John Rea (horticulturalist)
John Rea (died November 1681) was an English nursery gardener and writer. Life. Rea lived at Kinlet in Shropshire. As a gardener he was reputed to have had the largest collection of tulips in England, to have introduced new plants, and to have planned the gardens at Gerard's Bromley, Staffordshire, the seat of Charles Gerard, 4th Baron Gerard, to whose son he dedicated his "Flora". He corresponded with Sir Thomas Hanmer, 2nd Baronet, interested in gardening, and in particular in tulips; Hanmer commended Rea's "Flora" to John Evelyn, but thought him no scholar. Rea died  in November 1681, bequeathing his holding at Kinlet to his daughter Minerva, wife of Samuel Gilbert. Works. Rea wrote "Flora, seu de Florum Cultura, or a complete Florilege", with a second title-page as "Flora, Ceres, and Pomona, in III. Books", London, 1665. A second impression, appeared in 1676 and was reissued, with a new title-page, in 1702.