Valerie Finnis

Valerie Finnis (1924–2006) was a well-known British photographer, lecturer, teacher and gardener. She was born in Crowborough, Sussex, daughter of a naval officer, Steriker Finnis, and gardener Constance Finnis. She attended Hayes Court school in Kent and Downe House school in Berkshire. In 1968 she met retired diplomat and plantsman David Scott whom she married in 1970 and with whom she lived, gardening together until his death in 1986. In 1990 she set up the Merlin Trust, named after David Scott's son Merlin who was killed in the second world war, aged 22. The Merlin Trust assists young horticulturists to travel and gain experience. After her death in 2006, the Finnis Scott Foundation was established to provide supportive funding to artistic, art historical, horticultural or botanical projects.

For 28 years Valerie Finnis was associated with Waterperry Horticultural School for Women, at Waterperry House, situated just outside Oxford. She first went to Waterperry in 1942, aged 18, at which time it was run by Beatrix Havergal, and helped make it a famous horticultural institution. While teaching at Waterperry, she became noted for her expertise in alpine plants, propagating 50,000 plants a year in the school's greenhouses.

Among her work as a plant breeder, she developed a cross between an "orange-peel" clematis (C. orientalis and C. tangutica) she named for Bill MacKenzie.

BBC personality Carol Klein reports Finnis encouraging her work.

The plant Artemisia ludoviciana 'Valerie Finnis' is named after Finnis.

She was awarded the Victoria Medal of Honour in 1975 by the Royal Horticultural Society.

Books written or illustrated by Valerie Finnis

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