Harlow Carr

Just after Easter we went to the RHS garden Harlow Carr, nr Harrogate.  It's one of our favourite gardens to visit and as it's only just over an hour 's drive for us it's one we can visit from time to time throughout the year. It covers several acres and has different types of gardens within the whole space. There's a woodland area, a kitchen garden, an alpine house, massive herbaceous borders, a stream side area, an arboretum, wildlife areas, and much more.

We like to go at different times of the year so we can see it change through the seasons.  In  the winter it's good to see what plants you can grow for winter interest. There is a  winter walk which takes you through the garden so you can see plants with interesting foliage. In Spring there are the daffodils and later when the tulips are in bloom the displays are superb.

Even though Harlow Carr is so big and our garden is quite small in comparison, we still come away with ideas of things we can do in our own garden.

Like the herb spiral in one of the trainee's gardens. I quite liked this idea, a good way to plant herbs in a small space.

I love the kitchen garden, to see how they set their vegetables and fruit out, and any new ways of planting.
The recently built alpine zone is quite spectacular there are hundreds of alpines and there always seems to be some in flower whatever time of year you visit.

The herbaceous borders are massive and  look good all the year round but as the year goes on they develop into the most amazing areas of colour and are absolutely fantastic in the summer. It's good for plant spotting, seeing how a plant looks and deciding if it will look good in our own garden.

I love going through the woodland area to see what will grow in those conditions as I have a lot of shade and a woodland area in my garden.  The tellima seem to grow well in shady conditions and the ferns look great under the trees.

 









There are always things to interest children, especially in the woodland area like this bear.

We had a good day out and I managed to come away without buying a plant from their fabulous plant centre. I did buy some seeds though. Well I couldn't not bring something back with me, could I?