My Garden

Hello All. My name is Russell Watkins I'm a gardener here at Harlow Carr , I make up part of the Gardens East team who are responsible for the up-keep of various parts of the floral department which include Gardens through Time, the Rose Revolution borders, the winter walk and much more in between... Read more..

The umbrellas were up and down like yo yo’s last week at Harlow Carr . It appears the autumnal chill has descended over the country and the only glimmer of warmth is our success at the Beijing Olympics! We have done so well with our swimming medals, and you could have done a fairly credible backstroke... Read more..

Hi I’m Kath and I am Harlow Carr Garden’s latest recruit. I work on the ornamental team ‘Gardens West’ and my permanent contract has just begun on the 1 st October. This is very exciting for me as I have worked for many years in the chocolate industry. Eventually, after doing 4 years at evening classes... Read more..

This cold snap is a good chance to dig out those favourite woolly hats and gloves and get some soil cultivation done in the garden. The frost is a great help in breaking up the soil particles in some of the wetter areas of the garden which we are busy developing for next year. My team has been working... Read more..

What with Santa and the Reindeer turning up last Saturday, and all the festive snow and ice this week, the Harlow Carr garden has taken on a magical glow of Christmas! We have taken advantage of our heated glasshouse to catch up with our propagation work, picking over and removing all rotting leaves... Read more..

In case you were wondering what the five raised beds alongside the Begernia trial 2007-2009 were for, one of the Roscoea planted there in has risen to the occasion to give visitors to the trials field a sneak preview. Just two weeks after planting, Roscoea cautleyoides AGM (H4) 1993 has broken the surface... Read more..

It’s been wonderful here at Harlow Carr this week! After two week of snow on the ground this week has felt very much like spring has arrived!! The birds are singing and every day more and more crocuses are popping up their brightly coloured heads! It has been a real pleasure to be outdoors cutting back... Read more..

What a change in the weather since I last wrote the blog on the 6 th Feb, then we were ankle deep in snow, whilst this week it’s been a good 8 degrees warmer and we’ve had some lovely heart warming sunshine. Tom and I have been working hard on our Island beds this week; lifting and dividing plants from... Read more..

One moment I was on the snowy slopes of Les Correz in the French Alps bathed in glorious sunshine, skiing ……..the next, in the woodland at Harlow Carr marvelling how a few days warmth has breathed colour and life back into one of my favourite areas of the garden,(well, apart from the main borders!).... Read more..

The spring sunshine certainly made a difference to the garden this week, not least because the gardeners were able to strip off their thermals and bask in the warm sunshine! The gorgeously scented Daphne bholua ‘Jacqueline Postill’ is still surprising visitors in the scented garden – a must have winter... Read more..