Rose marks scent-enary (From Times Series)

Rose marks scent-enary

3:09pm Thursday 24th May 2007 in

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A new variety of rose was unveiled on Monday to mark the centenary of Hampstead Garden Suburb.

The Henrietta Barnett rose, of the Floribunda class, was launched with the help of scientist Professor Lord Robert Winston at the Chelsea Flower Show.

The delicately-scented bloom, cultivated by rose specialists Harkness, has light lime-green buds which develop into rounded amber blooms, flowering several times a year.

A bush has been planted at The Orchard, Hampstead Way, a housing society providing sheltered accommodation for older people in Barnet, and others will be planted across the area.

The idea was the brainchild of the Hampstead Garden Suburb centenary committee and Horticultural Society. Marjorie Harris, chairman of the Horticultural Society, said: "A flower is a beautiful thing and a sign of hope, so it's a suitable way to celebrate our centenary. It's also something very simple that people can plant in their gardens. It won't disappear next year like a perennial - it will survive much longer."

TV presenter Lord Winston, a patron of the centenary celebrations, said: "Hampstead Garden Suburb is a special area, an extraordinary haven fairly central in London, but very much like living in the countryside. Harkness is one of the rose growers that doesn't use pesticides and it produces roses which are very pest resistant and durable, so it's a doubly good cause."

Comparing his work on human fertility and the creation of new rose varieties, Lord Winston added: "There's a degree of serendipity about how the offspring of these roses turn out, just as there's a degree of chance about how human offspring turn out. But I don't think the children I produce are quite as nicely perfumed as most of the Harkness roses."

The Henrietta Barnett rose will be available for purchase from Harkness on 0845 331 3143 or via mail order through the Hampstead Garden Suburb Gallery, Hampstead Way. Each rose will cost £12 either potted or as a bare-root plant.