Hilltop Garden

Rose Garden

The rose garden comprises six rectangular beds of David Austin English roses set in an immaculate verdant green lawn. All these roses have been bred to combine the disease resistance and vigour of modern varieties, combined with the flower structure and fragrance of traditional roses. Many of them have repeat flowering flushes thus providing colour from June right through to November.

The beds are grouped according to colour and are bounded by tightly clipped hedges of Buxus sempervirens and Taxus baccata, the deep green perfectly complementing the hues of the roses. Some noteworthy varieties include Rosa ‘The Mayflower’ which is incredibly disease resistant, Rosa ‘Winchester Cathedral’ which has a very compact pure white bloom and Rosa ‘Scepter’d Isle’, a deep red rose with an outstanding fragrance. Two climbing roses on modern style obelisks are situated on the corner of each bed.

Rose Rope Walk

The rose rope walk is one of the older features of Hyde Hall, originally planted in the late 1960s. It comprises a delectable selection of climbers, ramblers and clematis trained along thick shipping rope and makes a heavenly scented walk in the summer months. The rope walk is also spectacular in the winter, when the roses are pruned and trained into labyrinthine shapes around the ropes.

Some noteworthy cultivars include the rambler Rosa ‘Albertine’ with its sweetly scented light salmon pink blooms and the climber, pure white Rosa ‘Iceberg’. Some exceptional clematis include the beautiful double purple blooms of Clematis ‘Purpurea Plena Elegans’ and Clematis ‘Princess Diana’ with its bright pink trumpet shaped flowers with prominent creamy yellow centres.

Shrub Roses

Here you will find a good collection of old fashioned roses dating back several hundred years such as damasks, rugosas, gallicas and moss roses. A particular favourite is the pale pink Rosa gallica ‘Versicolor’ also known as the 'Apothecary’s Rose' as it was often used for making rose-water and medicinal preparations.

The roses reach their peak in June when the air is filled with their wonderful heady fragrance and to extend the seasonal interest, many roses have been under planted with perennials. There are also several hundred self-seeded foxtail lilies, Eremurus robustus whose tall spires grow through the roses.

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