Lady Anne Sophia Berry (née Walpole, 11 December 1919 – 18 September 2019) was an English-New Zealand horticulturist who founded Rosemoor Garden in Devon.
Berry had a half-sister, the novelist Lady Dorothy Mills, by her father's first wife, American heiress Louise Melissa Corbin, who died in 1909.
[3] She had an elder sister, Lady (Gladys) Sophia, who died as an infant in June 1919, a few months before Berry's birth.
[4] Berry grew up on large estates, including the family seat, Wolterton Hall, on 4,000 acres (16 km2) in North Norfolk.
In 1923, Lord Orford bought a 40-acre (16 hectares (0.16 km2)) property called Rosemoor in North Devon as a fishing lodge.
[3][7] Back in England as a debutante proved to be a restricting time with all the social niceties including being present at Court.
Her early married life was spent "camp following" the regiment, including two and a half years in Northern Ireland.
Rosemoor was loaned to the Red Cross as a rest home for Londoners from the East End suffering the effects of the Blitz.
Soon there were other mentors such as Lionel Fortescue (The Garden House at Buckland Monachorum[12]), the Heathcoat-Amory family of Knightshayes Court and others.
Robin Herbert, who later became a president of RHS invited her to join Floral Committee 'B' which judged woody plants and new introductions.
"The story of Bob and Anne Berry of Hackfalls is a classic one in terms of the bonds created by dendrology".
In July 2006, Lady Anne and her husband left Hackfalls Station to live in Gisborne town.
The 'new' RHS developments were intended both to expand upon and to complement the existing garden, featuring diverse and wide-ranging plantings, many in a more formal framework, with particular emphasis on ornamental and productive horticulture.
"[22] Hackfalls Arboretum, Tiniroto, Gisborne, New Zealand, was the creation of Bob Berry, who started planting trees at his station in the 1950s, and created interesting collections of poplars, maples, oaks etc.
Bob became a member of the IDS in 1977 and in October 1982 joined a tour to Mexico, which was the beginning of a particular interest in Central American Oaks (Quercus), which would later form the most important part of the collection of Hackfalls Arboretum.