THE POPES’ GARDEN BECAME A COLOURFUL MASTERPIECE
BRIAN MINTER
Ron Rule, one of B.C.’S brilliant landscape architects and owner of Ron Rule Consultants, contacted me recently. He wanted to remind me that we have a wealth of talented garden designers living in our province. As is often the case, many have achieved fame internationally but are seldom celebrated or fully appreciated locally.
Rule was quite emphatic that Sandra and Nori Pope, two of the most talented and hardworking designers he has ever known, deserve much more recognition. Although Nori has died, Sandra continues to live and garden on Pender Island, and that’s where she was when we spoke about her and Nori’s interesting past, particularly those years they spent creating a highly acclaimed garden on an English estate.
In the 1970s and ’80s, Nori Pope owned a small nursery and design business in the Comox Valley. A self-taught horticulturist and garden designer, he was well-connected with some of B.C.’S earliest and best breeders, designers and garden specialists, including the late Ed Loubrunner, an alpine guru, the well-known Doris Page and many others.
At one of Hornby Island’s early fairs, Nori received a basket of antique garden roses as a thank you for being a judge. He was so taken with these roses that he began growing and propagating special varieties with some guidance from the internationally renowned rosarian Graham Stewart Thomas, with whom he corresponded.
His nursery gained quite a following, particularly for his selection of “own-root” roses. Consequently, many opportunities opened up in the gardening world and he received invitations to visit some of the most respected British garden personalities and their gardens. Because she had a passion for both garden design and plants, Sandra, a nurse, decided to change paths and to work at Nori’s nursery. It was a wonderful pairing, and soon, they married.
With so many great garden connections in England, they decided to pay a visit.
One garden, above all others, captured their imaginations. Penelope Hobhouse, a very wellknown designer, created for her husband’s family a seven-acre kitchen and perennial area as part of their 700-acre Hadspen estate. When Hobhouse separated from her husband, the eldest son, as was the custom, became the heir of this property, and over time it became somewhat neglected. The Popes, however, fell in love with this garden, especially because of its magnificent curved brick wall.
It’s curious how life sometimes unfolds. The Popes were retained not only to bring the garden back, but to also exceed its former glory.
“We planned to spend one year doing so,” remembered Sandra, “but somehow it turned into 20.”
This seven-acre piece of Hadspen was partly open to the public, and it was also a nursery where plants and vegetables could be purchased. With limited resources, it was quite a challenge. Hobhouse put them in touch with a key supplier of plants to sell in the nursery, which made all the difference in terms of boosting sales and becoming known for unique plants.
The real story, however, was their brilliant restoration, especially of the walled garden. Pope said it was amazing how readily they were accepted into the Somerset area as two Canadians who were there to restore a much-respected historic English garden. Despite the challenges, she told me how wonderful it was to wake up each day with the prospect of creating something exciting. “It was a gift,” she said. According to Rule, within two years the garden became a masterpiece of colour and harmony. With the stunning backdrop of the curved wall and the superb use of colour and flow, everywhere you looked, you were rewarded.
They were passionate designers, and if they couldn’t find the plant they needed to complete a colour scheme, they’d propagate one that could. Rule believes they were two of the hardest-working people imaginable.
Soon, word began to get out about their stunning garden, and the who’s-who of the gardening world began to discover this jewel that was redesigned and reborn by two talented Canadians. Each year the garden, like great wine, improved with age and became one of the ‘must-see’ gardens of England.
Niall Hobhouse, owner of the estate, sold the property a few years ago to a South African hotelier who developed a boutique hotel on the property. Hadspen is no longer. The garden area was renamed “The Newt,” and although everything has been changed extensively, the heart and soul of the Popes’ work has become a wonderful memory.
After 20 years the Popes returned home to B.C. When Nori died, Sandra continued to create a magical garden on Pender Island.