Gardening guru Percy Thrower set out to impress – and he did
He was the man who made post-war Shropshire come up smelling of roses, who transformed the image of gardening and helped bring the craft to a vastly wider audience... and is possibly the only television gardener in the world to have been shot.
Percy Thrower, the father of the TV gardening genre, would have celebrated his 100th birthday today. With his trademark pipe and avuncular manner, he was familiar to generations of viewers and radio listeners, gently sharing his expertise and proferring his advice. Born in Buckinghamshire on January 30, 1913, Percy died in 1988 aged 75.
When Shrewsbury landed him at the beginning of 1946 to become the town's parks superintendent it was one gem of a catch.
The town's open spaces had become tired or "dug for victory" and the 32-year-old, with an impeccable green-fingered pedigree including experience in the royal gardens at Windsor, faced the challenge of revitalising them with energy, vision, and ambition.
One of his first tasks was overseeing the controversial felling of the lime trees in The Quarry, which had become old and potentially dangerous – indeed, a child had been killed by a falling tree some years before.
Percy set out to impress, and did. He found 50 old fuchsias in the greenhouses and got them going quickly and took cuttings, new cuttings from the tips of the first rootings, and then he rooted the sideshoots.
"By planting-out time I had more than 5,000 fuchsia plants and they made a wonderful display for a very low cost," he was to recall.
His floral talents caught the eye of a radio commentator and it was not long before Percy was on the air, where he proved a natural. Then along came television, and things really took off for him.
But were Percy alive today, what would he think as he looked around the county town?
According to eldest daughter Margaret Thrower, there have been changes to the way of doing things that would not be to his taste.
"I don't think he would have liked to have worked under the present type of government, how can I put that, the way the parks department is run at the moment. Like any other job there is so much paperwork involved now, and he was definitely not an office or paperwork person. He liked to be out doing the jobs. He would have found the present system very restricting."
On the other hand, there would be much to please him.
"You just have to look at The Dingle to see that his work has been carried on superbly and is a real credit to everyone involved in keeping it up to the standard it is. The Castle gardens, with which he was involved, are absolutely superb. A lot of the work he was doing and had done is still going on."
Apart from his visible floral legacy, Percy left a less visible legacy. For while there are things for which he is given credit – his much admired masterpiece was The Dingle, and children across Britain got to know him through his creation of the Blue Peter garden – there are other things for which his contribution is less well known, or forgotten as memories fade.
In 1970 the Shrewsbury Flower Show was a disaster. Washed out by torrential rain in the worst weather to have hit if for 50 years, it precipitated a financial crisis. There was a serious possibility that the show would itself be washed away for good.
Shropshire Horticultural Society, which had been struggling against the impact of an entertainments tax affecting outdoor events which came in the mid-1960s, was brought to its knees by debt. Percy stuck his neck out financially to save the show.
"Dad was the horticultural side of the show, and Doug Whittingham was the financial side. He and Doug stood as financial guarantors – they stepped in and acted as security for the show – and if the next show had not been a success, they would have both been bankrupt," said Margaret.
Happily, their faith was rewarded and the next show made a profit.
Percy's influence also extended internationally and he was a central figure in a project in which Shropshire held out the hand of friendship to the ruined German capital of Berlin in the years following the war.
Around the spring of 1951 he travelled to the divided city to design and develop a garden on behalf of Shropshire Horticultural Society.
It was created in the Tiergarten area using trees, shrubs, and other plants generously given by Salopians. Still enjoyed by a modern generation of Germans, it is known as the English Garden.
Percy retired as Shrewsbury's parks superintendent in 1974 and Salopians today can appreciate his enduring legacy.
As for that shooting... that was in November 1980, when Percy was accidentally shot in the face during a pheasant shoot at Eyton, near Wellington. He was taken to hospital with pellet wounds, but was not seriously hurt. The person who shot him was not identified.
"Dad was a very low-key character," said Margaret. "He loved his garden, he loved plants, he loved entertaining and he loved talking to people. He was a very sociable guy.
"He would have appreciated it, but never have thought that so long after his death his name would keep coming to the fore as it does. I find it incredible people still remember him with such fondness."
Toby Neal
