Saturday 5 September 2015

Harlow Carr In September

Things are almost turning full circle now. My very first photo from Harlow Carr back in January was of the heather, it was blooming at the time. Here is the same bed at the moment, the heather will be back in flower again very soon.


Things are starting to get tidied up at Harlow Carr, there were a couple of flower beds which had been stripped of plants and the earth tilled ready for new planting and this area by the stream is also having a makeover.


I don't know what these flowers are but they look fabulous planted en masse, there were great swathes of them blowing gently in the breeze.


Agapanthus Sarah is past her best.


Agapanthus Arctic Star is already spent. There's lots of flowers going to seed now that the summer months are coming to an end.


One seed head which is just as beautiful as the flower itself is the allium. They add interest to a garden for many months.


I don't know very much about trees but I was fascinated by these flowers. They remind me of nemesia. I don't know what kind of tree it is, I'd be interested to find out if anyone knows.



We ventured in to a large greenhouse which we haven't been in before. Growing there is this wonderful fig tree, it's trained to grow along the side of the greenhouse.


There's some figs on the tree but I doubt they'll ripen this year, perhaps they'll go on to give a harvest next year.


Also in the greenhouse is a passion flower. I've always fancied having a go at growing one but it's something else I haven't got round to doing yet.


I'm fascinated by the flowers, they're such an intricate design. The parts of the flowers are supposed to represent Christ's Passion and Cross.


As you might expect, the Kitchen Garden is fit to bursting at the moment. There's so much here waiting to be harvested, it's a good time of year.



You may wonder what is inside the mesh cage. Here's a closer look, they're blueberry bushes, presumably being protected against hungry beaks.


I've never grown celeriac myself but I know many people have trouble growing it. I don't think they have any problem at Harlow Carr.


The runner beans are waiting to be picked. I'm getting a steady supply from my own plants at the moment.


There was no sign of whitefly on the kale, a pest I can't get rid of when I grow kale myself.


I love the colour of this variety of kale, Redbor.


Courgettes and lettuce are growing in this tyre arrangement. I see the courgettes are suffering from mildew, something my own plants always suffer from. It doesn't seem to do them any harm though, I always end up with a glut.


The squash are growing nicely and are adding a splash of colour to the bed.


It's nearly harvest time for the apples. You can see how the tree has been trained to grow against wires, and the fruit nearly ready to be picked. This is Red Falstaff.


Crab apple John Downie.


Crab apple Neville Copeman is a glorious colour.


Here's the border I'm following, it seems fuller than ever this month. I expect it will start dying down again now ready for the winter months.


Harlow Carr has a wonderful Plant Centre, though I find that the perennials are well established specimens and are therefore, priced accordingly.


There's a good range of alpines on offer.


There was a sale on some of the roses but they'd been well picked over by the time I visited and there were none left which took my eye.


I'm sure many visitors will be going home with a cyclamen or two, their bright colours are very attractive during the winter months.


Gone are the summer bedding plants, autumn varieties have taken their place.


I'll leave you with some plants which are still earning their keep in the gardens during September.






I wonder how the gardens will look next month when autumn is truly upon us.

26 comments:

  1. Wonderful tour, Jo. It's so strange about the whitefly - I've also noticed at the farm I volunteer at that they don't really seem to have any issues with uncovered kale & other brassicas. They grow organically, so I know it's not due to any type of pesticide - maybe when you grow a small quantity in a home garden, the cabbage whites flock to those few plants, while in a larger setting, they are few and far between.

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    1. I gave up with kale as the whitefly issue was just too much. It's a shame really as we all love this vegetable. I've also found that some gardens can grow brassicas without covering them, Harlow Carr is one. Their cabbages don't seem to have any Cabbage White issues, not sure why.

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  2. A most enjoyable post and a lovely selection of pictures. It clearly is a place that's worth visiting regularly with so much to see throughout the year.
    Flighty xx

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    1. I'm surprised how much a garden can change month after month. It's testament to the gardeners at Harlow Carr how much interest they can produce right the way through the year.

