John Goldie

John Goldie was born in Ayrshire, Scotland in 1793. He became a renowned botanist, plant collector and introducer of new species to horticulture. Goldie’s Fern bears his name. His first botanic expedition to Canada and the United States took place in 1817-1819. Near Lake Simcoe he collected three of the fourteen species which he found that were new to science. He made two botanic trips to Russia before his second North American journey in 1833.

The family immigrated to Ontario in 1844 and founded mills at Greenfield, near Ayr. Goldie established one of the earliest nurseries in Ontario. He sent rare and hitherto uncultivated species to England in exchange for choice or new cultivars. He was in his 90s when his son David built The Gore in Ayr where he planned the landscaping and supervised its installation.