Bowes-Lyon Rose Garden at RHS Garden Wisley
The new Bowes-Lyon Rose Garden at RHS Garden Wisley, sponsored by Witan Investment Trust, opened to the public in June 2011.
Featuring more than 4,000 roses and 5,000 herbaceous plants, the garden is designed by RHS Chelsea gold medal-winning designer Robert Myers and is composed of a series of gentle terraces that 
step down from the Bowes Lyon Pavilion. A river of roses runs round circular lawns. The planting plan was created by RHS Wisley staff with help from Michael Marriott, of David Austin Roses, and includes drifts of herbaceous plants, including Verbascum, Verbena and Digitalis.
Supplied by rose experts David Austin Roses, Peter Beales Roses, Whartons Nurseries, Harkness Roses and Fryer’s Roses, more than 150 varieties of rose will feature in the garden, showcasing the full range of rose types available to modern gardeners, from true old roses, hybrid musks, English roses and floribunda, through to species roses. The colours of the garden will run from hot to cold, and the roses will create an impressive mix of scents.
Rose highlights include:
- Rosa spinosissima is a species rose. It is native to Scotland and normally found on coastal sand dunes, and produces black hips in autumn.
- Buttercup (‘Ausband’) is a rich, yellow English rose with an impressive scent of cocoa powder
- Peace (‘Madame A. Meiland’) is described by some as the finest Hybrid Tea roses ever raised, and is one of the most famous and successful garden roses of all time
- Several rose cultivars in the new rose garden have been awarded the title of Rose of the Year, including; Champagne Moments (‘Korvanaber’) (2006), Tickled Pink (‘Fryhunky’) (2007) and Rhapsody in Blue (‘Frantasia’) (2003)
Unusually, many of the roses will be planted in groups, just 50cm (20in) apart to grow up in large blocks of colour and variety, and will be grown and pruned as one rose. The roses are also planted with mycorrhizal fungi to promote strong root growth, and with the graft union flush with the soil level in line with current planting techniques.
Colin Crosbie, Curator of RHS Garden Wisley, says: “The new rose garden is a fantastic addition to RHS Wisley. We have chosen some wonderful cultivars to demonstrate to visitors how roses can be used to create a real spectacle, with all colours and scents.”