| Raymond Clayton Allen was an American horticulturalist and rose expert, and the first director of the Kingwood Center Gardens in Mansfield, Ohio. Allen completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Massachusetts and received a Ph.D. in Ornamental Horticulture from Cornell University in 1930. He was a Fellow of the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research and Assistant Professor of Floriculture at Cornell, where he remained for 12 years. Allen was the Executive Director of the American Rose Society for 10 years and in 1953, became director of the Kingwood Center. He wrote and lectured extensively on roses and rose culture, judged roses at flower shows and was active in various garden and horticulture organizations for the rest of his life. Allen retired to Tucson, Arizona, where he served as director and Treasurer of the Tucson Botanical Garden and President of the Tucson Iris Society. |
