Tricia Cox (née Sherrard), founder/owner of Glendoick Garden Centre with her husband Peter Cox, died peacefully at Glendoick on 2nd May 2020.
Born in Cork, Ireland in 1933 she was educated in Ireland and England, studying horticulture and running an apple orchard in Douglas, Cork. Her uncle, Professor Geo Sherrard, was a well-known figure in Irish horticulture and the family home at Maryborough House had a collection of rhododendrons, which brought Tricia to Glendoick in the early 1960s, in search of plants and advice. Here, she met her husband to be Peter Cox, who ran the Glendoick Nursery with his father Euan. Tricia married Peter and moved to Scotland 1963, and their sons Kenneth (1964) and Raymond (1966), completed the family.
In the early 1970s, Peter and Tricia began to research the idea of opening one of Scotland’s first garden centres and in 1973 Glendoick Garden Centre opened with a tiny shop, which has expanded over the years. Tricia ran the garden centre for the next 20 years, alongside a career advising and designing gardens all over eastern Scotland.
Tricia was a founder member of the Leisuregrow Garden Centre buying group and later became its chairperson. She accompanied husband Peter on several plant hunting expeditions to India (1965), China (1990), Chile (1996) and India (2004). Semi-retiring in the late 1980s, handing over to her son Kenneth, Tricia carried on designing gardens including the Pagoda Garden at Glendoick Garden Centre.
She is survived by her husband Peter, brothers Ken and Anthony, sons Kenneth and Raymond and 5 grandchildren.
