Trevor Jack Cole

Trevor Jack Cole (20 April 1934 – 31 December 2017) was a non-fiction author specializing in gardening topics. He was based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada at Kinburn.

Cole was born in the United Kingdom. From 1958 to 1960, he trained at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in England, where he met Brenda Briggs, his future wife. They married in 1960 upon graduation from Kew.

He moved to Canada in 1967, continuing his career in horticulture. Cole worked at the Central Experimental Farm from 1967 through to his retirement as the last Curator of the Dominion Arboretum in 1995.

Cole was also a columnist for the Ottawa Citizen and a consultant for Reader's Digest in Canada. He was recognized internationally for his work in horticulture and garden writing. He was the author of the Canadian best seller The Ontario Gardener and edited many gardening books for publishers including Reader's Digest and Dorling Kindersley. He was the president of the Ottawa Horticultural Society from 1974 to 1976 and again in 1980. Cole was also a former director of the Rhododendron Society of Canada.

In later life he took up singing, and was part of the Arnprior Community Choir and led The Sounds of Music chorus at the Kanata Senior Center.

Awards and recognition

Cole received a Canada 125 medal in 1992. He has also received other recognitions for his horticultural writing.