A Summer Visit to Harlow Carr
A stunning RHS garden in North Yorkshire, England
Last week Matt and I visited one of our favourite Yorkshire gardens - the wonderful Harlow Carr on the outskirts of Harrogate.
Harlow Carr is one of five gardens owned and managed by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). The most northerly of the RHS gardens, it is situated in a sheltered valley with a stream running through. There are lots of different areas to explore, including formal plantings, vegetable plots, wildflower meadows, woodland and ponds.
As always on our visits, our first destination was the Alpine House. We love this wonderful glasshouse, which houses a fascinating collection of alpine plants (i.e. plants adapted for life at high altitudes). Whatever the season there is always something interesting to see here.
Although these plants have adapted to survive harsh mountain conditions many have tiny, fragile flowers. I always bring a macro lens when we visit to capture some of these delicate beauties. Below is a small selection of photos taken on numerous visits through the years.
There are always some fascinating succulents and cacti on display in the Alpine House, a few of which are shown below:
A particular favourite of mine is the fine specimen of ‘Old Man of the Andes’ cactus below. It reminds me of the time I saw these wonderful plants growing wild in the Peruvian Andes many years ago.
After spending some time admiring the diverse specimens in the Alpine House, we wandered through the Sub-Tropicana and Scented gardens.
Sub-Tropicana is a relatively new garden area containing exotic palms, banana trees, bamboos and tree ferns, as well as many colourful flowers in summer. It was deliberately planted to be overgrown in the summer so you almost have to push your way through as you meander along the winding path to reach the Scented Garden, thus introducing a tactile element.
On this sunny spring morning, however, the palms and tree ferns were just bursting into life after their winter dormancy, and Alliums were flowering in profusion.
As usual we took advantage of a favourite bench to share a flask of coffee and a cookie.
Our next destination was the Kitchen Garden.
For a keen vegetable gardener like myself, this area is wonderfully inspirational. Every year there are new ideas for raised beds, companion planting schemes, methods for plant support, pest control, varieties being trialed, etc., etc.
I love the way the RHS strongly advocate gardening with nature rather than fighting against it, and encourage physical pest protection rather than indiscriminate chemical methods.
The Kitchen Garden may not be the prettiest area in the garden, but it is definitely where I spend the most time!
After mooching around the Kitchen Garden we wandered down to the stream to stroll along the lush Streamside Garden.
Lovely Himalayan blue poppies and candelabra primulas are popular features of the Streamside Garden, thriving in the moist soil. Both were flowering on our recent visit.
We took a short detour from the stream to stroll around the idyllic ponds. We often see lots of dragonflies here. None were spotted on this visit, but many vivid blue damselflies were flitting around above the waterlily leaves.
Our next destination was the Teaching Garden, where there are more vegetable plots and a round pond where we have sometimes spotted newts.
Close to the pond is an impressive Chilean rhubarb plant (Gunnera tinctoria), but this early in the summer it has not yet reached its full glory. The photo below, taken in August 2021, shows the plant’s enormous leaves later in the year.
We strolled past the tranquil Queen Mother’s Lake where a pair of moorhens usually nest, and on this visit a pair of tufted ducks were hanging out among the reeds.
After crossing the lake on the Thaliana Bridge we headed up through Southfield meadow, where the buttercups were putting on a fine display.
Towards the top of the meadow we joined a path that meanders through the lovely woodland. We headed for a favourite gazebo, where we like to sit for our picnic lunch. On the way we admired a splendid Azalea shrub which was in full flower.
As usual a friendly robin came to watch us eat our sandwiches, and persuade us to share a few crumbs. How could we resist?
A nuthatch also briefly landed on the Gazebo, but unfortunately did not stick around long enough for a photo.
After enjoying our lunch we continued along the woodland path, and stopped to admire the Doric Columns. These original stone columns and lions once adorned the entrance to a pump room in the Harrogate Spa. They were removed in the late 1930s and put into storage before being relocated to Harlow Carr in 1964. They are an impressive sight and seem surprisingly at home nestled among the woodland.
Often we finish our visits with a stroll around the peaceful Arboretum and Bamboo Glade, but on this occasion we returned through the main borders to enjoy the colourful displays.
Matt and I have visited Harlow Carr so many times over the years, but the gardens are constantly evolving and every trip is different. No matter how many times we return there is always something new to discover and learn in this magical and inspirational place.
You can find more information about Harlow Carr Gardens including location, admission fees, facilities and RHS membership, at the RHS Harlow Carr website.
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Those candelabra primroses are amazing.
That was as interesting and informative as ever Angie. Even though I went there a few years back, I saw it with fresh eyes through your photographs. A return is overdue I think, thank you for sharing.