RHS FLOWERS AT HARLOW CARR

The Royal Horticultural Society gardens at Harlow Carr, Harrogate, have so many things to attractive a visitor's attention and I am sharing a few with you.  I've already posted several 'posts' about the gardens there but I felt these plants deserved a mention.  Firstly, I have to mention Gunnera Manicata which looks like a giant rhubarb.  The plant in the image was only a few feet high but make no mistake, this plant is a giant and can reach twice the height of a tall man, and more.   Although the RHS webpage referring to Gunnera Manicata writes that this could be grown in a cottage garden, dare I say that I cannot picture that.  For me, this needs a damp, woodland or pondside setting.  It could also make a statement in a modern, minimalistic garden as long as the growing conditions are suitable.  Thing is though, it is a herbaceous perennial which means it dies back to the roots in winter.  Hard to imagine such a robust plant Gunnera Manicata dying at all.  Note the flower spike.

Gunnera Manicata at RHS Gardens, Harlow Carr



Below we have the head-turning Achillea filipendulina.  The yellow is so striking that you just cannot ignore it.  It's a tall plant at a metre or so high and I'm afraid I cannot tell you which cultivar name (for example: Achillea filipendulina Cloth of Gold or Achillea filipendulina Gold Plate) this one has.  Unfortunately, the RHS can be rather remiss at labelling the plants they have which really is rather frustrating for keen gardeners who would like to go out and buy the same plant for their own garden.  Are you listening, RHS?




Achillea filipendulina

The striking white flower below is a Cleome which can grow to several feet high on its narrow stem.  This one, below, could be Cleome 'Helen Campbell' (RHS external link) but that's only a guess.  It's an exotic-looking half-hardy annual or biennial which grows to about 1.5 metres high.  The tendril looking growths are actually the pistils, stamens, and elongated seed-heads which are developing.   It has the RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM).   The plants like sun but can tolerate partial shade.

Cleome, also known as spider flower.

I believe the beautiful silvery plant below could be the herbaceous perennial Eryngium Alpinum.  Every time I see something like this, I want one in my garden but I think it needs to be in a herbaceous border and I don't think it would look right in my garden which is mainly roses.  It grows to a metre or so high and its silver foliage indicates that it demands full sun and good drainage in a soil that is on the poor side.   

Eryngium, possibly 'Alpinum'

Below is an impressive Mophead hydrangea.  I had to take it against my hand so that you can see the size of the thing.  You wouldn't get many of these in a medium size vase.  I love the hydrangea genus  and I believe they are quite easy to grow.  My mother used to have a blue one in our small garden when I was a child.  From what I understand, hydrangeas will have blue flowers in acid soil and pink in alkaline, so be warned when you buy one or take a cutting from a friend's admired plant.  Of course, it's a different matter when the flowers are white, which are my favourites.  I like so many different kinds of white hydrangea, including the lacecaps and paniculata, and of course, aside from the shrubs there are also the climbing varieties. 

Hydrangea - Mophead

The striking green-yellow flowers are the commonly called Tobacco Plant or  Nicotiana, possibly the cultivar 'Lime Green'.  I think it's quite wonderful.  However, when I have tried to grow nicotiana in my present garden, I've had limited success.  They want full sun or partial shade, moist and well drained soil of most types.  I think I planted mine in the wrong place in my garden where it had too much water and not enough sun.  Of course, sun in my English, West Yorkshire garden is a limited commodity.

Last but not least, check out this dazzling blue beauty.  It's Salvia patens 'Patio Deep Blue'.  What a beautiful addition it would be to a herbaceous border.  I thought, initially, it was a kind of Gentiana.

Salvia patens 'Patio Deep Blue'