William Gregor MacKenzie ALS VMH (1904–1995) was a gardener and horticultural curator born in Scotland, where his father was head gardener at Ballimore, near

Loch Fyne Loch Fyne ( gd, Loch Fìne, ; meaning "Loch of the Vine/Wine"), is a sea loch off the Firth of Clyde and forms part of the coast of the Cowal peninsula. Located on the west coast of Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It extends inland from the Sound o ...

Argyllshire Argyll (; archaically Argyle, in modern Gaelic, ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland. Argyll is of ancient origin, and corresponds to most of the part of the ancient kingdom of ...

Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

Aged 24, MacKenzie became a student at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. At the Botanic Garden, he was promoted to the position of Assistant Curator in charge of the Alpine and Herbaceous Department.

Scottish Rock Garden Club

In 1933, he co-founded the Scottish Rock Garden Club and in 1994 he was made their honorary life president.

Chelsea Physic Garden

MacKenzie accepted the prestigious post of curator at the Chelsea Physic Garden in 1946, where he remained until his retirement in 1973. Edward Augustus Bowles chaired the panel that selected MacKenzie as curator, where he initially restored the garden from wartime neglect and then reinvigorated it as a centre for horticulture

Awards

In 1961, Bill MacKenzie was awarded the Victoria Medal of Honour by 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 ...

Plants

Gentiana

The

Gentiana ''Gentiana'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the gentian family (Gentianaceae), the tribe Gentianeae, and the monophyletic subtribe Gentianinae. With about 400 species it is considered a large genus. They are notable for their mostl ...

‘Inverleith’ was bred by MacKenzie. It is an herbaceous perennial with trailing stems and has narrow, light green leaves and solitary, terminal, rich blue, funnel-shaped flowers with darker stripes on the outside.

Clematis

The author and gardener

Valerie Finnis Valerie Finnis (1924–2006) was a well-known British photographer, lecturer, teacher and gardener.Ursula Buchan and Anna Pavord (2007) Garden People: Valerie Finnis and the Golden Age of Gardening. Thames & Hudson. , Life Finnis was born in Crow ...

, in her work as a plant breeder, developed a cross between an "orange-peel" clematis (''C. orientalis'' and ''C. tangutica'') at the

Waterperry School of Horticulture Waterperry is a village beside the River Thame, about east of Oxford in Oxfordshire and close to the county boundary with Buckinghamshire. The Church of England parish church of Saint Mary the Virgin is partly Saxon and has notable medieval sta ...

in 1968 which she named for Bill MacKenzie.Ursula Buchan and

Anna Pavord Anna Pavord (born 20 September 1940) ''People of Today'' (2017) Debrett's, "Anna Pavord" is a British horticultural writer. She wrote for ''The Observer'' for over twenty years and for ''The independent'' for over thirty years - from its first to ...

(2007) Garden People: Valerie Finnis and the Golden Age of Gardening. Thames & Hudson. , Finnis described him as her "great friend and mentor". On 7 September 1976, she showed the clematis at a

Show where it won an Award of Merit. Clematis ‘Bill MacKenzie' is a large, vigorous deciduous climber with finely-cut leaves. Its flowers are 6-7cm in width with four thick, spreading bright yellow sepals surrounding dark stamens from early to late summer. It has good silky seed-heads. Clematis ‘Bill MacKenzie’ has been awarded the RHS

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. History The Award of Garden Merit ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:MacKenzie, William Gregor 1904 births 1995 deaths Victoria Medal of Honour recipients