A Mrs Cunliffe Lister sells the Borde Hill estate to Stephenson Robert Clarke (1862-1948). Heir to the Stephenson Clarke shipping firm, he bought Borde Hill with the sole intention of creating a great garden. The Colonel began collecting plants soon after he acquired the Estate.

When he bought Borde Hill it only had 8 acres of land. Over the next fifty years he increased his land holding to 21,000 acres, creating the formal plantings in the Garden, and planting extensively in selected woodlands around the estate where their microclimates were especially suitable for more tropical flora and fauna.

Stephie begins to collect systematically and sponsors Ernest Henry Wilson’s plant- hunting expeditions to China.

The distinctive Elizabethan chimneys of Borde Hill House can be seen in this photograph from a 1902 issue of Country Life. The article described Stephie's garden as 'natural flower gardening at its very best'.

Exotic species are added to the existing oak, ash, hazel and beech in Warren Wood.

Stables and a walled kitchen garden are built to the south-east, near Borde Hill Lane.

Stephenson Robert Clarke further extends the house. His initials are carved into the north porch (now the house’s main entrance), with the date of his extension, 1912.

On the Greek island of Lemnos, Ralph Stephenson Clarke collects seeds of Platanus orientalis var. insularis, which is sown and still grows south-east of Warren Wood.

Stephie sponsors George Forrest’s fourth expedition to China and Burma (now Myanmar).

Stephie’s correspondence with plant hunters, botanical gardens, nurserymen and garden owners indicates his position at the heart of the horticultural world.

Stephie sponsors Reginald Farrer’s expedition to Upper Burma.

Stephie sponsors Forrest’s fifth and sixth expeditions.

Creation of the Garden of Allah by extending the garden into the North Park for plant introductions from the Far East.

Stephie sponsors Harold Comber’s expeditions to Argentina and the Andes.

Borde Hill is one of the first gardens to open for the National Garden Scheme. W.J. Bean, curator of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and Ernest Wilson, its original collector, congratulate Stephie on flowering Liriodendron chinense.

Walter Fleming is head gardener.

Stephie sponsors Forrest’s seventh and final expedition.

Stephie sponsors expeditions by Frank Kingdon Ward to Assam, Burma and Tibet.

Gore’s Wood is planted.

Publication of Catalogue of the Trees and Shrubs at Borde Hill, Sussex, compiled by Albert Bruce Jackson.

Stephie is awarded the RHS Victoria Medal of Honour (VMH).

Camellia × williamsii ‘Donation’ is raised by Fleming and becomes a worldwide bestseller.

Borde Hill House and estate are requisitioned by the British and Canadian armies.

Camellia ‘Donation’ receives an RHS Award of Merit.

Stephie is awarded the RHS Veitch Memorial Medal.

Stephie wins an RHS Award of Merit for Alstroemeria ‘Walter Fleming’ in June. He dies in November. Ralph inherits Borde Hill and begins restoring the garden and woodlands devastated by war. Becky follows in Stephie’s footsteps by hybridizing nerines and alstroemerias.

Ralph and Becky move to Borde Hill from Brook House when Stephie’s widow, Gwennie, leaves.

The woods, including Warren Wood, are recatalogued by the dendrologist Hatton Gardner.

Sir Ralph sets up Borde Hill Garden as a charity and begins opening regularly to the public.