David Hessayon first ‘Expert’ book came out in 1959 and the whole range of gardening titles that followed have had the most extraordinarily successful history.
‘Coupling illustrations and colourful page layouts with snappy text was a masterstroke back in the 1950s and one that has stood the test of time.’
Gardening Centre Association chief executive Peter Burks said: ‘I know of many now senior members of our industry who credit Dr Hessayon as being the person who got them started.
‘His impact on the industry cannot be under-estimated.’
Friend Dr Steve Dowbiggin, who sits on the Royal Horticultural Society’s Education Committee, said: ‘He was a mentor to me. There was never anything you couldn’t discuss with Dave. He was an amazing guy.
Last time I saw him he said that the only problem with living as long as he has is that no one alive can actually write his obituary.’
Born on February 13, 1928, Dr Hessayon grew up as one of five children in Salford.
From the age of five, he would help his Cypriot watchmaker father, Jack, to cultivate a few colourful reminders of the country he had left behind.
He learnt his art tending a small plot boasting eight lilies and some hydrangeas.
His mother, Lena died when he was six and he said that taught him he would have to fight to be successful in life.
Dr Hessayon was educated at Salford Grammar School and studied botany and chemistry at Leeds University before achieving a PhD from Manchester University in soil science.
After meeting his US-born future wife Joan in Paris in 1949, he was so determined to woo her that he moved to Missouri to work for her father’s newspaper.
He later became managing director of Pan Britannica Industries, the makers of Baby Bio fertiliser.
Former colleague Jane Lawler recalled: ‘What a baptism of fire it was working for The Doc’ ! He had an extraordinary level of energy and sometimes struggled to understand why the mere mortals around him were unable to stand the pace! I learned so much from him. I have the full set of the Expert series on the bookcase – most of them signed.’
Dr Hessayon lived in Sloe House, a 25-room Georgian mansion in Halstead, Essex, with 27 acres containing every one of the 10,000 plants he had written about.
Dr Hessayon once said it was seeing his bound PhD document which made him decide to become an author.
He said: ‘It was green with gold letters on it. It said DG Hessayon, and I thought, ‘This is what I want to do’.
‘The real secret of my work is that people feel at ease with them. I’m writing for the man in the semi-detached.
‘People say they are the kind of books which they could have written themselves, which is really the best compliment.’
After romantic novelist Joan died in 2001, he set up the Joan Hessayon Award for new writers in the genre.
Dr Hessayon received three honorary doctorates and was made an OBE in 2007.
The Expert series sold its 50 millionth copy in print in 2008 as it celebrated its 50th anniversary.
The Guinness Book of Records listed Dr Hessayon as the bestselling non-fiction author in history.
But in 2010, B&Q axed his guides even though he was outselling Titchmarsh by 16 to one nationwide.
At the time, he said of B&Q’s snub: ‘It’s sad for the public and sad for me. There are celebrities and there are experts.
‘I am the one who nobody knows. I am just the man who wrote the books. I am the celebrity’s expert. But I avoid publicity like the plague.
‘It’s sad as one likes to see a level playing field.’
In 2012, he featured in the Daily Mail’s list of ‘60 truly great Elizabethans’ for ‘teaching millions of us how to garden’.
Revealing his retirement aged 85, Dr Hessayon warned young authors they are unlikely ever to repeat his stellar success because there is so much information on the Internet.
In the past, Dr Hessayon also attacked TV gardening makeover shows like Titchmarsh’s Ground Force for doing ‘a bloody lot of harm’.
He complained: ‘People were expected to make a garden in less than 48 hours ‘before your wife gets back’. But in that time you could do nothing. You couldn’t even get the soil ready for a lawn.’
Dr Hessayon was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the bestselling non-fiction author in history
Despite being a multi-millionaire, Dr Hessayon drove a Renault Clio and shopped at Marks & Spencer.
He lived in Sloe House, a 25-room Georgian mansion in Halstead, Essex, with 27 acres containing every one of the 10,000 plants he had written about.
Dr Hessayon carried on tending to his own roses and shrubs in recent years and friends had been convinced that he would live to see 100.
But he died of natural causes on January 16.
He leaves two daughters Angelina and Jacqueline, four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
