J.R.R. Tolkien's Oxford Garden

Oxfordian Author Gardens Series: Part 3

JRR Tolkien’s family home with his blue plaque on Northmoor Road, Oxford, UK.

“What else remained in the children’s memories? Long summer hours digging up the asphalt of the old tennis-court at 20 Northmoor Road to enlarge the vegetable-plot under the supervision of their father, who (like their mother) was an enthusiastic gardener, though he left much of the practical work of cultivating vegetables and pruning trees to John (his son), preferring to concentrate his own attention on the roses and on the lawn, from which he would remove every possible weed.”

Humphrey Carpenter, Tolkein: A Biography, pg.159

The back garden at 20 Northmoor Road in 2019. Photo from Country Life.

Part 3: For the third of our visits to Oxfordian author gardens, we will travel west from Lewis’ garden at the Kilns into Oxford city proper, down a street of professorial apartments to find the home of J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion and many others.

“The one small garden of a free gardener was all his need and due, not a garden swollen to a realm; his own hands to use, not the hands of others to command.”

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King

Location: 20 Northmoor Road, Oxford, UK

The professor of English Literature and Language on Northmoor Road kept quite a ship-shape plot. Relentlessly editing with an eye to perfection, his gardening seems to have reflected his other creative work. Tolkien’s biographer, Humphrey Carpenter, reports that Tolkien preferred:

“… to concentrate his own attention on the roses and on the lawn, from which he would remove every possible weed.”¹

One small garden

In the 1930’s and 40’s, the world was full of chaos and disruptive change, but here behind the Tolkiens’ Oxford house was a chance for some ordered private family space: immaculately kept lawns and closely pruned hybrid tea rose beds. With a good bit of kitchen veg and fruit grown on the side by the Tolkien children.

“The leaves were long, the grass was green,
The hemlock-umbels tall and fair,
And in the glade a light was seen
Of stars in shadow shimmering…”

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

Overhead of Tolkien’s small garden from Google maps, 2023.

The great British lawn

Twice-weekly cutting was just one step in the year-round care of a proper English lawn.² First, there was rolling the ground with a weighted drum for the perfect level, then edging it sharply with a flat or moon-shaped spade to define its form. On a fine day, one began the mowing procedure by running a stiff cane over each inch of lawn to remove excess dew, then sharpening your mower blades, and then slowly mowing with precise direction. Alternating the pathway on each successive cut evened out the month’s growth for the perfect sward.

“A light like the glint of water on dewy grass flashed from under her feet as she danced.”

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

In autumn, there would be the spiking, and raking in of sharp sand and compost, and the raking out of thatch to unburden the grass roots. Every dandelion was an enemy. All of this, the professor seems to have attended to almost as religiously as his daily morning mass. 

As a private home, Tolkien’s house is not available for a tour, but you can still see that much care is given to the grass even 75 years later.

“I am but dirt and dust in kind, and you a rich and radiant rose...”
J.R.R. Tolkien, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, and Sir Orfeo

Hybrid teas

His beloved roses were another special treat. After WWI, a new class of high-strung roses were bred from the old favorites. These modern roses required extra time in pruning, extra fuss in feeding, and extra space for air, as they were prone to disease. But in return you earned large, succulent buds that opened in a large array of colors.³

On April 29, 1945 (VE Day), a hybrid tea rose named ‘Peace’ was introduced, and its name echoed every Brit’s longing after years of war and fear. It is hardly a stretch to believe that Tolkien would have added this famous rose to his garden during the last years of his stay at Northmoor Road.

“'Peace', without doubt, is the finest Hybrid Tea ever raised and it will remain a standard variety forever.”

Peter Beales, Roses, published in 1992

Rosa ‘Peace’

Rosa ‘Peace’ is quite an interesting tale in horticultural history:

The Peace rose was introduced in the United States by Conard-Pyle of West Grove, Penn., who, in a bit of promotional patriotism, made the official debut on April 29, 1945, the day Berlin fell to Allied forces.

According to legend, the budwood for the rose was smuggled out of France just before the Nazi invasion in a diplomatic pouch. The original hybrid was made in 1935 by Francis Meilland, of the famous rose breeding family near Lyon, France. Meilland, fearing the rose would be destroyed as the war raged around him, sent budwood to friends in Germany, Italy and the United States. It did well in all countries and was introduced under four different names, "Peace" in the United States, "Gloria Dei" in Germany, "Gioia" in Italy and "Mme. A. Meilland" in France.⁴

You can see the canes of a climbing rose on the wall near the blue plaque on 20 Northmoor Road.

More on Tolkien’s books and home:

Country Life interior photos from the house’s sale 2019

Info on Tolkien’s Blue Plaque

A very interest look at Tolkien’s neighbors on Northmoor Road—including three Nobel Prize winners!

Where did Tolkien live after Northmoor Road?

Do you have a favorite book by Tolkien? Love to hear!

Oxfordian Author Gardens Series:

Introduction

Part 1: Flora Thompson’s Childhood Garden

Part 2: C.S. Lewis’ Garden at the Kilns

Part 4: Elizabeth Goudge’s Garden

*Amazon Affiliate links are included in this newsletter. I make a few cents per recommendation, each of which I hope will be helpful to you! Note: I also include many links which are not affiliates to other sites for research and photo credit purposes. 

1. Humphrey Carpenter, Tolkein: A Biography, pg.159

2. Lawns are falling out of fashion for good reason. A high quality lawn requires quite a lot of time, money, and water. You can read about the process I describe here in The Lawn Expert.

3. The Rose Expert, with information on the “new” hybrid tea roses.

4. University of Arkansas