Welcome to the home of Harkness Roses
Harkness 1879 has been breeding and growing roses for more than 140 years. World renowned for their exquisite beauty, superb fragrance and award-winning quality, Harkness produce reliable cultivars, as well as classic old roses, that will flourish in any garden. The new Harkness Masterpiece Collection® showcases the very best of British rose breeding, from modern hybrid teas to traditional old garden roses.
The collection encompasses more than 200 varieties of the finest roses from our dedicated breeding programme, led by our rose expert Philip Harkness. We are proud to offer this fantastic range of roses online and in stores across the country. Use our supplier search to find your nearest stockist.
Introducing the Chelsea Pensioner Rose
A tribute to the nation’s bravest, the ‘Chelsea Pensioner’ rose blooms with the same enduring spirit and vibrant red hue as the iconic scarlet coats worn by the Royal Hospital Chelsea’s residents.
This Hybrid Tea rose showcases radiant, rich red flowers with up to 50 petals, creating a stunning display against its lush, dark green foliage. Delight in its complex, yet captivating fragrance, with subtle hints of spice.
Witness a journey of change with these repeat-flowering roses, as pointy centred buds scatter across the bushy plant, before gently opening to reveal flowers that can stretch up to 10cm across, packed full of petals that are soft to touch, yet resilient in wet and windy conditions.
Exclusively grown by Harkness Roses, the ‘Chelsea Pensioner’ was proudly launched at the 2024 RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
We are delighted to donate £2.50 from the sale of each rose to the Royal Hospital Chelsea (registered charity no. 1076414). This is a charity-run home for retired veterans of the British Army, offering care and comradeship to around 300 former servicemen and women, based in London.
The rose is available to buy now on roses.co.uk
Our Exhibits
We take great pride in being able to exhibit and showcase the real beauty of our roses. Throughout the company’s 140 year history, The Harkness Rose Company have won more than 25 Gold Medals at Chelsea flower Show. This year we are proud to have won a Silver-Gilt Medal.
At Chelsea 2023 we launched five new roses: The Menopause Charity Rose; Sense & Sensibility; Dr. Susan Michaelis; Rosemary Day and Margarette Golding. Some of these are charity roses where £2.50 from each rose is donated. All of these roses are available for sale or pre-order now.
At the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show we also won a Silver-Gilt Medal and launched the Rob Burrow MND Rose.
New Rose Introductions
Every year The Harkness Rose Company introduce new varieties from our extensive breeding and research program. It takes seven or eight years to breed and test a new variety. We only introduce those that we believe to be worthy of a place in our listing and our customers gardens.
