Harlow Carr

[MargaretB]

A trip to Yorkshire is incomplete without a Fat Rascal from Bettys.  I always save it's teeth until last.

[brianw]

I guess on this forum there are at least 3 ways of pronouncing "scone" ;-)
Amusing that Bettys website uses "cookies" ;-)

[David Nicholson]

I guess on this forum there are at least 3 ways of pronouncing "scone" ;-)
Amusing that Bettys website uses "cookies" ;-)

     With my flat vowels you could easily guess my pronunciation!

[Tristan_He]

They've resisted the (now clichéd?) overuse of Betula utilis, with just a few specimens strategically dotted around.

Can trees be clichéd Matt? Bit of a bummer if you have planted a load, waited 10 years and they are just starting to look good...

Just as well I planted B. ermanii! 

[Matt T]

Can trees be clichéd Matt? Bit of a bummer if you have planted a load, waited 10 years and they are just starting to look good...

Just as well I planted B. ermanii! 

Trees per se, no. You can't have enough trees, and everyone should be planting more! B. ermanii is a particularly fine one and I have nothing against B. utilis either. What I meant is that I think I've seen enough of the groves of the latter in winter gardens everywhere now, with under-gardeners scrubbing them with brushes and soapy water, that they've maybe lost their impact a little for me at least.

[Tristan_He]

I know Matt, and I was being a bit flippant. To be honest I plant things in my garden for myself. If other people like them too, so much the better.

I do agree with you that clumps of Betula in general are a pretty well-established garden thing, though. In my view they look much better with some winter-flowering and spring bulbs to brighten them up. And you won't catch me with any soapy water (at least where trees are concerned).

Speaking of birches, the Mythic Garden near Chagford is well worth a visit, it has a superb collection of Betula and to a lesser extent Alnus and some nice sculptures. Also a really good place to source material, they supply 1.5m bare root trees which establish and grow very well.

[Maggi Young]

I love my Betula utilis jacquemontii - and I wash the trunk whenever it need it  (usually a couple of times a year) - brings it up a treat.   I suppose when one has been accustomed to all the tidying and  primping that goes on to  present perfect show plants, giving a tree a wash and brush up seems  quite normal!

[Matt T]

We all have a quirk or two, Maggi. Makes folk interesting 

[Roma]

My Betula utilis used to peel so much they did not need a scrub.  I do miss them.  I have planted a seedling but it is a bit crooked.  I would have liked three stems but it only produced two so I think I will reduce it to one.

[Matt T]

If you coppice it Roma might it produce more stems?

[Tristan_He]

primping

I misread that word first time round and wondered at first if things were more <ahem> interesting in Scottish shows than I had previously imagined Maggi!

[Maggi Young]

Sadly (?) not , Tristan!!

[fermi de Sousa]

I misread that word first time round and wondered at first if things were more <ahem> interesting in Scottish shows than I had previously imagined Maggi!

It's the lure of the bacon butties that does it!
 
cheers
fermi