Lanning Roper (4 February 1912 – 22 March 1983) was an American

landscape architect A landscape architect is a person who is educated in the field of landscape architecture. The practice of landscape architecture includes: site analysis, site inventory, site planning, land planning, planting design, grading, storm water manageme ...

and writer who studied and lived in England.

Life

He was born in

West Orange, New Jersey West Orange is a suburban township in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 48,843, an increase of 2,636 (+5.7%) from the 46,207 counted in the 2010 Census.

, the son of Willet Crosby Roper (1877–1966), an investment banker, and Florence Emily née Eveleth (1874–1961). His maternal grandfather William Hartley Eveleth (1840–1922) was the Superintendent of the college grounds for Harvard University and Radcliffe College. Roper received an honors degree in Fine Arts from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1933. He served in the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

in World War II, and was in charge of Division 67 on

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...

. In 1952 he married Primrose Harley (1908–1978) an artist, daughter of Professor Edward Vaughan Berkeley Harley MD MRCP (1863–1923) and Mary Blagden (1869–?). Her paternal grandfather was George Harley and Ethel Brilliana Tweedie was an aunt. Primrose had previously married and divorced from Lt Col John Alfred Codrington (1898–1991), son of Lt-Gen Sir Alfred Edward Codrington

Work

Roper had many garden commissions all over England, and some in Ireland (including Castlemartin), France, Italy, Switzerland and the United States. He was commissioned as

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

' landscape gardener in 1981 to do the grounds at

Highgrove House Highgrove House is the family residence of King Charles III and Queen Camilla. It lies southwest of Tetbury in Gloucestershire, England. Built in the late 18th century, Highgrove and its estate were owned by various families until it was pu ...

in the

Cotswolds The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale. The area is defined by the bedrock of Jur ...

. From 1951 to 1957 was on the staff of the Royal Horticultural Society as Assistant to the Editor.

Publications

Roper wrote seven books, including ''Successful Town Gardening'', ''Hardy Herbaceous Plants'', ''The gardens in the Royal park at Windsor'' and '' On gardens and gardening''.

Memories

The Lanning Roper Memorial Garden at the

Trinity Hospice Royal Trinity Hospice is the oldest hospice in the United Kingdom, founded in 1891 by a member of the Hoare banking family. It is located in Clapham Common, London, England, and provides specialist palliative care. In 2019 Royal Trinity Hos ...

Clapham Common Clapham Common is a large triangular urban park in Clapham, south London, England. Originally common land for the parishes of Battersea and Clapham, it was converted to parkland under the terms of the Metropolitan Commons Act 1878. It is of gr ...

, London, was originally designed by Roper and constructed after his death. The woodland walk at the

Farnsworth House The Edith Farnsworth House, formerly the Farnsworth House, is a historical house designed and constructed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe between 1945 and 1951. The house was constructed as a one-room weekend retreat in a rural setting in Plano, I ...

Plano, Illinois Plano is a city near Aurora in Kendall County, Illinois, United States, with a population of 11,847 as of the 2020 census. It is part of the Chicago metropolitan area, being about 55 miles (90 km) from Chicago. The city was home to the Plano Har ...

now bears his name, and at

Scotney Castle Scotney Castle is an English country house with formal gardens south-east of Lamberhurst in the valley of the River Bewl in Kent, England. It belongs to the National Trust. The gardens, which are a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a c ...

Lamberhurst Lamberhurst ( is a village and civil parish in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England. The parish contains the hamlets of The Down and Hook Green. At the 2001 Census it had a population of 1,491, increasing to 1,706 at the 2011 Census. ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

in England, a streamside walk is dedicated to Roper’s memory.

Death

Roper died in

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...

, London, and his ashes were scattered over the gardens at Scotney Castle.

Scholarship

A book titled ''Lanning Roper and his Gardens'' was written by Jane Brown in 1987.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roper, Lanning American landscape architects Harvard University alumni 1912 births 1983 deaths