HISTORY & THE MAKING OF THE GARDENThe First Two Hundred Years
Britain can be proud of its gardens; indeed, it has been said that the 18th century landscape garden is our only original contribution to European art.  The direct descendants of the landscape garden are the tree and shrub gardens formed over the past hundred years. Although many of these contain great collections of trees and shrubs, reflecting the almost unbelievable flood of plant introductions from China at the beginning of this century, they lack design. Others, however, satisfy both criteria, and can be numbered with the greatest of the landscape gardens as masterpieces of horticulture. Standing high in this distinguished company is the garden at Trewithen, which is largely the creation of the late George Johnstone.
When George Johnstone inherited Trewithen in 1904 at the age of 22, the shrub garden did not exist, but there was much besides; a handsome house surrounded by magnificent beech trees in the setting of a fine landscaped park. This inheritance formed the framework for the 20th century garden, making it in effect the result of a partnership between George Johnstone and his 18th century ancestors. The story of modern Trewithen begins with its purchase by Philip Hawkins in 1715. In 1730 the Cornish historian, Tonkin, was able to report that "he now resides there and has much improved the seat, new built a great part of the house, made good gardens, etc."
 Philip was succeeded by his cousin, Thomas, in 1738, and it is to him that Trewithen owes many of its fine trees. Lodged in the County Record Office in Truro is a most interesting notebook on "The Care and Cultivation of Trees" written by Thomas in 1745, when he was 21. Full of good advice, this can only have been written by a man fascinated by the growing of trees, and shows a deep knowledge of the subject remarkable for one of his age, and anyone following his advice today would be certain of thriving plantations: 'There is not a more excellent thing
than the frequent rubbing of the bole or stem with some piece of hair cloth, or ruder stuff, at the beginning of the Spring. This, done when the bodies of the trees are wet, opens their pores, frees them from moss, and kills the worms...'
There are two records of Trewithen during Thomas's tenure. The first is a diary written by his father-in-law, James Heywood in 1757. This, combined with a "Plan of the Barton House, Plantations and Gardens of Trewithen, The Seat of Thomas Hawkins Esqr" gives a picture of Trewithen in the middle of the 18th century: woods to the south and south-west of the house, protecting it from the prevailing wind, and avenues radiating from the house to the east and to the north. Much of this plan agrees with the description in the Diary, and can be equated with modern Trewithen, where you can still ". . . walk in constant shade"; where "there are all sorts of English and Foreign plants as well as flowering shrubs", but no longer will you find "...a stone Statue of Pomona in the centre of this pleasing labyrinth..."
Sadly, Thomas did not live to see his plantings mature, for he died in 1766 at the age of 42, an early victim of voluntary small-pox vaccination. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Christopher, who was to live to the age of 71, dying in 1829 "a prodigiously rich old man", we are told. Christopher, created a baronet in 1799, was more interested in the enlargement of his estate and in politicking than the embellishment of his garden. An estate account of 1778 shows him employing only two full-time gardener/foresters, a small staff for such grounds. Their wages make interesting reading; the foreman received 1/6d a day; his mate 1/-. during the spring and early summer the foreman"s wife and son were casually employed for 4d each per day. In May, 1778, the family put in 45 days" work, for which effort they received the princely sum of £2/11/10d (£2.59)!
 Sir Christopher died unmarried, and the estate passed to his nine-year-old nephew, Christopher Henry Thomas Hawkins ("CHT"), the son of his brother John, who lived at Bignor Park in Sussex. During his son"s minority, John looked after the estate. Letters between him and the Steward show that he had great interest in the welfare of Trewithen. Acorns, collected from the ilexes (holm-oaks) at Bignor, were dispatched to Cornwall, and the trees raised are now a feature of the Great Park to the north of the house.
"CHT" (1820-1903) lived in London, and despite his long life, there is no record of his ever having visited Trewithen. On his death, the estate once again passed to a nephew, John Heywood Johnstone, the son of CHT"s sister Mary. Dying a year later, he was succeeded by his son, George Horace Johnstone (1882-1960), whose arrival heralded Trewithen"s Golden Age of gardening.
The Making of the Gardens
Trewithen is Cornish for "the House in the Spinney" and in 1904 this was an apt name. The trees planted in the 18th century had flourished, and Thomas"s "Labyrinth" had become a forest. In George Johnstone"s own words "...it was necessary to take an axe and claim air and light from amongst the trees, first for the house and those that should live in it, and then for the plants that must share the fortunes of the owner".
