William H. Frederick, Jr.

William H. Frederick, Jr., age 91, died on Wednesday, August 15, 2018. Frederick, a lifetime Delawarean and acclaimed landscape architect was passionate about plants and design. Born in Wilmington Delaware to Elma Holland and William H. Frederick, Bill was educated at Wilmington Friends School graduating in the close- knit class of 1944. Bill enlisted in the U.S. Navy immediately after high school and was assigned to Officer Training School, but the War ended prior to completion of the course work. A graduate of Swarthmore College (BA, 1948), he enrolled at Dickinson School of Law (B.L. 1951) with a legal career in mind, but chose to follow his enthusiasm for landscape design. The choice was encouraged by his wife (married 1951), Nancy Crawford Greenewalt, and the couple enrolled in Nursery and Landscape Management and Landscape Design courses at Cornell University. They returned to Delaware and started Millcreek Nursery, Inc. in 1953, offering plants, retail and wholesale, and landscape design and contracting. New plant materials extended the possibilities in private landscape design in the region. Millcreek Nursery, Inc. was a frequent exhibitor at the Philadelphia Flower Show, and was awarded the Gold Medal for the design of the central exhibit in 1958.

In 1971 Bill closed Millcreek Nursery, wishing to focus solely on landscape design, and opened Private Gardens Incorporated, specializing in residential landscape design. His gardens can be found throughout New Castle County and the surrounding region, an exuberant testimony to his passion for color, texture, and unexpected combinations of plant material, reflecting both his painterly approach to the landscape and deep knowledge of plants.

Bill was always willing to share his knowledge and enthusiasm. In addition to countless journal and magazine articles he is best known for three books. The first, One Hundred Great Garden Plants (Knopf, 1975) introduced his personal choices of the best trees, shrubs and groundcovers for use in the home landscape that appealed to professionals and amateurs alike. The Exuberant Garden and the Controlling Hand (Little, Brown, 1992) followed, in which Bill’s depth as a plantsman and creative design capabilities were revealed through a series of case studies of gardens he designed. Most recently, Wrestling with Angels and Singing with Dragons: The Making of a Garden Across 45 Years (Cedar Tree Press, 2015) detailed the creation of Bill and Nancy’s 17-acre garden, Ashland Hollow, over the last fifty years.

Bill’s eye for design extended to the fine arts as well. A lifetime collector of paintings, drawings and sculpture, he also engaged in his own artistic practice. He took classes at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts beginning in the mid-1990s. In 2001 he enrolled at the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture. He spent three semesters at the school, living in New York, engaging to the fullest his artistic sensibilities.

Bill shared his knowledge locally and nationally, serving on the Gibraltar Garden Restoration Committee; the Advisory Committee of the Arthur Hoyt Scott Horticultural Foundation, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania; the Planning Review Committee of the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania; the Board of Trustees of Ida Cason Callaway Foundation, Pine Mountain, Georgia; the Board of Trustees, Longwood Gardens, Inc.; the Gold Medal Award Committee, Pennsylvania Horticultural Society; and Curator of the Jefferson Garden, American Philosophical Society. Bill was a mentor to many starting out in the profession. He founded Cabbages and Kings, a private horticultural club, which was an incubator for old minds and new to meet and share thoughts and ideas on horticulture.

His lifetime achievements have been recognized through awards including, the Distinguished Achievement Medal, Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, 1980; the Henry Francis duPont Award for Garden Design presented at Winterthur 2001; and
The Veitch Memorial Gold Medal presented by the Royal Horticultural Society (Great Britain) at Hampton Court Flower Show 2005.

Bill is survived by his wife Nancy Frederick and children, Richard H. Frederick, Peter C. Frederick (and wife Marilyn Spalding), Margaretta S. Frederick (and husband Michael Martin), and Rebecca G. Frederick (and life partner Trina Tjersland); and grandchildren Elizabeth Frederick Todd (and husband Robert), William C. Frederick (wife Grace), Jamie L. Frederick, Rosemary L. Frederick, Benjamin H. Testerman and Sophie M. Testerman (and husband Beau Crosier); and great-grandchildren Olivia L. Todd and Holland E. Todd.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Longwood Gardens Professional Gardener Training Program (1001 Longwood Road, Kennett Square, PA 19348) or The New York Studio School (8 W 8th St, New York, NY 10011).