Lost friend - "KentGardener" is no more

[Brian Ellis]

Thanks Emma, Jennie et al, good to see the forum was well represented so far South!  We never got to see the dancing!  Obviously the apple didn't fall far from the tree gardening wise, and good to know the fish are safely rehomed. He touched so many lives and will always be remembered.

[Alan_b]

This picture is from the front cover of the Order of Service at John's funeral; I'm sure his family will not mind me posting it here.


Something else people may wish to know:

"Donations if desired, to the British Heart Foundation in John's memory may be sent to the Funeral Directors:

Arthur C Towners Ltd., 1 Albert Road, Bexhill-on-Sea, TN40 1DG"

As Emma & Jennie have stated and shown, the snowdrop community was well-represented at John's funeral.  I think his family appreciated this, indicating, as it did, how treasured he was.

Earlier this year I went on a snowdrop trip and then created a blog about it.  Earlier this week I was sending out snowdrop bulbs as gifts to a few of my friends.  I hadn't realised until I thought about it recently but these were both good ideas/practices that I picked-up from John.       

[partisangardener]

Sad news.
I have never met him, only got some snowdrops from this generous man.
Such great gardeners wont last, as we all do, but their influence will grow beyond their lives.

[emma T]

I showed my mum the photo of us at johns parents house and she said we all look slimmer without all our winter layers and woolly hats on .

[RichardW]

Very shocked when I found out this morning, he was always great fun to be around & when he came to the mini meets here arrived with boxes of stuff to give away. a kind & generous soul, RIP.

[Maggi Young]

Gert-Jan van der Kolk, who was working with John to distribute some of his plants, has continued to help get  John's precious plants out to those who will know how to grow and treasure them.  John' parents, John and Elsie, have sent this message via Gert-Jan......

"Will you please pass on our sincere thanks to all on the Internet and in person who made our pain a little less. Thank you all."

Thank goodness our good wishes to John's family have at least made things even a little easier for them at this very sad time.

[Maggi Young]

Direct from John and Elsie Finch:
" Will you please pass on our sincere grateful thanks to the members of The Scottish Rock Garden Club who attended, had John in their thoughts, could not attend and/or posted words that comforted us and helped to ease our pain."

It is good to know that we have been able in some small way to help  John's family and loved ones at this time.

[Anthonyh]

Embarrassingly, I've only just seen this... I was away with little internet for a large chunk of June. Rather shocked. I only got to know him a little, but he was one of the first forumists I met at a London show years ago... a really nice chap. Glad some of you were able to attend the service, and that his family knew how many people liked him.

[sam123]

Hi, my name is Sam & I found this forum while looking for more information about John. I recently bought the house he lived in, & I just wanted to pop by and show you the snowdrops that have started coming through in the garden. Hopefully there will be more soon, but I’m not sure how many he had actually in the ground rather than pots.

 (edit by maggi to rotate the photos)

[Ian Y]

Hi Sam, welcome to the forum.
John was a popular member of the forum and a dear friend who is sadly missed it will be good to see his beloved snowdrops thriving in your hands, thanks for sharing them here.

[Maggi Young]

Welcome Sam - as Ian says, it's good to know  John's garden is in the hands of someone with an interest in plants.
 John was a great guy and is often in our thoughts.
( I rotated the photos for you -  sometimes the  upload returns them to the  original orientation of the camera )

[sam123]

Thank you both, and thanks for rotating the pictures!
I really want the garden to be lovely, it's very overgrown at the moment as you can probably imagine, I moved in in November and what with doing the house up, I haven't really had a chance to go out there. My nan is a very keen gardener, so when the weather starts to perk up a bit we'll get started on it. I loved seeing the photos in this thread of how the garden used to look, it's actually quite similar to what I was envisioning for it. Will keep you updated with John's flowers

[Alan_b]

Hi Sam; welcome.  John's garden had an unusual combination of snowdrops and other winter flowers combined with tropical-looking plants that provided the summer interest.  If some of these hardy tropicals have survived you will some really interesting things next summer.

Your first picture shows a clump of Galanthus elwesii.  I'm sure they will be a named cultivar but I cannot tell which; post a picture of the flowers when they are open.  I believe John's aunt took a lot of the potted snowdrops in John's collection but I bet you'll still find some treasures that were left behind.   

[Ding Dong]

So lovely to see those pictures and to know they are in your safe hands Sam - John was a lovely man

[Chad]

Sam,

As spring moves into summer John's 'tropical' interests will show through.

He posted on Hardy Tropicals and a bit on GOTE for those interests.

He is sadly missed by the 'Tropical' clan as well.

Chad.