Francis Higginson Cabot, (August 6, 1925 – November 19, 2011) was an American financier,

gardener A gardener is someone who practices gardening, either professionally or as a hobby. Description A gardener is any person involved in gardening, arguably the oldest occupation, from the hobbyist in a residential garden, the home-owner suppleme ...

and

horticulturist Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

. He founded

The Garden Conservancy The Garden Conservancy is an American nonprofit organization whose mission is to preserve, share, and celebrate America's gardens and diverse gardening traditions for the education and inspiration of the public. Founded in 1989, by Frank Cabot, ...

in 1989.

Early life

He was a member of the New York branch of the prominent

Cabot family The Cabot family was part of the Boston Brahmin, also known as the "first families of Boston". History Family origin The Boston Brahmin Cabot family descended from John Cabot (born 1680 in Jersey, a British Crown Dependencies and one of the C ...

. After WWII service in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

(when he saw Japanese gardens for the first time), Cabot graduated in 1949 from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

, where he was active in

Hasty Pudding Theatricals The Hasty Pudding Theatricals, known informally simply as The Pudding, is a theatrical student society at Harvard University, known for its burlesque crossdressing musicals. The Hasty Pudding is the oldest theatrical organization in the United Sta ...

and was one of the four founders of the ''

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

'' singing group, the

Harvard Krokodiloes The Harvard Krokodiloes ("The Kroks") are Harvard University's oldest '' a cappella'' singing group, founded in 1946. The group consists of twelve tuxedo-clad undergraduates, and they sing songs from the Great American Songbook and beyond. The ...

.Notable Alumni of the Harvard Krokodiloes
.

Career

After college, he began constructing a garden on private property in

Cold Spring, New York Cold Spring is a village in the town of Philipstown in Putnam County, New York, United States. The population was 1,986 at the 2020 census. It borders the smaller village of Nelsonville and the hamlets of Garrison and North Highlands. The cen ...

, above the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

, beginning a lifelong passion for

horticulture Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

. Cabot was appointed chairman of the

New York Botanical Garden The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) is a botanical garden at Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York City. Established in 1891, it is located on a site that contains a landscape with over one million living plants; the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, ...

in the Bronx from 1973 to 1976. In 1989, he founded the nonprofit

Garden Conservancy The Garden Conservancy is an American nonprofit organization whose mission is to preserve, share, and celebrate America's gardens and diverse gardening traditions for the education and inspiration of the public. Founded in 1989, by Frank Cabot, ...

,Website of the Garden Conservancy.
after noting that two-thirds of America's great gardens had been destroyed by development. The Conservancy began with "four acres of giant cactuses, succulents and native species" in

Walnut Creek, California Walnut Creek is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States, located in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, about east of the city of Oakland. With a total population of 70,127 per the 2020 census, Walnut Creek ser ...

, the life's work of gardener

Ruth Bancroft Ruth Bancroft ( Petersson; September 2, 1908 – November 26, 2017) was the creator of the Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, California. A native of the Bay Area, Bancroft began the xeric garden in the 1950s on land originally purchased by ...

. The organization's Open Days program has opened more than three hundred private gardens to the public throughout the United States Spiegel, Meryl. "Enjoying Pleasures of Special Gardens." ''The New York Times'', 1997-07-13, New York and Region section.
/ref> and has been active in the preservation of seventeen important private gardens for posterity, including the rehabilitation of the gardens at

Alcatraz Alcatraz Island () is a small island in San Francisco Bay, offshore from San Francisco, California, United States. The island was developed in the mid-19th century with facilities for a lighthouse, a military fortification, and a military pris ...

.Garden Conservancy Webpage for the Alcatraz Historic Gardens Project.
Cabot became renowned for his personal gardens around the world. His garden in Cold Spring, known as Stonecrop Gardens, was opened to the public in 1992 and is now one of the premier public gardens in the United States, encompassing sixty-three acres. Its components were influenced and improved in the 1980s by horticulturist Caroline Burgess, who became the garden's director, having previously worked with legendary English gardener

Rosemary Verey Rosemary Verey, (21 December 1918 in Chatham, Kent – 31 May 2001 in Cheltenham) was an internationally known English garden designer, lecturer and garden writer who designed the notable garden at Barnsley House, near Cirencester in Glouc ...

. Cabot's private garden in the

Charlevoix Charlevoix ( , ) is a cultural and natural region in Quebec, on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River as well as in the Laurentian Mountains area of the Canadian Shield. This dramatic landscape includes rolling terrain, fjords, headlands ...

region of

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

covers more than and is called Les Quatre Vents. He is credited with introducing a number of plants and grasses to North America, including Japanese blood grass. Les Quatre Vents has thematics fields like "Le lac Libellule", "le Pavillon japonnais de méditation", "le Pigeonnier", "le pont chinois de lune", "le kiosque à musique", "le potager" and more. In 2001, he wrote the book ''The Greater Perfection: The Story of the Gardens at Les Quatre Vents'', which was the recipient of the 2003 Annual Literature Award of the Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries and which the ''Oxford Companion to Gardens'' referred to as "one of the best books ever written about the making of a garden by its creator." Cabot was also very involved in the preservation of old mills. Heritage Charlevoix, his foundation, bought "Le Moulin La Rémi" in Baie-Saint-Paul, also in Charlevoix. He invested money to rebuild this building.

Personal life

In 1949, Cabot married Anne Perkins. They had three children: Colin Cabot, Currie Cabot, and Marianne Cabot. Their Stonecrop Gardens became a public garden in 1992. In 2000, Cabot was made a Chevalier of the

National Order of Quebec The National Order of Quebec, termed officially in French as ''l'Ordre national du Québec'', and in English abbreviation as the Order of Quebec, is an order of merit in the Canadian province of Quebec. Instituted in 1984 when Lieutenant Gove ...

. He was awarded the

Veitch Memorial Medal The Veitch Memorial Medal is an international prize issued annually by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). Goal The prize is awarded to "persons of any nationality who have made an outstanding contribution to the advancement and improvement o ...

of the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nort ...

in 2002. In 2005, he was made an honorary Member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

.Governal General site announcing Cabot's C.M.

Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library is an American estate and museum in Winterthur, Delaware. Pronounced “winter-tour," Winterthur houses one of the richest collections of Americana in the United States. The museum and estate were the home of ...

awarded him the Henry Francis du Pont Award in 2003. Shortly before his death, Cabot was interviewed at length for the documentary film ''The Gardener'' by Sebastien Chabot (2016), explaining his philosophy of gardens and the history of his own garden. Cabot died of

idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), or (formerly) fibrosing alveolitis, is a rare, progressive illness of the respiratory system, characterized by the thickening and stiffening of lung tissue, associated with the formation of scar tissue. It is ...

at his summer home in

La Malbaie La Malbaie is a municipality in the Charlevoix-Est Regional County Municipality in the Province of Quebec, Canada, situated on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River at the mouth of the Malbaie River. It was formerly known as Murray Bay. La Ma ...

, Quebec, on November 19, 2011. He was 86.

References

External links

Governal General site announcing his C.M.Garden Week article

Geni: Francis H. Cabot IIIGeni: Francis H. Cabot Jr.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cabot, Francis 1925 births 2011 deaths People from New York City Harvard College alumni Canadian gardeners American gardeners Canadian horticulturists American horticulturists Members of the Order of Canada Knights of the National Order of Quebec American emigrants to Canada Cabot family Veitch Memorial Medal recipients Hasty Pudding alumni