RHS Garden Harlow Carr in Harrogate, will be the proud home until 6th September to the extremely rare Highgrove Florilegium, a publication uniting two of HRH The Prince of Wales’ passions – horticulture and painting.
Recently acquired by the RHS this limited edition two-volume publication contains 124 prints of botanical watercolour paintings. There are just 175 sets of the publication in total with just 38 remaining. It is the culmination of over seven years work and celebrates The Prince’s achievements in his organic garden at Highgrove.
Highgrove is an extraordinarily diverse and eclectic garden which The Prince has been cultivating since its acquisition in 1981, as a strictly organic farm containing both rare and beautiful specimens.
The works in the Florilegium revitalise the art of botanical drawing and painting which can be traced back to the ancient Greeks but became especially popular during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Each depicted plant is accompanied by detailed text, including its formal Latin name and a description giving a brief history of its discovery or creation, distribution, ecology and uses.
The paintings are by 72 of the leading botanical artists from around the world, many of whom are RHS botanical art medal holders. The books are signed by The Prince and each individual print is hand-embossed with plate and edition numbers added in pencil. Each copy was hand-bound by Yorkshire Master Book Binder Stephen Conway and Yorkshire-born artist Sally Strawson has two paintings in the Florilegium
