Six on Saturday: RHS Harlow Carr

Tags

Autumn, exotic garden, Garden Visits, Japanese maples, North Yorkshire, RHS Harlow Carr, six on saturday

I managed to visit Harlow Carr for the first time this week. The weather was chilly and there were some short sharp showers, but as you know, us gardeners are undeterred by weather.

The place was reasonably busy thanks to half term holidays but as it is spread over a significant site it did not feel crowded a key concern at this time.

Harlow Carr

The six I am sharing this week with lovely you and our host The Propagator are my highlights from the garden at RHS Harlow Carr.

Standout foliage of Bergenia and Maple

I love this image, the ruby red of the fallen maple leaf looks so vivid against the emerald rich green of the Bergenia.

2. The trees at Harlow Carr are exceptionally beautiful at this time of the year thanks to Japanese Maples and Liquidambar. The variation in colour and texture is incredible. I don’t think I have ever seen so many varieties at this the peak of their Autumn season.

Planted at key points around the garden the foliage literally sings out.

3. Outside the booth for Bettys’s Tearooms there was a fun cage for leaf collecting.

(Tea) leaf collection

4. There is a vegetable garden area which is as you would expect is an arrangement of raised beds and veg but the part I really liked was a bobbly hedge of Malus Evereste. This looked very attractive.

Bobbly Hedge

5. In a corner there is a lovely Exotic garden full of luscious leaves and bright shining dahlias.

Dahlia, Canna and Salvia

Pink dahlia and Melianthus

6. Around a beautiful tree is a circle of hedges of yew and an exquisite bench.

Circular rings around the tree

Yew hedges hugging around the tree

I love how the hedges enclose the area around the tree. The beautiful bench around the mighty trunk, the views enclosing and opening the surrounding garden, as if protecting the tree.

My six from Harlow Carr. I hope liked this snap shot. Have a great weekend wherever you are and thanks for reading. D.

Japan

Tags

cherry blossom, Garden Visits, Japan, pink, Sakura, street signs, Tokyo

I have just come back from a holiday in Japan, timed perfectly for the blossom season. Japan is a place I have always wanted to visit, perhaps thanks to anecdotes from Dad Dorris about his business trips in the early 1980s and certainly due to the gardens and a dash of ‘Lost in Translation’ as well.

We started in Tokyo Shinjuku-Ku district (above) where it was bitterly cold and grey. A smart district, clean and high rise. No street eating, drinking or smoking allowed. There’s a good idea Mrs May. We then moved to Kyoto for ten days. Further south, we used Kyoto as our base to visit Hiroshima and Miyajima. We then returned to a different area of Tokyo, Ikebukuro before returning home.

Before we set off my sister and I thought we might need to book a guide to help us navigate the city but in practice it was not needed at all. Destination signs on the metro and train network are helpfully translated into English and announcements are also given in English. At various times locals stopped to ask if they could help us find our way, one lady even leaving her place in the bus queue to help guide us. Without exception the locals were friendly, polite and happy to help.

We used taxis, metro, buses, trams, a ferry, the bullet and our feet, walking over 75!miles and it was fantastic. The bits we saw were fascinating. I can only describe the trip as like a weekend city break but for much longer, so not relaxing but completely absorbing and delightful and very exhausting!

You may not be surprised to learn that I have rather a lot of photographs of blossom and I have posted some of these Here already.

One thing I hadn’t anticipated was how much the Japanese embrace the blossom season. They party under the trees and merchandise is blossom themed.

Stationary, worthy of a post in its own right, food and sweet products, cola bottles, entrances to shops, all distinctly blossom themed.

The cleaning team waiting to go through the bullet train before departure. Actually this could be their uniform all the time but, you see my point.

Even the cars are blossom coloured. Ok may be I am getting carried away.

There are castles, temples and shrines to see and enjoy. The cities are densely built and high rise, full of convenience stores and vending machines and sushi bars and restaurants. There are neon lights, millions of people and I loved it all. Tokyo National Museum was fabulous, full of exquisite treasures, beautifully displayed. As I am no travel guide I do not intend to talk about any of these in detail other than to say that they are very interesting and fascinating and I wished I had time to see it all.

I shall share some pictures of the gardens another time but here are just a couple of the signs which amused me.

And finally

On that note, I shall sign off here. Thanks for reading. D.

Six on Saturday: Day tripper

Tags

avenues of trees, Clerodendron trichotomum, Edwin Lutyens, Exotic gardens, Garden Visits, Ginger lily, Great Dixter, October, six on saturday, the Netherlands, the private garden of Piet Oudolf, The Salutation Garden Sandwich Kent

I have been lucky enough to take time out to visit some wonderful gardens in the last few weeks.  I rather like gardens in early Autumn as the light levels are lower and plants look wonderfully beautiful.  My six on Saturday are therefore my favourite sightings from those visits.

1. the Salutation garden in Sandwich Kent.  A wonderful garden set out by the one and only Edwin Lutyens which suffered years of neglect but thankfully is now {since 2006} under the superb control of Head Gardener, Steve Edney.  The place is a feast for the eyes with collections of exotics in a quintessential English garden.

2. In contrast to the exotics is a more traditional English look thanks to avenues of trees and Box columns in The Salutation Garden.

 

3. Great Dixter in Northiam East Sussex. A sublime house (Grade 1 listed)  and garden built by Edwin Lutyens.  Formerly home to Christopher Lloyd it is now held in Trust under the incredible stewardship of Head Gardener Fergus Garrett.  Famous for so many reasons, I absolutely love this garden.  This year I loved the juxtaposition of succulents and cacti planted amidst the Erigeron on the historic stone steps.

The Exotic garden was jungle like this year.

4. Just a couple of examples of the striking use of colour at Great Dixter.

 

5. Piet Oudolf at Hummelo The Netherlands.  The private garden of Piet and Anja Oudolf is open for the final year until 27 October 2018.  Not wanting to miss the opportunity to see this for myself I made the trip to Holland this month.  It did not disappoint.  The flat, open, rural setting of the garden has been secured and enclosed by tall walls of hedging.  Within the space, vast plantings of those perennials which Oudolf has almost single handedly made familiar to us all.  Stunningly beautiful.

 

 

6. Some wonderful trees in the garden at Hummelo provided scent thanks to the exquisite tree Claredondron trichotomum a tree that I had not seen or even heard of before.  That is why it is so good to visit other gardens, to learn and be inspired and of course to have a jolly good day out!

So for today I have shared three wonderful gardens with you and offered more than six images but hey I am feeling full of ideas and want to show you just a snippet of what I saw.  I am joining the Propogator with this entitled Six on Saturday. Enjoy.