Margaret Owen (plantswoman)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
27 November 1930
Margaret Owen | |
|---|---|
 Showing her collection in 2013 in "Extraordinary Shropshire" | |
| Born | Margaret McAllister Mackay 27 November 1930 Lea Farm, Watford |
| Died | 24 October 2014 (aged 83) |
| Occupations | Farmer, gardener |
| Known for | collections of plants: Camassia, Dictamnus, Galanthus, Nerine, Veratrum |
| Spouse(s) | Godfrey Owen, (m. 9 October 1952, d. 1983) |
| Children | 4 |
| Awards | Veitch Memorial Medal (2013) |
Margaret McAllister Owen MBE (née Mackay; 27 November 1930 – 24 October 2014) was a British farmer, gardener and heritage activist.
She collected, grew, arranged and exhibited plants, especially snowdrops, holding an annual snowdrop party in her Shropshire garden, The Patch, each year in February.[1] A snowdrop, Galanthus elwesii Margaret Owen was named after her.[2] She herself named a snowdrop after her husband, Galanthus elwesii Godfrey Owen.[3] This has two sets of six petals – inner and outer. This has made it especially popular, and it has been propagated by twin-scaling to make it widely available.[4]
National Collection
She was the holder of four types of plant for the National Collection: Camassia, Dictamnus, Nerine and Veratrum.[1] She bred new colour forms of camassias and pioneered nerines as a hardy plant in the UK.[5][6][7][8] She was awarded the Veitch Memorial Medal in 2013.[9]
