Harlow Carr in December

I've visited RHS Harlow Carr every month this year and there's been lots of differences to be seen on each visit, however, there's been some huge changes since my last visit in November. The first thing which hit me was the lack of colour. Many plants have been hanging on this year due to the mild autumn but they're nowhere to be seen now, there's hardly any colour in the gardens, though many of the trees are evergreen so there's plenty of greenery still around.

I liked how there were plenty of seasonal decorations in the gardens.

You couldn't miss this mistletoe sculpture, it's huge. The stainless steel structure was made by sculptor Steve Blaylock. I wouldn't fancy kissing anyone underneath it in case it came crashing down on our heads.

The area around the stream looks very bare. One bank has been prepared for planting and the plants on the other side have all died back since our last visit.

I remember seeing the gunnera at the beginning of the year in a similar state as it's in now. It reminded me then of the film Gremlins when the new batch are cocoons waiting to hatch and it did again when I saw them here.

Many of you have admired the tea leaf teapot bin when I've shown it in earlier posts. It's quite full now and you can see all the leaves at the bottom of the bin starting to turn in to leaf mould.

They say that if there's an abundance of berries it's going to be a harsh winter. I don't think there's many berries about at all this year so I'm hoping that it's going to be very mild.

The Kitchen Garden is a totally different scene from that I saw last month, all the summer's growth has been cleared away and many of the beds are now empty. There's still some winter veg growing but there's a lot of bare earth to be seen.

This rhubarb plant has started in to growth already and one or two forcing pots are being used in the rhubarb bed.

The plants in the bed I've been following throughout the year have all been cut down to ground level. This is how I saw this bed at the beginning of the year, it's now come full circle and it will be a few months before anything starts to grow here again.

The crab apple trees are hanging on to their fruit. We paused and watched many blackbirds enjoying the bounty.

So that's a full year that I've been following the changes at Harlow Carr and it's been very enjoyable. I'm sure you can tell from my posts that there's always plenty of things to see here and lots of interest. I've decided not to renew my RHS membership next year, not because I don't think it's worth having, it most certainly is, but at the moment I'm quite short on time and I can't see me making full use of it. I've thoroughly enjoyed all my visits to Harlow Carr this year though.