The leading man behind the greening of Hamilton was also a keen painter and palm enthusiast.

George Ogden, a 40-year horticulturalist and park superintendent for the Corporation of Hamilton, took pains to correct others on the term “palm tree”, telling The Royal Gazette in a 2010 interview that palms were, botanically speaking, not trees.

Mr Ogden would have known, as someone responsible for planting enormous numbers of them along with thousands of other plants to beautify the island’s capital.

His stamp was left all over the city, from the moat at Fort Hamilton — as part of an elaborate restoration in the 1960s — to Hamilton’s parks, indoor decorations and the palms of Front Street.

He was also a member of the Government’s Parks and Beaches Committee and the Bermuda Parks Commission, whose input was sought for projects outside the city, including the landscaping of Dockyard.

As an expert on palms, he conducted a survey of the various species on the island. Mr Ogden also edited the Garden Club of Bermuda's publication A Gardener's Guide.

In 1992, he was awarded the Queen's Certificate and Badge of Honour for his greening of the island.

Originally from Merseyside, Lancashire, across the river from Liverpool, Mr Ogden came to work for Bermuda’s capital in 1962 and kept going until retiring in 2000.

A member of Bermuda Society of Arts, he enjoyed painting flowers and landscapes.

Mr Ogden honed his gardening skills in his youth, eventually winning a prize as a teenager for his allotment.

His first job on leaving school at 15 was in a plant nursery, and he attended night classes to build his qualifications.

He was called up for National Service at 18, joining the Royal Air Force and serving in northern Germany.

Mr Ogden received his formal training at the Royal Horticultural Society gardens at Wisley in Surrey. He ended up in Bermuda after a chance remark from a friend there.

“He said he'd answered an advertisement for a job in Bermuda, and why didn't I have a go?” Mr Ogden recalled for the Mid-Ocean News. “I did, and I got it. He was all right about it — no hard feelings.”

Among his challenges was the greening of Hamilton with the planting of hundreds of new trees after the cedar blight, which started in the 1940s, wiped out most of the island’s natural forest.

“Prior to my arrival, one man had spent three years helping with the landscaping of City Hall grounds, but other than that, there had been no one specifically taking care of the Hamilton parks until I came,” he said.

“When I arrived, the parkland in Hamilton was rather oldie-worldly and basic. There was no paving in Par-la-Ville or Victoria Parks. It was all grass and sand paths.”

At the start, there were no flower pots available, and Mr Ogden had to collect old paint tins for planting.

He called the upgrade of Fort Hamilton from 1964 to 1967 his “pride and joy”.

“It was in dreadful condition,” he recalled. “It was used as a local dump. The moat was blocked with vegetation and trash.

“Inside, the corporation used it as a storage area for building materials. There was an old fire truck up there. It was quite a job.”

Over the decades, Mr Ogden left his mark across Hamilton, from the landscaping of the waterfront to the redesign of Queen Elizabeth Park — formerly Par-la-Ville Park — and Victoria Park and the creation of Barr’s Bay Park.

He designed and established the corporation’s plant nursery at “The Willows”, where more than 20,000 flowering plants were grown annually.

Mr Ogden planted more than 800 new trees along the city’s streets and tended the pots of water lilies in City Hall’s old ornamental pond.

One unfulfilled dream was to see the City Hall parking lot converted to a green space.

“I think the area around City Hall should all be parkland,” he told the Gazette.

“It was a suggestion I made to the corporation some years ago. I think it has been discussed — but I think the economics are a deciding factor.”

Mr Ogden enjoyed passing on his knowledge. He gave free lectures and demonstrations to fellow parks department staff, and assisted young people with horticultural training both privately and with the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries as a member of its selection committee and as an apprenticeship scheme lecturer.

Mr Ogden was married to Sandra, an operating room nurse whom he met on the island. The couple had two daughters, Katie and Susan

Both were members of the Bermuda National Trust, where Mr Ogden served on the Gardens and Nature Reserves Committee. The charity awarded him its Bermuda Silver Palmetto Award in 2001.

The couple enjoyed bridge, and were involved in the Bermuda Philharmonic Society and the Cathedral of The Most Holy Trinity in Hamilton, where Mr Ogden supervised the Sunday school for many years.

A memorial service for Mr Ogden will be held at the cathedral today at 11am.

George Frederick Ogden, the former horticulturalist for the City of Hamilton, was born on September 30, 1936. He died in January 2025, aged 88