Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Travel / Places to Visit => Topic started by: Matt T on January 08, 2017, 04:17:42 PM
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Travelling back home from Christmas visiting I broke my journey at Harrogate and paid a visit to RHS Harlow Carr. Easily accessible, plenty of interest but not so large as to be unmanageable in a day visit, well stocked plant centre and of course Betty's tea room! I'll share here a few impressions.
The alpine yard was roped off, but you can see some plants are now well established in the tufa walls.
There are images of these troughs in other seasons on other threads on this Forum.
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The airy alpine house, with largely permanent plantings, including a Dionysia janthina in flower.
Some seasonal displays in the plunges included a lovely potful of Narcissus 'Cedric Morris'.
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The garden sits in a valley with a stream running through it. Maximum use of the cool moist environment has been made with plantings of Primula and Meconopsis, mostly dormant but a few furry rosettes catch the water droplets and low winter light. The main borders run down to the stream from the top of the garden and are full of winter stems and seed heads.
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It seems that every garden must now have a 'Winter Garden', and the RHS are planning one at Hyde Hall in Essex. I remember this garden from when the Robinsons had it before it being taken on by the RHS. It's changed beyond recognition, but every garden is a reflection if its custodian. The winter garden can be lovely at this time of year, but is not very practical in a domestic setting where all plants have to earn their keep. I prefer to mix winter feature plants into the plantings to give interest throughout the garden. Anyway, some great combinations and plant selections to be seen and the overlapping, slanting hedges framing the circular seat around the (hornbean?) tree works wonderfully.
They've resisted the (now clichéd?) overuse of Betula utilis, with just a few specimens strategically dotted around.
Plenty of fragrance from many Daphne x bodnantense in the form 'Charles Lamont'.
The winged stems of Euonymus alata.
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For me the stars of the winter garden, more so than Cornus, were the willows in their many forms.
Salix alba 'Chermesina' - I like the explosion of stems from the pollarded heads.
Salix alba var vitellina 'Yelverton' with intense colour to rival any Cornus.
Salix myrsinifolia with blackest stems.
Salix contorta seen best against a winter sky.
Salix acutifolia 'Blue Streak'
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Hamaemelis mollis
Hamaemelis 'Jelena'
Hamaemelis 'Livia'
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Some sculptures dotted around the garden, including a kingfisher next to a stream (a matching owl sits over the heather beds), the BFG in the woods is fun for the kids and young at heart, and a huge bunch mistletoe hangs from an oak tree - waiting for a big kiss?
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Glad you enjoyed Harlow Carr Matt. I wish I had known you were visiting, you could have called in, I am only five minutes away and our coffee is a lot cheaper than Bettys😜, and I'm sure a few free plants
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Next time, Lawrence! I only just realised how close you are, but I was on a tight schedule as it was new years eve and I had to get up to Pittenweem in Fife that evening. Will be sure to get in touch when I visit again and look forward to a cheaper cuppa!
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Great pictures thanks for sharing...
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I like to see our native willows when they are just coming into fresh spring growth. A few S. caprea are showing flower buds already. Native grasses seem to be overlooked in garden plantings and many are quite small and interesting. I went to Harlow Carr a long time ago and can,t remember much about it. Thanks for the update Matt.
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Matt, we visited Harlow Carr in November some years ago when we stayed in York. They had just built the new Alpine House but it wasn't yet open. The grand opening was planned for the following spring. At home there would have been nothing to see at this late date but not so at Harlow Carr, which had late blooms, will try to find some pictures to share. November is also a good time to see the "bones" of a garden and this one was so impressive.
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Lovely pics Matt but as Lawrence says if you visited Betty's it must be beans on toast for the rest of the month!
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Went to Bettys in York once. I thought the price for a cup of tea included afternoon tea and buns etc. Left and found a "more Yorkshire" cafe instead.
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Finest Eccles Cakes in the World, but accepted not the cheapest!
Lovely set of pictures Matt. Harlow Carr has come on in leaps and bounds over the last 4/5 years I wish Rosemoor had as fine an Alpine house and surroundings.
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A trip to Yorkshire is incomplete without a Fat Rascal from Bettys. I always save it's teeth until last.
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I guess on this forum there are at least 3 ways of pronouncing "scone" ;-)
Amusing that Bettys website uses "cookies" ;-)
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I guess on this forum there are at least 3 ways of pronouncing "scone" ;-)
Amusing that Bettys website uses "cookies" ;-)
;D ;D ;D With my flat vowels you could easily guess my pronunciation!
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They've resisted the (now clichéd?) overuse of Betula utilis, with just a few specimens strategically dotted around.
Can trees be clichéd Matt? Bit of a bummer if you have planted a load, waited 10 years and they are just starting to look good...
Just as well I planted B. ermanii! ;D
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Can trees be clichéd Matt? Bit of a bummer if you have planted a load, waited 10 years and they are just starting to look good...
Just as well I planted B. ermanii! ;D
Trees per se, no. You can't have enough trees, and everyone should be planting more! B. ermanii is a particularly fine one and I have nothing against B. utilis either. What I meant is that I think I've seen enough of the groves of the latter in winter gardens everywhere now, with under-gardeners scrubbing them with brushes and soapy water, that they've maybe lost their impact a little for me at least.
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I know Matt, and I was being a bit flippant. To be honest I plant things in my garden for myself. If other people like them too, so much the better.
I do agree with you that clumps of Betula in general are a pretty well-established garden thing, though. In my view they look much better with some winter-flowering and spring bulbs to brighten them up. And you won't catch me with any soapy water (at least where trees are concerned).
Speaking of birches, the Mythic Garden (http://stonelanegardens.com/) near Chagford is well worth a visit, it has a superb collection of Betula and to a lesser extent Alnus and some nice sculptures. Also a really good place to source material, they supply 1.5m bare root trees which establish and grow very well.
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I love my Betula utilis jacquemontii - and I wash the trunk whenever it need it (usually a couple of times a year) - brings it up a treat. I suppose when one has been accustomed to all the tidying and primping that goes on to present perfect show plants, giving a tree a wash and brush up seems quite normal!
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We all have a quirk or two, Maggi. Makes folk interesting ;D
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My Betula utilis used to peel so much they did not need a scrub. I do miss them. I have planted a seedling but it is a bit crooked. I would have liked three stems but it only produced two so I think I will reduce it to one.
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If you coppice it Roma might it produce more stems?
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primping
I misread that word first time round and wondered at first if things were more <ahem> interesting in Scottish shows than I had previously imagined Maggi!
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Sadly (????) not , Tristan!!
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I misread that word first time round and wondered at first if things were more <ahem> interesting in Scottish shows than I had previously imagined Maggi!
It's the lure of the bacon butties that does it!
;D ;D ;D
cheers
fermi