Harlow Carr

[Mick McLoughlin]

Sorting out pictures today. I realise I never got to post a few pictures from first visit to Harlow Carr at the last bank holiday.
They had quite a few examples of planting in various containers kettles, pans etc. I wasn't sure about the toilet bowls though.
A couple of pictures of planted troughs and boots.
Globularia meridionalis

[Mick McLoughlin]

A few from around alpine houses.
Triteleia 'starlight'
Muscari comosum plumosum
Hypsela reniformis
Anthyllis vulneria var.coccinea

[Mick McLoughlin]

Lastly
Dianthus superbus
Arisaema serratum
Arisaema serratum detail

[Paddy Tobin]

Wow Mick,

Isn't that Dianthus superbus a most remarkable creature!

Nice shots, many thanks. Paddy

[David Nicholson]

Thanks for those Mick, great pictures. I must pay a visit to Harlow Carr when I am next in the 'homeland'!

[Lesley Cox]

I chiefly remember Harlow Car as the place where a pushy American knocked my brand new, very expensive (but duty-free) camera out of my hands and smashed it. He didn't even apologise! That was back in 1981 so I'm over it now

Your pics are lovely Mick and the one of Dianthus superbus gives me some hope that my seedlings from the last batch of seedlists may actually BE D. superbus. I was thinking it looked suspiciously like a sweet William.

[Mick McLoughlin]

A brief respite from the rain today. So we decided to pay another visit to Harlow Carr. Rain started again when we got there, so a few shots from the alpine houses.
First Albuca shawii and detail.
Campanula pseudo-raineri and detail
Campanula garganica 'WH Payne'
Commelina dianthifolia and detail
finally Roscoea beesiana and Roscoea alpina

[Lesley Cox]

Thanks Mick. I hope you and your family are coping all right with the UK flooding. It looks dreadful.

These pics are good because while we see the detail (that super Commelina!) we also see the relative size and habit of the whole plant.

[shelagh]

I'm pleased to see the pictures from Harlow Carr.  We took a friend from Tallinn Botanic Garden there in April to see if there had been any improvement since the RHS took over.  I have to say the Alpine House was wonderful, full of colour and interesting plants.  For the previous 5 or so years it has looked very tired and the Rock Gardens were terribly overgrown.   Not much progress has been made on the Rock Gardens but the young lady tending the AH told us there were plans for a new one and then they would start on the surrounding area.

Shelagh

[Paddy Tobin]

As ever, great photographs Mick. Great plants obviously. The albuca seems particularly good to me.

Re the Roscoea alpina: I grew it from seed a few years ago and find my plants are more pinkish than the ones you photographed. Can anybody comment on this?

While rearranging a part of a raised bed about two months ago I failed to find the 'tubers' of this roscoea but since then it has popped up all over the bed; it seems the disturbance led to a great increase in plants.

It seems Harlow Carr was safe enough for a visit. However, I heard on the radio that the Pershore area, and so probably the AGS garden, was badly effected.

Paddy

[Maggi Young]

I have heard nothing from the area, so I assume that indeed Pershore may have turned into a water garden. I hope this is not the case but seeing  on TV the vast amounts of floodwater sloshing around the area, I fear the worst.

[Andrew]

Re the Roscoea alpina: I grew it from seed a few years ago and find my plants are more pinkish than the ones you photographed. Can anybody comment on this?

While rearranging a part of a raised bed about two months ago I failed to find the 'tubers' of this roscoea but since then it has popped up all over the bed; it seems the disturbance led to a great increase in plants.

It seems Harlow Carr was safe enough for a visit. However, I heard on the radio that the Pershore area, and so probably the AGS garden, was badly effected.

From what I can remember, mine finished a little while ago, they look about the same as Mick's photo. There's a nice new book out .

How deep did you dig Paddy ? Apparently they like deep planting. When I was repotting mine, they looked like the contractile roots I've seen on crocus, maybe they were trying to go deeper ?

If the Pershore garden gets flooded by the river over flowing, the whole country would be in trouble. For those who have not been, its near the top of a hill .

[Maggi Young]

If the Pershore garden gets flooded by the river over flowing, the whole country would be in trouble. For those who have not been, its near the top of a hill

Well, no, I haven't been, that's why I was worried.. glad to hear it is in a safe spot!

[Paddy Tobin]

Hi Andrew,

Many thanks for your comments on the roscoea. When re-doing this bed I took out about 60cm of soil. This may sound very deep but this was because I was running a water pipe under the bed. It was of necessity that I dug the bed. As I didn't see the roscoeas when digging I couldn't say how deep they were in the soil. They were originally planted as a pot of year old seedlings and so went in at perhaps 10cm. Of course, they could have made their way down in the soil since then.

Paddy

[Lesley Cox]

Could I ask a question please about the name Harlow Carr. I always understood it should be spelt with just one "r" as Harlow Car. Am I mistaken?