RHS GARDENS, HARLOW CARR & GEOFFREY SMITH

When I visited the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) gardens at Harlow Carr the other week, I took a lot of photographs and have been sharing them little by little on this website.  It was a lovely day, dry and sunny with not too much of a breeze.  One thing that strikes me about the gardens is the limited number of roses considering that the RHS garden centre annexed to it sells a number of David Austin roses, climbers and bushes.  I would dearly like to see a bed dedicated to roses the same way they dedicate beds to wild flowers, vegetables, and fruit.  They even have an area dedicated to garden styles of the past, 'Gardens Through Time'.    They could, for example, plant roses that are named after well known people and celebrities such as TV presenter and gardener, Geoffrey Smith. 







A 'Garden Through Time'



A 'Garden Through Time' (early 20th century)

I am ashamed to admit that I had failed to realise that the creator of the RHS gardens at Harlow Carr was the well known TV presenter and gardener, Geoffrey Smith, who died at the age of 80 in 2009.   He had presented my favourite British gardening programme, Gardener's World, from 1980-1982.  According to an RHS website, Geoffrey Smith had joined the RHS at Harlow Carr in 1954 at the age of 26 when the area was nothing more than a field.  He worked there for 20 years.  That means that the creation of the garden began nearly 60 years ago; a long time and yet when you look at some of the mighty trees you, or at least I, get the feeling that the gardens are so much older.  I wonder if Geoffrey Smith worked around some that were there originally, before the garden work was commenced. 





RHS Harlow Carr, Bettys restaurant


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/Geoffrey Smith Rose

RHS Harlow Carr - Geoffrey Smith