SEVEN gardens reflecting 200 years of gardening have been created to mark the bicentenary of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS).

The ambitious project, in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, comes after the RHS took over Harlow Carr Gardens, in the spa town, from the Northern Horticultural Society.

It will be featured in a BBC2 television series in the autumn, hosted by Diarmuid Gavin and garden historian Jane Owen.

Although the gardens will be open to the public from Thursday, the official opening ceremony will not take place until July 21.

An RHS spokesman said: "This project gives a flavour of styles and techniques of gardening over the past 200 years. It reflects the choices and challenges faced by real gardeners in each period."

One of the gardens has been designed by Gavin, weaving together elements from the past double century to create a contemporary garden.

"It demonstrates how important the past still is to design and planting today," said the spokesman.

Gavin is best known for the BBC's Home Front in the Garden and for his creation at the recent Chelsea Flower Show.

Since securing the future of the gardens two years ago, the RHS has made a series of improvements, but the seven gardens project is the most dramatic yet.

Among gardens created is one covering the Regency era. There is a late Victorian offering and a Seventies example of outdoor living.

Memorable events captured include Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee, along with the Festival of Britain.

The opening ceremony will be headed by RHS president Sir Richard Carew Pole.

The 68-acre Harlow Carr site, in Crag Lane, Otley Road, had been the subject of a five- year development plan by its former owners, the North of England Horticultural Society. Before the project went ahead members voted overwhelmingly to merge with the RHS.

Later this year, Harrogate's famous Betty's tea rooms will opes an outlet on the site.