Harlow Carr In March

We visited Harlow Carr on Saturday and though the weather was fine, it was bitterly cold.

The heather at the entrance to the garden is still putting on a fabulous show. This is a plant which earns its keep in the winter garden working hard when many other plants are taking a rest.

There's now evidence of life in the empty borders with tulips and perennials making their way through the earth. It won't be long until they're putting on a stunning show.

Daffodils are just beginning to put on their show, some are already in flower.

The Tete A Tetes are blooming away.

Some daffodils are still in bud, these must be a later variety.

The hellebores are still blooming away too.

This is Daphne bholua Jacqueline Postill, or Nepalese Paper Plant. A good candidate if you're wanting winter scent in the garden as its flowers are highly fragrant.

These pretty Chionodoxa luciliae were flowering along a low bank. I like it when flowers are raised above ground level, you get to see them up close and appreciate their finer details.

Nearby were these peculiar looking plants. I knew exactly where I'd seen them before, on Anna's Green Tapestry blog. Anna posted a photo of similar looking plants last year in A Wednesday Worisit post and there were many suggestions as to what they could be. I think they're probably Petasites japonicus. I shall look forward to watching how they develop on my future trips to Harlow Carr.

Last month, I posted a photo of the side of the stream where the gunnera lies in wait ready to regrow. This month, there's some new growth, but not from the gunnera, these pale green, almost yellow, shoots belong to Lysichiton americanum, a herbaceous perennial with unpleasantly scented, bright yellow arum like flowers.

There's lots of signs of spring in the garden now and amongst them, one of my favourite spring flowers, the primrose.

I think there'll be some wonderful pots and containers to see on my next visit, many have been planted up with tulips and I'm excited to see the colour combinations which have been used as I've taken lots of inspiration from Harlow Carr's previous tulip displays. They seem to have a wonderful knack of combining the right varieties and colours.

I'm looking forward to seeing this pot which has been planted with crocus, narcissus and tulips. None have yet flowered but it should hold blooms for some time as a combination of bulbs have been used to extend the flowering period.

The bed I'm watching over the course of the year doesn't look any different to how it looked last month. There's no new growth as yet so I'm wondering what's planted there.

On to the kitchen garden and the beds are looking even more bare than they did last month.

Most of the winter crops have now been cleared, but there's still purple sprouting broccoli to harvest.

One of the gardeners was hard at work getting the raised beds prepared for spring sowing.

Some new raised beds have been installed since my last visit. They're interesting shapes, I wonder what they're going to plant in them.

The snowdrops which are planted in the rhubarb bed are now going over and are past their best but the rhubarb is coming along well.

This is labelled as Stockbridge, I presume it's Stockbridge Arrow, a variety which is known as one of the best modern varieties.

I think rhubarb crumble will be on the menu soon.

There's a big difference in the beds and borders from what we saw last month, plants are pushing their way through the soil and where there was bare earth last month, there's now new growth. I'm hoping that the weather will have warmed up by the time we visit again, we didn't stay long on this visit as it was so cold. It would be nice to enjoy a leisurely stroll around the gardens without my hands freezing off.