[2] On leaving Ardingly College, Comber worked with his father at Nymans for two years, during which time he visited other famous gardens, notably Leonardslee, whose owner, Sir Edmund Loder, recommended him to Henry Elwes, who engaged him at his home, Colesbourne Park, Gloucestershire.
[1] A knee injury prevented Comber himself seeing active service in the war, and he was eventually directed to 'work of national importance', namely hardening and tempering parts of Lewis guns at Earlswood.
On his return, he took up the post of manager of the Burnham Lily Nursery in Buckinghamshire which, owned by W. A. Constable Ltd., Tunbridge Wells, turned to vegetable production during the Second World War.
Comber excelled at his work, rearing new strains of lily such as the Green Magic Group, reorganising record systems and streamlining production methods, until retirement beckoned in 1962.
In 1965, he travelled to Sabah, British North Borneo, to join his son James for three months collecting specimens for the Kew Herbarium, incidentally enjoying fishing and hunting trips with the natives.