Francis H. Cabot

Seedling D-05-01. Parentage: ‘Cytherea’ x ‘Sonia Hélène’. First bloomed 2010, first propagated 2012. SINGLE. Peach-pink guard petals fade to pale yellow (RHS 38B to RHS 8C). Flowers are 5 inches (13 cm) in size. Pale yellow carpels with stigmas the same color as the petals. Has pollen and seeds. Foliage medium green, narrow pointed. Average height at maturity 36 inches (91 cm), no support needed. Soft pink flower has a Victorian look to it. Named (with permission) to recognize the influence Francis H. Cabot and his garden, Les Quatre Vents, had on the originator. Frances H. Cabot (1925–2011) was born New York City and died at his family estate at La Malbaie, QC, Canada. He was a financier but his most lasting legacy is in horticulture. At his home in Cold Spring, New York, he created Stonecrop which is now a public garden. In 1989 he founded the nonprofit Garden Conservancy which seeks the preservation of exceptional private gardens in North America. The Aberglasney Restoration Trust was formed to restore a 16th century garden in Carmarthenshire, Wales. He was chairman of the New York Botanical Garden in the 1970s and served as an advisor to the Royal Botanical Garden in Hamilton, Ontario. In 2001 Cabot was honored as Knight of the National Order of Quebec for his influence on the development of horticulture and knowledge of the art of gardens in Quebec. He established a non-profit foundation, Héritage Charlevoix, to protect historic properties in this region where his family has owned property and vacationed since 1842. In 2005 he was made honorary member of the Order of Canada in recognition of his work as a conservationist, horticulturalist and philanthropist. His masterpiece was the garden he created on the family estate at La Malbaie which he called Les Quatre Vents. Here he created in the landscape what the French impressionists created on canvas. This too was art! And that was exactly the stroke of understanding that came to François-Léo Tremblay when he first visited Les Quatre Vents, some 20 or more years ago when it first opened to the public.
“I owe my passion for gardening, horticulture and hybridization to Mr. Cabot and his garden. I fell in love during my very first visit to the garden of Les Quatre Vents. A garden filled with treasures and full of creativity lay in front of me! Throughout the garden, I could see a lot of sensitivity and harmony between the plants, the buildings and the architecture: a complete work of art! That is when I came to understand, as an artist, the complexity and the aesthetics that a garden could possess, and all that while using living things. It is that delight of creating with living things that led me to start hybridizing peonies!”— François-Léo Tremblay

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