In 1903, when he bought Wakehurst, he Junior Lord of the Treasury but left Parliament in 1906 and devoted his tone from then on to replanting and shaping the grounds. Gerald Loder's contribution to the garden, in the thirty-three years he lived there, was a great deal more, but much of it was owed to Alfred Coates, Loder's head gardener, who was later commemorated by having Coates Wood named after him. This was appropriate as his particular interest was trees. So trees and shrubs it was, and between them, Loder and Coates began replanting the grounds. In this they were partners, each respecting the other's point of view, and if Loder had the upper hand as owner, Coates had the edge on him in terms of horticultural know-how.
Gardening is a great leveler between people, whatever their stations.
Sad to say, much of their work was destroyed in the Great Storm of October 1987, including a row of cedars that Loder had grown from seed. Coates was still head gardener when Loder, who was made Lord Wakehurst in 1934, died in 1936. War had begun and, in 1941, Wakehurst became the billet of the Canadian Corps, many of whom fell in the Dieppe raid of that year. It was actually Wallis who, though indirectly, instilled Sir Henry with an interest in plants. The story goes that Sir Henry, while reading The Times one morning, noticed that several exhibits shown by Wallis at the Royal Horticultural Society's show had won prizes.