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Extract

Walter Butt (1872-1953)

Born 1872 Butt came from a family of horticulturists. After his marriage he moved to Canada where he ran a fruit farm. He returned to England then fought in the trenches during the First World War. He was a skilled and practical man. A great admirer of the Arts and Crafts Movement, he made several pieces of furniture in that style. A cabinet he built reached a record price at auction and another piece is in Cheltenham Museum.

In 1920 he and his family settled at Hyde Lodge on the side of the Chalford Valley in Gloucestershire. Here Butt set about making a garden. The six-acre site is steep, north facing and in 1920 covered in beech. Butt did not set out to make a garden of rooms such as those at Hidcote or Abbotswood where he was a frequent visitor. Apart from the lawn and some beds around the house he laid out a garden which was described in The Times as the finest tree and shrub garden in the country second only to Kew. Following the ethos of the Art and Crafts Movement Butt cleared the ground almost singlehanded. He built bridges over the stream and winding paths and stone walls working most days from dawn to dusk. He planted his arboretum with rare trees: Magnolias, fern leaf Beech, Katsura, Davidia involucrate, rare Prunus and a Tree of Heaven to name just a few. All were meticulously marked with large incised lead labels. Rhododendrons and Azaleas were accommodated in a peat bed; the peat having been transported by canal and then by horse and cart up the steep valley side. Trees were under planted with rare shrubs and bulbs. The sides of the streams were planted with Rodgersia, bamboo and ferns. A large rockery was home to other treasures. After some time Butt wanted more planting space and bought a piece of woodland on the opposite side of the lane to the house.

Although many of Butts plants came from nurseries (he was said to be Hillier’s best customer) more must have come from his many gardening friends; E. A. Bowles, Lawrence Johnson, Lord Aberconway and Graham Thomas. He received bulbs from Mr Elwes including Galanthus Arnott’s seedling. A generous man, Butt would go out of his way to obtain plants for friends. Learning that a form of snowdrop had died out in Painswick churchyard he managed to obtain and replace it. He and his wife gave and planted two specimen trees on Hyde Common to mark George V’s silver jubilee. They are now sadly over grown and the iron railing that surrounded then broken down. He gave many cuttings to his friend Lord Morley for his arboretum at Westonbirt. Butt’s knowledge and generosity also had an influence on his friends’ gardens. Entries in the garden diary of Viscount Barrington, who gardened at Nether Lypiatt, show that he took inspiration from Butt and his garden at Hyde Lodge.

The onset of World War II meant that there was little prospect of obtaining help in a garden which Butt was finding increasingly difficult to maintain. In 1940 he sold Hyde Lodge and bought Bales Mead in Porlock, Dorset. Bales Mead was near to a great gardening friend, Norman Hadden. The climate of Porlock was milder than the Cotswolds which must have been beneficial to Butt’s health; by this time he had suffered a stroke. However, he filled the third of an acre garden with unusual plants. Needing different conditions for his Rhododendrons he rented a quarter of an acre of woodland. This he cleared himself and by planting these shallowly managed to get them to thrive in ground that had previously been limed. By late 1949 Butt was crippled with arthritis and could no longer manage to garden. E. B. Anderson, another well-known plantsman, was delighted to buy the property with its plant collection.

Butt moved to a flat in Bristol. He continued to visit the R.H.S. shows and lectures in London. Now considered to be the ‘greatest living authority on hardy trees and shrubs’² he gave advice to the botanical gardens at Bristol Zoo whilst the new owners of his old garden at Hyde Lodge also sort him out.

Brigadier and Mrs Mathias bought Hyde Lodge in 1947. The garden was very overgrown, but after some clearing a vast carpet of snowdrops appeared. Herbert Ransom, their gardener, realised how special these were. Mrs Mathias contacted Butt who helped identify them and many other plants in the garden. The Mathias’ displayed their finds at the R.H.S. shows where, over the following years they won many medals. Inspired by the enthusiasm with which their displays were received they formed The Giant Snowdrop Company. The picture on the front page of their catalogue showed the huge carpet of Arnott’s seedling which had multiplied from Butt’s original plantings. (Its name was later changed to Galanthus ‘S. Arnott’ – see the front cover of this Newsletter) It was this company that was the stimulus to today’s interest in snowdrops.

Butt was very knowledgeable about snowdrops. His letters to Mrs Mathias show that he was aware of the latest finds. He writes to her –‘There is a lot of snowdrop lore [that] is going to die with Mr Bowles and perhaps to a lesser degree with me’.³ It would be interesting to hear his opinion on the current snowdrop market as he writes of one nursery ‘7/6 for platyphyllus which increases so fast [it] is just robbery’.⁴ Butt died in October 1953. Although his gardens no longer exist many of his plants and their offshoots live on at Westonbirt and Porlock. Galanthophiles are also grateful that his knowledge of snowdrops did not die with him, as Hyde Lodge inspired the Mathias’ and Herbert Ransom to pass on both bulbs and knowledge.

From the Editor

I aim to produce a newsletter three times a year, in the spring, in the autumn and around New Year. To produce an interesting and varied newsletter. I need articles, photographs, letters, thoughts and suggestionys from members. Please do not be afraid to contribute. We offer a full editorial support service and can cope with most formats, typed, printed, e mail, ‘Word’ and legible handwritings.

Deadline: Submissions for the next newsletter to reach the Editior by the end of December please.

Editor: Jane Bradney, Hill View House, Aston Crews, Ross on Wye, HR9 7LW. 01989 750862, hvhac@aol.com.

Newsletter No 53, Spring 2012

Extract

Walter Butt (1872-1953)

From the Editor

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