Sir William Thiselton-Dyer as Director

Sir Joseph Hooker retired in 1885 and the Directorship passed to the Assistant Director, Sir William Thiselton-Dyer, who was also Hooker's son-in-law. Under him, and after some years of reform and development, the focus shifted slightly.

The ambitious building projects of the Hooker period were now complete. The Gardens moved through a period of maturing evolution, when many aspects of Nesfield's intricate formal designs were gradually adjusted to minimise maintenance, and to fit in with changing fashions. Thiselton-Dyer himself was closely associated with numerous landscaping projects. Foremost amongst these was the restructuring the Arboretum, which at the time caused a public outcry. He also continued the informal policy of screening the Gardens from the industrial development across the river at Brentford, by planting about 80 Austrian pines in the grounds of the Herbarium to form a screen.

Thiselton-Dyer was particularly fond of these design projects, his first having been the Rock Garden, while he was Assistant Director. As Director, he continued the reclamation of gravel pits, from which he created the Bamboo Garden and a sunken garden for rambler and tea roses.

The Dell beside the Engine House, a gravel pit that had already been reclaimed by the Hookers, was expanded in 1897 and made into a Waterlily Pond. The warm waste water from the nearby Engine House was used to fill the pond so that tender aquatics could be grown there.

He also relandscaped the edges and islands of the Lake with heavy woodland to add contrasts of light and shade to the water, an effect of which he was particularly fond.

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