A Yorkshire Rose for Yorkshire Day!

The Yorkshire Post were here at Harewood today to photogrpah a new rose named 'Yorkshire Princess' in honour of HRH Princess Mary. Our Craft Gardener Helen Fletcher is shown with the rose in the Yorkshire Post piece (right).

We are introducing the new rose called 'Yorkshire Princess', dedicated to HRH the Princess Mary, Princess Royal, who lived here at Harewood for more than 30 years, to coincide with our Royal Harewood exhibition in this Diamond Jubilee year, .

Resembling an old-fashioned rose, this beautiful, but modest groundcover or patio rose, has a slight sweet scent, and is white with a delicate Orient Pink centre. Flowering throughout the summer, it is suitable for planting in rockeries, at the front of borders or alongside paths in cottage gardens, and will shortly be planted here at Harewood to commemorate the Princess's contribution to the Gardens.

Trevor Nicholson, Head Gardener at Harewood House, said: “Princess Mary was a very keen gardener and plantswoman who made a significant impact on the gardens here, introducing many elements of the gardens which our visitors still enjoy today. She was particularly fond of roses and so, to mark this year’s special ‘Royal Harewood’ exhibition, a rose was the ideal way to create a lasting tribute. The pure white petal, soft blush centre and sweet scent give a traditional feel, in-keeping with old-style roses and perfect for a Yorkshire Princess.”

A limited number of Rosa ‘Yorkshire Princess’ will be available to purchase as a containerised shrub from the Harewood plant stall this summer, with new stock arriving in November 2013. You can register your interest by emailing us your contact details, and we'll send you an update when further stock becomes available.

Bred in Northern Ireland by Dickson Nurseries, it is currently available to pre-order online as a root for potting from their website for delivery in November 2012.

We'll be officially launching our new rose at the Harrogate Autumn Flower Show, staged at the Great Yorkshire Showground from 14-16 September, you can call the Ticket hotline on 01423 546157 or visit their website for more details of the show.

Our exhibition, Royal Harewood, celebrating the life of the Princess continues until the end of September.

Explore the gardens for yourself, from the breath-taking Terrace overlooking majestic 'Capability' Brown landscape, to the exotic plant hunters' paradise of the Himalayan Garden and the delightful lakeside and woodland paths to the Walled Garden...

Find out more about the Gardens at Harewood...

 

The details:

Rosa ‘Yorkshire Princess’ – parentage Nice ‘n’ Easy x Regensberg; breeder Colin Dickson, Dickson Nurseries, Co Down; patio/groundcover; hybridised in 2005; blooms in clusters, white with hint of Orient pink; slight sweet scent; height 66cm, spread 65cm; flowers continuously throughout the summer.

Harewood Champion Trees!

In the UK our wonderful tree heritage is recorded within the Tree Register, a Registered Charity with a unique database of over 150,000 of our most notable Trees.

Recording a veteran oak tree in the grounds of Harewood House

Harewood's trees are a beautiful and important feature of the landscape which surrounds the House. Following our latest Tree Register Report we can now say we are home to several Champion Trees!

We have a Grand Fir growing in the Lakeside Gardens (SE of the Cascade beside the path towards the Walled Garden) which has been recorded as the tallest in Yorkshire. It is the best the Tree Inspector has ever seen and looks as if it wants to grow a bit taller too!

We also have a rare Japanese oak (planted by Her Majesty Queen Alexandra on 8th July 1908) in the grounds; it is certainly a champion tree for Yorkshire and maybe a Champion Tree for the whole of the British Isles, we'll wait for final confirmation and update the post here!

Several other trees become County Champions for Yorkshire including:

• Grecian Fir in the West Garden
• Purple Bean Tree south of the Cascade, by the Stupa 
• Katsura Tree in the Himalayan Garden
• Leylandii south of the Lake, near the large Sessile Oak
• Eucryphia in the Archery Border which is remarkably large for Yorkshire! 
• Japanese Big-leaved Magnolia in the Himalayan Garden
• London Plane in the Bird Garden 
• Japanese Cherry beside the path to the Church
• Scarlet Oak on the North Front opposite the House
• Daimyo Oak on the North Front opposite the House

Please note: some trees pictured below are not in areas currently accessible to visitors. Please stay to the marked footpaths and access areas when you visit Harewood. 

Estimating the age of a large conifer

Gathering data for the tree register of two ancient oaks four to five centuries old

Measuring the girth of an old ash tree

Recording details of a veteran oak tree at Harewood

Using a hypsometer to measure the height of a tree

Please note: some trees pictured above are not in areas currently accessible to visitors. Please stay to the marked footpaths and access areas when you visit Harewood.

The Scarlet Oak on the North Front is exceeded only by a few in southern England, and the Dawn Redwood south of the lake is a particularly beautiful tree and almost the tallest this far north.

One of our Rhododendrons to the south of the lake is the largest hardy hybrid of any kind the Tree Register Inspector had ever seen!

Harewood is a wonderful place to explore the landscape and spot some of these wonderful trees... A new walks booklet is available from the Harewood Information Centre which will take you on 4 walks of discovery in the Grounds at Harewood...and we hope to produce something similar focussing on the trees at Harewood...watch this space for details!

You can collect a guide to some of the wonderful trees in the West Garden at Harewood during Autumn Glory week (October Half Term) - the trees are at their most colourful and vivid at this time of year...

Read more about the Grounds at Harewood and our Autumn Glory event on our website...

Walled Garden update...heritage varieties and organic techniques to prevent pests

Since we’ve had all that rain and, now that the sun has come out, the vegetable crops are growing really well in the Walled Garden!

