 More than 100,000 roses as well as shrubs and trees were grown and sold; there were also glasshouses to house begonias, maiden-hair ferns and other house plants, and a shadehouse for palms, tree ferns and staghorns.Native plants were cultivated with care.Walter's sons, first John and then William, lived in the house after their father moved to Brighton, but Walter travelled up each day to work in the nursery until his death in 1914.