Tribute has been paid to renowned Tamar Valley grower Geoff Turner who has sadly passed away.

Friend John Bailey, paying tribute, said: “Our great and treasured friend, horticulturist Geoff Turner, died on Tuesday, June 30, aged 87.

“A lovely, kind and generous man – respected for his plantsmanship and widespread horticultural knowledge, he will be sadly missed throughout the gardening fraternity.”

Long before relocating to Cornwall and starting Barracott Plants in 2000, Geoff had an illustrious career over many years; appropriately in Kent – 'The Garden of England'.

As a young man, with an indefatigable sense of purpose, he started Coblands, the noted landscaping and wholesale nursery firm, based in Sevenoaks, securing huge contracts over a wide area, throughout Kent and beyond.

A strategic ‘masterstroke’ geographically, was the creation of satellite nursery hubs around the M25, outlets facilitating a wide choice of plant material for landscapers and garden designers, conveniently close to their projects. A retail division, became the comprehensive Coblands Garden Centre.

Widely travelled in search of plants, Geoff particularly enjoyed regular visits to Madeira where his family owned a property.

The spokesman said: “They say behind every great man, is a woman. In Geoff's case, certainly a great one; a role his wife Thelma played with assured aplomb.

“They were a familiar couple, known and appreciated throughout the world of horticulture for their incessant hard work and ultimately, love of plants. This was manifest in so many of our own gardens, from their specialist nursery in Gunnislake, Cornwall.”

Geoff and Thelma regularly exhibited Barracott's plants at flower shows and plant fairs up and down the country, winning gold at the Malvern Spring Show and the particularly treasured, golden trowel award for their plant display, on home turf at Tavistock's Annual Plant Fair. The exquisite garden there was ‘filled to the brim with lovely things, artfully displayed, is testament to its maker’.