David Tristram died peacefully at home with his family last weekend .
He leaves behind a breeding bequest of macrocosm - family garden plants which begin with Scabious Butterfly Blue . It was launched in 1985 as the UK ’s first , truly co - ordinated plant life promotion and its immediate and permanent success transformed the way we sell flora to this day on garden centres .
David spend his early working lifespan as a chemist for Guinness in Ireland . He get down breeding Crocosmias and other plants in his surplus clock time , carry on the family custom that had started 100 year before . However , in 1973 he decide to move around his spare-time activity into a business concern and so he purchased Walberton Nursery in West Sussex , 20 miles from his family unit farms in Sompting near Worthing .
By great coincidence , that was the twelvemonth that Edward Back was setting up the new co - running of Fargro Plants . David could immediately see the potential of this untried but speedily expanding container - grown garden plant market and so Walberton Nursery became a founding father extremity .
In the early years , Walberton Nursery grew a wide range of conifers , azalea , and an expanding scope of evergreen bush . David ’s breeding employment continued , now on a big shell and always with the aim of improving a plant ’s garden performance . In 1978 , with his wife Rosemary , they established Binsted Nursery , next door to their home . Alpines and herbaceous plant could now join the expanding Fargro Plants portfolio serving the ever - grow garden centre food market .
With Butterfly Blue sale of 500,000 in just three year , David introduce its baby , Pink Mist , in 1988 . By now , Fargro Plants had become a nationwide provider and so David could now plan the release of more of his breeding work . Spiraea Magic Carpet was launched in 1995 and apace became the go - to mixture with its fiery young maturation , compact drug abuse and imaginative marketing . Since then , there has been a steady flow of his Earth class new diversity including – Coreopsis Flying Saucers , Erysimum Fragrant Sunshine , Helleborus Ivory Prince , and Helleborus Rosemary – so special to him that he named it after his married woman . It has been widely acclaimed by horticulturist such as Graham Rice as the world ’s first niger / orientalis cross . More recently , the Walberton ’s deal score has become part of each cultivar name to recognise his huge contribution to the market .
As the global plant market place expanded and with a micro - propagation laboratory now on internet site , David was able-bodied to licence his varieties to other country too . Plant stock breeder agencies now represented David ’s body of work across the globe , sell his varieties in many territories let in North America and Australasia .
His boy Mike , who joined the family line business in 1989 , and who ran Binsted Nursery for many years , proceed to acquire the Tristram ‘ brand ’ . In 2017 , he brought Fleurie , Binsted and Walberton Nurseries together to form Tristram Plants .
For more information : Tristram Plantswww.tristramplants.co.uk
