Overlooked by The Rangers House, Greenwich Park’s Rose Garden has been a feature of the Royal Park for more than six decades, with a mix of hybrid tea and floribunda roses.
But over the years the roses have become affected with “Rose Replant Sickness”, leaving the rose beds tired and prone to breaking.
Over the summer months, the Royal Parks announced a three-year project to revive the garden, which began earlier this year.
Rather than simply replant like-for-like, the Royal Parks team is using the opportunity to rethink the space.
Over the summer months, the Royal Parks announced a three-year project to revive the garden.(Image: Emily Davison)
Inspired by celebrated gardens at Mottisfont in Hampshire and Hyde Park, the redesign will combine traditional rose beds with a wider variety of planting.
The space now features a mix of perennials, groundcover, grasses and bulbs, to be mixed in with newly planted roses to provide colour throughout the seasons.
Taking part in two phases, the first features a new rose hedge within the existing yew boundary, framing seating areas and small, more intimate gardens.
More than a hundred roses have been planted alongside herbaceous borders, with benches placed to give visitors a view of the central beds and urns that have always been a hallmark of the garden.
The space now features a mix of perennials, groundcover, grasses and bulbs, to be mixed in with newly planted roses.(Image: Emily Davison)
The second phase extends the work along the face of Ranger’s House and surrounding pathways, introducing new meadow areas and adding prairie-style borders.
Alongside the flowers, two new steel pergolas have also been installed, providing height and structure as well as shaded places to sit.
Purple clematis and rambling yellow roses have also been incorporated to the space, along with accessible pathways to the garden’s centre.
In total, the project introduces 17 new cultivars of roses and diverse planting designed to be sustainable, encouraging natural pest control.
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