BLOOM, Alan (Herbert Vawser) 1906–2005

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born November 19, 1906, in Over, Cambridgeshire, England; died March 31, 2005, in Bressingham, Norfolk, England. Horticulturist and author. The founder of the famous Blooms Nurseries in Norfolk, Bloom was a renowned horticulturist who was an expert on herbaceous perennials. Inheriting a love of gardening from his father, he left school when he was only fifteen to work at a plant nursery. Soon, he joined his father's business and then started his own nursery in 1926 in Oakington, Cambridgeshire. The business prospered until World War II, during which Bloom moved his family to Canada, where he worked as a farmer. When the war was over, he returned to England and bought the two hundred acres of land that would become Blooms Nurseries. Here, Bloom specialized in herbaceous plants and bred or named some 170 new varieties of flora; he also established a new form of gardening that emphasizes planting in island bed arrangements. A recipient of the Victoria medal of honor from the Royal Horticultural Society, Bloom had other interests, too, including steam engine trains and writing. With regard to the former, he established the Bressingham Steam Museum in 1968; and as an author, he wrote the autobiographical work Come You Here, Boy! (1995), as well as numerous books on gardening and a work about trains titled 250 Years of Steam (1981). For his many contributions, Bloom was named a member of the Order of the British Empire in 1997.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

BOOKS

Bloom, Alan, Come You Here, Boy!, Ellis (Henley-on-Thames, England), 1995.

PERIODICALS

Guardian (Manchester, England), April 6, 2005, p. 25.

Independent (London, England), April 5, 2005, p. 35.

Times (London, England), April 9, 2005, p. 73.