Among the many plants growing in the gardens at Douneside, there is one with a particularly special connection to the House and the woman whose influence can still be felt throughout the estate today.
The Lady MacRobert Rose carries not only her name, but a small part of a much larger story.
In our latest film from the gardens, we meet Aston, a second-year horticultural trainee with The MacRobert Trust, who introduces us to this rare rose and explains why it holds such a special place at Douneside.
A garden shaped by Lady MacRobert
The gardens surrounding Douneside House extend to some 17 acres, looking out across the Howe of Cromar towards the hills of Royal Deeside.
Their story is closely entwined with that of Lady Rachel MacRobert.
After marrying Sir Alexander MacRobert in 1911, Rachel made Douneside her family home. Together, Sir Alexander and Lady MacRobert transformed what had once been a comparatively modest property into the country house and gardens we recognise today.
Lady MacRobert brought enormous energy and curiosity to Douneside. A geologist by education, a farmer, philanthropist and keen horticulturist, she had a genuine interest in the natural world and was an enthusiastic and knowledgeable gardener and plant collector.
The gardens became one of her great interests.
She continued to shape and develop them throughout her life, and elements of the landscape she knew remain very much part of Douneside today.
Perhaps one of the most evocative examples is the rock pool garden. Originally created as Lady MacRobert's alpine rock garden, it was designed in 1911 by the renowned Backhouse Nurseries of York. Today it has evolved into a wonderfully atmospheric part of the grounds, filled seasonally with plants including Primula, Hosta, Iris, Rodgersia and Meconopsis.
Elsewhere, formal terraces, sweeping lawns, an arboretum, ornamental glasshouse and productive walled garden each give the grounds their own character.
More than a century later, the gardens continue to change and grow, but their connection with Lady MacRobert remains.
The rose that bears her name
Within those gardens grows the Lady MacRobert Rose.
Officially recorded by the Royal Horticultural Society as Rosa Lady MacRobert ('Coclent'), it is a floribunda rose, producing its flowers in clusters.
As Aston explains in our film, the rose was bred by the renowned Scottish rose growers Cocker and named in honour of Lady MacRobert.
Today, it has become something of a rarity.
The Lady MacRobert Rose is not available commercially and, rather than being a rose that can simply be ordered for the garden, plants are occasionally gifted. Aston tells us that this has included gifts to members of the Trust and, most notably, a Lady MacRobert Rose presented to King Charles.
There is something particularly fitting about finding it still growing here.
For all the remarkable chapters in Lady MacRobert's life, from science and agriculture to her extraordinary philanthropy, gardening remained one of the interests to which she devoted herself at Douneside.
The rose bearing her name now flowers within the landscape she helped create.
Growing the next generation
There is another connection within Aston's story.
Aston is a second-year horticultural trainee at Douneside through The MacRobert Trust's Horticultural Training Scheme.
The gardens Lady MacRobert helped to establish are therefore not simply being preserved as a piece of history. They continue to be working gardens and a place in which the next generation of horticulturists can learn their craft.
Douneside is an RHS Partner Garden and an RHS Qualifications Approved Centre, with the gardens serving as the principal teaching garden for the Trust's horticultural training programme.
Trainees work alongside the garden team across a remarkably varied landscape, from ornamental planting and the greenhouse to the arboretum, lawns and productive walled garden.
It is a continuation of something that feels very appropriate for Douneside: preserving what matters while allowing new knowledge, new people and new ideas to become part of its story.
A living legacy
Lady MacRobert died in 1954, but it is difficult to spend much time at Douneside without encountering something that can be traced back to her.
The charitable Trust she established continues to support people and organisations today. The House she loved remains at the centre of the estate. The gardens she helped create continue to be cultivated, enjoyed and developed.
And amongst them, quietly flowering in Royal Deeside, is a rose carrying her name.
The Lady MacRobert Rose may be rare, but here at Douneside it is exactly where it belongs.
