Marnock in Canada

HorticultureDesign Style
Written By Jill Sinclair

In 1868 Marnock designed a formal rose garden at Warwick Castle for the fourth Earl, with box-edged geometric beds and cast iron pillar rose supports, set into panels of lawn with geometric gravel paths.

Restored in the 1980s and re-opened by Princess Diana, the rose garden was controversially removed in 2016 and replaced with a themed children’s maze.

The rose garden at Warwick Castle. Photograph (c) Kay Keeton.

But the design lives on in Canada, through a copy made by David Lam, British Columbia’s first Asian-Canadian lieutenant-governor, and a great garden-lover and philanthropist. Lam and his wife Dorothy contributed towards the cost of refurbishing the 36-acre gardens at Vancouver’s Government House. Carried out in the early 1990s, the work included the creation of a Victorian Rose Garden copied from Marnock’s design at Warwick Castle.

Thanks to Marnock researcher Kay Keeton for alerting us to the Canadian garden, and supplying the photos for this article.

The Victorian Rose Garden at Government House, Vancouver. Photographs (c) Kay Keeton.

You might also like

Featured
Marnock-Themed Plant Tour
Marnock-Themed Plant Tour

Chris Beevers of the Yorkshire Gardens Trust reports on a guided tour of plants used by Marnock.

Plant Histories 3
Plant Histories 3

Tracing the story of how one of the conifers planted by Marnock came into cultivation in Britain.

Sheffield Marnock Trail
Sheffield Marnock Trail

The Sheffield Marnock Trail! Take this audio trail through Marnock sites in Sheffield.

Marnock’s Plantation
Marnock’s Plantation

Many thanks to Paul Rabbitts for these photos of conifers planted by Marnock in Leighton Buzzard over 150 years ago.

Plant Histories 2
Plant Histories 2

Marnock used many exotic horticultural species in his designs. Garden historian Jill Sinclair traces the history of one of them.

Marnock in Canada
Marnock in Canada

Marnock researcher Kay Keeton has alerted us to a Canadian garden that is a copy of a lost Marnock design.

Plant Histories
Plant Histories

Students Hannah Baber and Robert Curtis, both at the University of Sheffield, have been researching the history of plants that Marnock used in Sheffield Botanical Gardens.

The Hackney Nursery
The Hackney Nursery

Find out about the nursery that Marnock ran in east London for several years.

Rosa ‘Robert Marnock’
Rosa ‘Robert Marnock’

Marnock researcher Kay Keeton has investigated a rose named after Marnock that featured in the gardening press from the 1870s.

Marnock’s Maxims
Marnock’s Maxims

Read some of Marnock’s design principles and, thanks to researcher Marion Shawcross, learn about Mungo Temple, the fellow gardener who had them published as ‘Marnock’s Maxims.’

Marnock’s Style of Landscape Design
Marnock’s Style of Landscape Design

Marnock expert Dr Jan Woudstra explains some of the distinguishing features of his style.

Jill Sinclair
Previous

Marnock’s Philanthropy
Next

The Marnoch Family