Tom (Taken at the Flood)

In the novel Taken at the Flood, Old Tom is the only gardener at the White House. He is employed by Adela Marchmont.

After the war, the house is seriously understaffed and Mrs Marchmont is in dire need of help. When she manages to get a cheque for five hundred pounds from Gordon's widow Rosaleen, she notes that Old Tom "really can't keep up with things" and they should be on the look-out for a second gardener. Her daughter Lynn argues with her and points out that even though the newspaper says so, there are no men in the area who would want such job anyway.

According to Mrs Marchmont, the garden is in a bad shape. At one point, she suggests starting growing their own vegetables, as it would in fact be an economy. Lynn disagrees.

When Poirot visits the White House, he thinks that the garden looks lovely, comprising many flowering shrubs, lilacs and laburnums, and a big old gnarled apple tree in the centre of the lawn.