Luke Pope
English nurseryman and florist / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Luke Pope (1740–1825) was an English nurseryman and florist[lower-alpha 1] in the English West Midlands, who founded the firm that became John Pope & Sons. He was associated with the Manor of Smethwick, from whom he rented land and for whom he carried out the duties of constable and bailiff, and had nurseries there and in nearby Handsworth. He specialised in tulips, claiming on his deathbed to have spent more than £3,000 (equivalent to £311,044 in 2023) on them, and later in the shrubs and plants of North America for which his son John's travels in the United States were a source. His grandson, Luke Linnaeus Pope, prepared illustrations of plants from his father's stock as they would appear when they were in bloom.