Friends and family are celebrating the life of a generous and knowledgable horticulturist.

Basil Hall, who played an instrumental role in the Bermuda Rose Society and dedicated much of his time to the Garden Club of Bermuda, died last week at the age of 94.

“He’s always been passionate about gardening,” his daughter, Susan Wheeler, told The Royal Gazette . “Right until the end, he used to take an interest in the garden.”

Mr Hall was born in Lancashire, just outside Greater Manchester, England. During the Second World War, he joined the Royal Air Force, trained as a pilot and was involved in various battles, including the Battle of Arnhem. He studied forestry and horticulture after the war at the University of Edinburgh and the University of Aberdeen.

He then joined the Department of Agriculture in Britain as a soil scientist, writing various books.

When the family’s cotton mill in England was sold, Mr Hall moved to Bermuda in 1969 with his wife, the late Kathleen “Kay” Hall, his daughter and his aunt, Bessie Ramsbottom.

“He retired early but he was still quite young, so he was very active in the Bermuda Rose Society and the Garden Club,” Ms Wheeler said. “He was a keen fisherman as well. He used to take part in the angling tournaments.

“He had a good life here, many friends. He was quite old school; an English gentleman, I suppose.”

Liesbeth Cooper knew Mr Hall through the Bermuda Rose Society, of which she was a former president.

Besides being a kind, friendly and soft-spoken gentleman, she said Mr Hall was a great asset to the group, giving talks on how to grow, propagate and maintain roses.

“He also hybridised roses, which means growing new roses from seeds. We still grow ‘Basil’s Surprise’,” she said, adding that he also wrote articles for the Agricultural Bulletin. “He was generally so helpful and very knowledgeable. He taught us a lot.”

Ms Cooper spent a lot of time working with Mr Hall at the society’s rose propagation tunnel at the Tulo Valley Plant Nursery in Pembroke.

Elizabeth Carswell, a former president of the Bermuda Rose Society, said Mr Hall’s expertise was instrumental to the group.

“I worked along with him from when he joined,” she said. “Growing the own-root roses is the major thing we developed here in Bermuda. It’s one of the things we really cottoned on to by working with him.”

Ronica Watlington met Mr Hall through the Garden Club of Bermuda and recalled his “lovely” garden filled with all sorts of flowers.

He was known for propagating “Bessie’s Rose”, which was named after his aunt on her 100th birthday in 1994.

“He was very generous with his knowledge,” Ms Watlington said, adding that he also gave courses at the club.

While Mr Hall had not been active with the Bermuda Rose Society for a number of years before his death, Ms Cooper said he still tended to his roses.

“It was a great love of his,” she added.