1905 saw the first of these plants with the arrival of one hundred hybrids of Rhododendron arboreum. In 1910 family life returned to Trewithen with George Johnstone"s marriage; named in his wife"s honour is the very lovely rhododendron raised at Trewithen, R. "Alison Johnstone". Another handsome home-raised hybrid, R. "Jack Skilton" is named after a head gardener who spent all his working life at Trewithen; starting work as a "bird scarer" in 1904, he was to receive the R.H.S. Long Service Medal in 1959.
The next step in the creation of the garden as it is today was the result of World War I; three hundred beech trees were felled by government order to be used as trench props by British and Canadian troops, and the space created by the removal of these allowed George Johnstone to mark out and plan the great glade which stretches southward from the front of the house. This glade will always be a monument to the genius of George Johnstone; its perfect relationship with the house, its perspective, and the brilliant use of plant material make it a model for all aspiring gardeners to copy or to envy.
 Many of the trees and shrubs flanking the glade and found throughout the rest of the garden were raised from seed collected in the wild and during the tour of the garden, you will see rare representatives of the floras of Asia, North and South America and Australasia. Of these continents, Asia makes the greatest contribution. Although there had been introductions from Asia as early as the first half of the 18th century, it was not until 1899, when E.H. Wilson was sent to China by Veitch of Coombe Wood that a trickle became a flood. This was to be the first of a series of expeditions to China by Wilson who, together with George Forrest, was responsible for many of the finest trees and shrubs at Trewithen, including several magnolias.
One of the first gardeners to appreciate the value of these "Chinamen" was John Charles Williams of Caerhays Castle. "JC" became the patron of another of the great plant collectors, George Forrest, whose introductions are still flourishing in the garden at Caerhays, as they are Trewithen, thanks to the generosity of J.C. Williams.
Notable among Forrest"s introductions was Camellia saluenensis; JC crossed this with Camellia japonica to produce the first of a new race of camellias, the x williamsii; a collective name honouring J.C. Williams. One of the finest of these is "Donation" which was raised at Borde Hill in Sussex by Colonel Stephenson Clarke. Colonel Clarke gave a cutting to George Johnstone; the original plant died before being further propagated, and now all "Donations" in the world stem from the plant at Trewithen, a fine tribute to the initial generosity of Stephenson Clarke. George Johnstone was quick to replace the loss at Borde Hill with a cutting from Trewithen. Trewithen is very rich in camellias, and there is a great bank of C. saluenensis and its seedlings, together with some plants of another of Forrest"s introductions, the "wild form" of C. reticulata, and a large number of forms of C. japonica.
The collection of camellias, however, is not the most important of the many genera growing at Trewithen; the first has to be the magnolias. In 1955 the Royal Horticultural Society published "Asiatic Magnolias in Cultivation" by George Johnstone; a superb work based on the study he was able to make of the genus at Trewithen; now out of print, the book has become a collector"s item.
George Johnstone died in 1960, having enjoyed his garden from its birth to its maturity. Although a mature garden, Trewithen has not been allowed to grow old. This has been due to the care of his widow, Alison Johnstone, up to her death in 1977, his daughter Elizabeth and grandson, Michael Galsworthy, who came to live at Trewithen in 1980. All three were supported in their endeavours by Trewithen"s Head Gardener, Michael Taylor, who has also been awarded the RHS Waley Medal for the cultivation of rhododendrons and more recently, the Royal Forestry Society"s medal for services to arboriculture. Michael Taylor is also an Associate of Honour of the RHS.
New plantings abound. Many of these fill gaps created by some extreme weather over the past 15 years. A drought in 1976 was followed by a storm wind (the great Fastnet storm!) in 1979, great gales in 1987, followed by a further hurricane in early 1990. |
Trewithen Gardens, created and extended by George Johnstone in the first fifty years of this century are outstanding and internationally famous. The great glade on the south side is a masterpiece of landscape gardening and is a monument to the genius of George Johnstone. These gardens covering some thirty acres are renowned for their magnificent collection of camellias, rhododendrons, magnolias and many rare trees and shrubs which are seldom found elsewhere in Britain. The extensive woodland gardens are surrounded by traditional landscaped parkland.