Releasing ladybirds

Simpson Lettuce

Carot-fly barrier protects crops without using chemicals

Globe Artichokes

Grape Vines in the Glasshouses (not currently accesible to visitor, but watch this space!)

Lettuce Rows

Onions growing well...

We’re using various organic techniques to prevent pests, including putting fine gauze around the carrot plots to act as a barrier against carrot root fly.

There are some interesting heritage varieties to be seen now too. On some of the indoor crops, instead of using chemicals to control pests such as ‘mealy bugs’ we are using a specially-bred ladybird which eats them!

Visit the Walled Garden at Harewood...

Read more about the Walled Garden including videos, recipes and more!

The Himalayan Garden is sublime in June...

‘Himalaya’, ‘The Abode of Snow’, the vast range of mountain peaks which arc across Central Asia, has an extraordinary diversity of flora.

Alan Titchmarsh, who opened the garden in May 2009, said “The Harewood Himalayan Garden is a hidden gem and second to none in the UK. Tell your friends!”

Harewood’s Himalayan Garden, a redevelopment of the ‘Rock Garden’ nurtured by Princess Mary and her husband the 6th Earl of Harewood in the 1930s, is this extraordinary world in miniature, a plant-hunter’s paradise.

With paths through a gorge and a bridge across the beck, this is somewhere for all garden-lovers to visit, with primulas, orchids, cobra lilies, blue poppies and more than 50 kinds of rhododendron.

It is also home to the Harewood Stupa, a Buddhist monument built in 2004 by monks from the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. The Stupa is the only one of its kind in the UK.

Some rare and beautiful flowers you might be lucky enough to see in this exotic Garden if you visit in June...

Iris Meadow

Primula Meadow

Cobra Lilly

Bhutan Pine

Chinese False Spikenard

Big-leaved Magnolia

Large Yellow Slipper Orchid

Blue Poppy

Enjoy the Gardens this Summer at Harewood...!

Read more and see videos about the Gardens on our website...

Blooming Borders in the Gardens at Harewood!

As well as our traditional ‘English’ cottage garden flowers, some of our more tender exotics, such as the lovely blue salvia patens (Gentian Sage) from Mexico and the ornamental onions from central Asia are to be seen in flower now too...

Flower border in early June

Rose Constance Spry

Rose Ophelia

Rose Blairii No.2

Salvia Patens

Bearded Iris

Ornamental Onion Flower

Rose Madame Alfred Carriere

Foxglove Excelsior Hybrid

Delphiniums

Foxglove Elsie Kelsey

The borders are a must-see attraction at Harewood!

Read more about the Borders on our webpages...

Exotic Chusan palms in the Archery Border...

Our group of Chusan palms are just coming into flower in the Archery Border. You most likely won't have seen these palms anywhere else, nor would you necessarily associate palm trees coming into flower in Yorkshire! These flower here thanks to the southerly-facing aspect and sheltered location of the Archery Border below the Terrace, it's a real sun-trap in Summer and a nice quiet spot for relaxing with a book...

The palms look fantastic in the Archery Border here at Harewood...

They were planted in the border about twelve years ago as part of the sub-tropical replanting scheme and have since grown to more than ten feet high. They are native to central China. Another name for them is the ‘Chinese Windmill Palm’. Their scientific name is Trachycarpus fortunei, they are named after the famous (and very interesting!) Victorian plant hunter, Robert Fortune, who discovered them growing on the island of Chusan near Shanghai.

Find out more about Robert Fortune on the Plant Explorers.Com website

Find out more about the Gardens at Harewood here... 

Developments in the Walled Garden at Harewood...

The 'Dig for Victory' bed is starting to show results...with peas, beans and potatoes looking promising...

As well as the three varieties we are growing as part of the 'Dig for Victory' plot, we have a further ten different varieties of potato growing in the Walled Garden.

Crops in the Walled Garden are all labelled so you can take a look for yourself and get tips and ideas for growing in your own garden!

Gardeners are always on hand and happy to answer questions too...

The Walled Garden is a hive of activity throughout the Summer months, harking back to its heyday when it would have been the centre of food production for the Estate. 

Some of the varieties we grow...

Arran Victory was bred in the Isle of Arran by Donald Mackelvie. Victory, the oldest of the "Arrans" still grown, was named in 1918 in celebration of the ending of the war. It is rare and is one of only two blue skinned varieties still available for general cultivation. It is high yielding given a long season.

Home Guard. This first early variety was first introduced in 1942 and was grown by Jeremy Shirley's father in the late 1940's - the Dad's Army Days!
Home Guard is a superior potato of excellent flavour that does not go floury like some varieties. Both the skin and flesh is pure white. High yielding and with good resistance to scab, this explains why this popular wartime variety found huge commercial success - and has continued to remain one of the gardener's favourites since WWII.

Kelvedon Wonder has been a favourite with gardeners for many years. It is an early variety but is suitable for successional sowings throughout the season.

Green Windsor. Those of you old enough to recall those great old days of English gastronomy just after the last war will remember that the choice of starters for a 3-course, table d´hote (à la carte had yet to be invented) meal was either fruit juice or the ubiquitous Brown Windsor Soup. Introduced in 1831, this ever popular variety was once one of the main ingredients of said soup.

You can read more about the Walled Garden on our website, including the free beekeeping demonstrations run by the Harrogate & Ripon Beekeepers Association which take place in the Walled Garden on Saturdays from now for the rest of the Summer. 

Enjoy the Gardens at Harewood this Summer!

Read more about the Gardens at Harewood here...