I was extremely fortunate to know Will. He was a kind, creative, generous, humorous and potty mouthed chap, passionate about growing all kinds of weird and wonderful plants from his personal centre of the universe in the heart of Norwich. He was world renowned for his love of exotic gardening, influencing the style of gardening sub tropical plants in temperate climates. His books, botanical illustrations, newspaper columns as well regular radio work kept him busy the rest of the time.
Will never claimed to be good at anything (other than knowing every single episode of Star Trek) and the extent of his horticultural knowledge and his real personality was often hidden behind a myriad of floral shirts and an effervescent persona. His extravagant gardening style was (and still will be) an inspiration to many thousands of people around the globe.
My most enduring and fond memory of Will was his unique and quite addictive skill for re-arranging complex latin plant names into ‘suspect’ alternatives combined with ‘floral’ language. I often discover when attempting to remember a plant name, Will’s ‘suspect’ renaming has replaced all memory of the original. Trachycarpus = Attractive Car Parts.
Over our 15 years of friendship I fortunately collected a series of formal and informal portraits, which have become incredibly important to me. I hope you get a glimpse of his eccentric life from this series. He was an incredible guy and I miss him dearly.
Will died on September 2nd 2015, aged 64.
Thanks for all you taught me Will.
