Rea lived at Kinlet in Shropshire. As a gardener he was reputed to have had the largest collection of tulips in England, to have introduced new plants, and to have planned the gardens at Gerard's Bromley, Staffordshire, the seat of Charles Gerard, 4th Baron Gerard, to whose son he dedicated his Flora. He corresponded with Sir Thomas Hanmer, 2nd Baronet, interested in gardening, and in particular in tulips; Hanmer commended Rea's Flora to John Evelyn, but thought him no scholar. Rea died in November 1681, bequeathing his holding at Kinlet to his daughter Minerva, wife of Samuel Gilbert.
