LILIES - RHS Lily Group

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Mrs D.A. Martyn Simmons Richard Dadd writes in appreciation of our late President, Mrs D.A. Martyn Simmons, who was an inspiration and driving force within the Lily Group for more than 30 years. RS D.A. MARTYN SIMMONS, who died at home on 17 November 2004 at the age Mof 92, was one of the most outstanding lily growers in England during the second half of the last century. She joined the Lily Group Committee in 1963; was its Chairman from 1982 to 1990, and 1994 to 1995; and thereafter became President. She also served on RHS Floral Committee B (whose main remit was trees and shrubs) from 1965 to 1997. Her name will forever be associated with Quarry Wood, the large woodland garden in Burghclere where she cultivated lilies and many other plants from 1954 until her death. Mrs Simmons – Dee to all her friends – was born Daisy Adeline Halpin (her given names not always spelt thus) on 23 October 1912 in Janesboro, Co. Limerick (now in the Republic of Ireland) where her father was an engineer. She spent her childhood in Ireland where she acquired an interest in plants from her mother, but later moved with her family to the Southampton area. In 1939 she married Martyn Alan Simmons, a miller and engineer. By the early 1950s Mr and Mrs Simmons were living near Newbury in Berkshire, but looking for a larger property. They found Quarry Wood, a large house and woodland garden of 15 acres, on the road to Winchester a few miles south of Newbury but just across the border in Hampshire. It had come onto the market following the sudden death of its owner, Walter Bentley, in April 1953. He had been a keen lily grower and one of the founder members of the Lily Group in 1933. When he acquired Quarry Wood in 1934 it consisted ‘largely of an expanse of unkempt, rough grass, drifts of bracken and scarcely controlled weeds. It was bounded on east, west and south by neglected woodland, overrun with brambles and tangled undergrowth.’ In 19 years Mr Bentley had transformed this wilderness and planted magnolias, rhododendrons and many other trees and shrubs to create a haven for the rare species lilies that interested him. But nature is always keen to reassert herself, and with the property standing empty and neglected for over a year, and proving difficult to sell, it was going downhill. When Mr and Mrs Simmons purchased Quarry Wood in 1954 they were comparative novices, and had not quite realized what they were taking on. These difficulties were compounded by a series of bizarre events recounted by Anthony Hayward in ‘A Garden called Quarry Wood’ (Lilies & Related Plants, 1992-1993, pp. 133-138). The only ray of sunshine at this time was the arrival of west countryman Maurice Woodgates to take up the post of gardener. The subsequent 5
Dee Simmons and her husband Martyn admiring an acer in the garden at Quarry Wood. partnership of Mrs Simmons and Mr Woodgates turned out to be a winning one: the garden once more became celebrated for its lilies, and Woodgates remained at Quarry Wood for the rest of his working life. Over the years Dee transformed herself from a beginner to an acclaimed expert: so much so that in 1963 she was fêted by the North American Lily Society (NALS) when she made a coast-to-coast trip in the USA. As well as taking in the 6
Page 1 and 2: LILIES and Related Plants 75 TH ANN
Page 3 and 4: Lilies and Related Plants Published
Page 5 and 6: Royal Horticultural Society Lily Gr
Page 7 and 8: Contents Alisdair Aird by Harris Ho
Page 9 and 10: Gennady Firsov, PhD, is Senior Rese
Page 11: the Lyttel Cup. When I mentioned th
Page 15 and 16: But, now that she is gone, how shou
Page 17 and 18: Lilium dauricum at Hamatonbetsu on
Page 19 and 20: Above left, Lilium callosum var. fl
Page 21 and 22: var. abeanum is a case in point, or
Page 23 and 24: Two of Derek Fox’s lily cultivars
Page 25 and 26: 18 The lilies of Greece Arne Strid
Page 27 and 28: The five lilies of Greece. A: Liliu
Page 29 and 30: The natural distribution of Lilium
Page 31 and 32: Right, Lilium chalcedonicum, indivi
Page 33 and 34: gracefully curved, bright lemon yel
Page 35 and 36: 28 A brief history of the RHS Lily
Page 37 and 38: Greece . . . . . . . . . . S.C. Atc
Page 39 and 40: initiate a programme of chromosone
Page 41 and 42: Faced with this continuing situatio
Page 43 and 44: Hence this review… We are extreme
Page 45 and 46: TITLE AUTHOR PUBLISHER Consider the
Page 47 and 48: TITLE AUTHOR PUBLISHER Lilies Derek
Page 49 and 50: well established. Therefore almost
Page 51 and 52: growing plants in a climate that ha
Page 53 and 54: Lily Year Books The Year Books of o
Page 55 and 56: Institute became more and more conc
Page 57 and 58: Above left, ‘Descant’, Top righ
Page 59 and 60: visitors at New Mill, often summone
Page 61 and 62: A group of North Hybrids sent to Br
Page 63 and 64:
56 Dr A.F. Hayward (1933-2006) Dr T
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Lily ‘Connecticut King’, the cu
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Lilium regale and asiatic hybrids f
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European and Middle Eastern lilies
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A group of asiatic hybrids and two
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growing in half shade, so I have no
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68 Alisdair Aird Harris Howland wri
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70 On the road in search of lilies
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Mount Shasta, rising to 14,162ft wa
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iver whose broad meanders we had cr
Page 83:
76 North American Pacific Coast lil
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somewhat decadent, in that we parke
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Left, Erythronium multiscapoideum f
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or Cliftonii Group in gardening cir
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Above, Erythronium propullans. The
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Trumpet lilies Walter Erhardt write
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Two beautiful trumpet hybrids. Abov
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Commercial lily production in tunne
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Table 2: Perth Long-term Averages J
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We also use a combination of cow ma
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Table 3: Lilium Varieties continued
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for making of barragons, a genteel
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ulbs soon. I have seen this lily gr
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suggestion that White grew or certa
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Geographic location The territory o
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Left, Fritillaria ruthenica growing
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Threatened species As a result of o
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Tulipa biebersteiniana in the Fomin
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ees and butterflies in the air, and
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Above, a large population of gladio
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glades at places Berezniki (environ
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Dubrava, in upland oakwoods, alder
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villages. These include Scilla sibi
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The International Lily Registrar Ka
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of Wester Ross beyond an ever-chang
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Allium angulosum 114 decipiens 114
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(Lilium) ‘Prunotto’ 96 pseudoti
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LILIES - RHS Lily Group

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