I ticked off another ‘must see’ garden on my recent Harrogate trip with a visit to Harlow Carr, the most northern of the RHS’s gardens. It proved to be a rather grey, damp day – nothing unusual this year – but that didn’t spoil an interesting visit.
Originally established by the Northern Horticultural Society, Harlow Carr first opened to the public in 1950 and became an RHS garden in 2001 when the NHS merged with the RHS.
It’s a varied garden, set in a valley, with features that include woodland, a stream garden, alpine planting, vegetables, wildflowers and borders that range from sub tropical planting to more traditional herbaceous.
There was plenty of floral colour with hylotelephium (formerly sedum), Michaelmas daisies and rudbeckia among the stars of the season.
The Main Borders are about to be revamped and replanted but even so there were some good plant combinations to see.
There was also one of the biggest mass plantings of rudbeckia I’ve come across, an absolutely dazzling display of floral sunshine.
The ‘Sub-Tropicana Garden’ was looking particularly good with big leaves and splashes of red, orange and yellow.
The swing seat was a perfect place to stop and take in the garden and I took full advantage, especially as we’d walked to Harlow Carr from Harrogate, a delightful route through The Valley Gardens park.
One of the best things about garden-visiting is picking up ideas and there are plenty to be had at RHS Harlow Carr.
The trained apples were good for seeing how to squeeze fruit into a small space and for ideas of varieties to grow.
Even better were the trained currant bushes – a real space-saving idea.
Naturally, being Yorkshire, there was plenty of rhubarb, although RHS Bridgewater holds the National Collection.
I was pretty envious of the great looking brassicas that were doing much better than mine but comforted by the winter squash. I though I’d had a bad season but their ‘Crown Prince’ squash was no bigger.
This was a nifty idea to increase wildlife habitats with both bug hotels and a green roof built into the structure.
Strangest of all, were the Doric columns in the woodland. Evidently, they were originally part of something called the ‘Cheltenham Pump Room’ in Harrogate. It was odd seeing an echo of my Cotswold home so far north.
You can find out more information on RHS Harlow Carr here.
Enjoyed this? You can read about more of my garden visits here.
Make sure you don’t miss future posts by adding your name to my mailing list.