The Himalayan Garden: 1 year on

Lose yourself in the Himalayas as Harewood celebrates the 1st anniversary of its Himalayan Garden...

Harewood’s Himalayan Garden was officially opened to the public by Alan Titchmarsh last year. Since then it has become a much-loved addition to Harewood’s award-winning Gardens and Grounds.

Set amidst the beautiful scenery of the lake and cascade, this sunken glade with its surrounding woodland garden, is home to over six hundred types of plants and over fifty species of Rhododendron.

The diversity of the flora of the Himalaya is truly immense and for centuries has lured plant-hunters to explore the region in search of plants. Harewood’s Himalayan Garden is this extraordinary world in miniature, a plant-hunters paradise. Here you will find plants from the various Himalayan zones: bamboos, bananas and gingers from the sub-tropical lowlands; conifers, broadleaf trees and shrubs – including rhododendrons – from temperate forests; herbaceous plants and bulbs from forest margins and open meadows; and alpine plants from the high mountain slopes. The garden contains many hidden gems including plants rare in cultivation.

If you haven’t already visited the Himalayan Garden, May to July is a great time to come and see this vibrant and colourful landscape.

Harewood’s Head Gardener Trevor Nicholson highlights a few of the garden’s most important plants ‘not to be missed’ by visitors to the garden this summer:

• Blue Poppies - The legendary and elusive blue poppy with its papery petals is synonymous with the Himalayas.

• Rhododendrons - From small shrubs to tree-like specimens, rhododendrons, with their sumptuous flowers are among the most important woody plants introduced into gardens from the Himalayas

• Bamboo - Harewood has many species of bamboo which grow in profusion along the margins of the stream and beside the Stupa.

• Primulas - Primulas grow in huge drifts in the glade, providing a gloriously colourful meadow through which paths meander and lead the visitor to the very heart of the Himalayan Garden.

• Chinese Trumpet Flower - Dotted amongst rocks and on screes, these little-known, exotic flowers from China are a delight to see with their bright pink trumpets and attractive, many-lobed leaves

• Himalayan Whorlflower - Resembling a thistle for much of the spring this Himalayan native sends up tall spikes of elegant white flowers in summer, which turn rose-pink then red.

• Asiatic lilies - From the unusual and striking to the fragrant and fashionable there are lilies in the Himalayan Garden to suit everyone’s taste.

• Irises - A particular favourite with visitors due to its very dark, almost black flowers

• Cobra Lilies - Like something not of this world, the reptilian ‘cobra lily’ is unusual and distinctive as well as variable.

A map guide to the Himalayan Garden complete with information about Princess Mary and the history of the garden, as well as a guide to some of the key plants is available from the Information Centre (50p each).

The guide also contains interesting facts about the Harewood Stupa – an authentic Buddhist monument and the only one of its kind in Europe – built in 2004 by monks from the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan.

Find out more on our Gardens webpages...