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  3. It looks a lovely place to visit & I always say that when you post. I shall have to try & get there one day xx

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    1. I think all the RHS gardens look great, Harlow Carr is the only one I've visited but I'd like to visit the others at some point in the future.

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  4. Oh to be let loose in that plant centre, I would have a field day! Have you tried stinging nettle juice on your kale, it works on greenfly.

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    1. There's some lovely plants for sale but they do come with quite a hefty price tag. I haven't tried stinging nettle juice, I shall have to give that a try.

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  5. Can't help you out with flowers on the tree. The cage over the blueberry is a good idea, but I'll need one about 4 times as big to go over the 2 blueberries I have in the garden and one is just beginning to flower and the other has little buds. Thanks for the pics of Harlow Carr. Take care.

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    1. It sounds like you should get a great blueberry harvest with bushes that size. I've had mixed results from my three plants this year, one didn't fruit at all, one gave quite a decent harvest and the other has gone mad, still is.

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  6. Lovely pictures and their kitchen gardens put my allotment to shame! I know grow kale in pots on deck as the whitefly was such a problem, but they obviously don't like coming near salt water so problem solved! X

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    1. The Kitchen Garden is my favourite area of Harlow Carr, everything seems to grow so well there. You've found a great solution for growing kale, not one that I can replicate, unfortunately.

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  7. I wouldn't mind a Trolley Dash in their Plant Centre! I also wish I knew their secret for growing Celeriac. Mine are about the size if a golfball.

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    1. I agree, that would be so much fun. I've never grown celeriac myself, in fact, I've never even tried it. I know lots of people struggle to grow it though.

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  8. Oh that kitchen garden looks quite splendid Jo. Interesting to see the courgettes planted in tyres. Mine have suffered dreadfully from mildew this year. I don't know what the tree is, but I think that the white flowers dancing in the breeze are lysimachia clethroides, also known as gooseneck loosestrife.

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    1. The Kitchen Garden is at its best at the moment, so many lovely things waiting to be harvested. I've just googled lysimachia clethroides and that's definitely what they are, they looked fabulous, there was such a huge patch of them.

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  9. It has been very interesting following the progress of the garden through the year through your camera lens. Good to see starting to come full circle again too and you can start to compare things from the beginning of the year to now! xx

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    1. It's been really interesting visiting Harlow Carr on such a regular basis, things do change so quickly. Only a few months left now and then we'll have come full circle.

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  10. What a marvelous set of pics, the fruit looks great! I have a few passion vines, they grow rapidly and flower well, cold winters can kill them off though.xxx

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    1. The Kitchen Garden is great at this time of year, so much to see and all the beds are full. I find passion flowers fascinating, they're so weird looking.

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  11. Good to see a kitchen garden looking so productive in this difficult growing year. But I suppose if they can't do it there's little hope for the rest of us!

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    1. That's true. They don't seem to have any failures but there's always some blank patches in my veg beds.

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  12. I've enjoyed the tour as it's interesting to see the changes since last time you visited. Produce in the Harlow Carr kitchen garden looks good and I see that there their sweet peas are still flowering whereas mine are almost over. I think the mystery tree with the pretty flowers is an Indian bean tree. If it is, it produces long seed pods. The figs might ripen as they're in the greenhouse, but it depends on whether we get some sunshine. (Yesterday's sunshine was short-lived here)! At least it's not raining and there's the opportunity to work in the garden tidying the flower beds and sorting out the pot plants.

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    1. The flowers certainly look like those of the Indian bean tree. I took some photos of the leaves and have just compared them to the ones I found on Google and they match too so I think you've solved the mystery, thank you. My sweet peas were a bit of a non starter this year, they haven't done very well for me for the last couple of years, though I can't really blame them this year, the cold spring seems to have set lots of things back. It was lovely here yesterday but it's clouded over today, as you say, at least it's not raining.

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  13. Wow, the kitchen garden does look incredible.
    Celeriac is one of my favourite vegetables, to eat!

    All the best Jan

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    1. The Kitchen Garden was at its very best this month, so much to see and it all looks wonderful. I've never tried celeriac, I must see if our greengrocer sells it and buy some.

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