Harlow Carr with friends

On Monday the 15th some Friends Lynda, Jenny, Val and I took a trip to the RHS gardens at Harlow Car in Harogate Yorkshire. Robert and had been a few weeks earlier and When I was talking about it to Jenny we agreed it would be nice to go before the summer flowers were gone. We decided to take a picnic but would get a drink there. It was quite a chilly day and when I went to get our picnic from the car at lunch time I put my coat on, I though it would have warmed up the sun was trying desperately to get through the clouds but they were to thick, but no rain. We had a lovely day took our time chatting, looking at all the plants trying to name them before we looked at the labels. Jenny puts me to shame she knows all the names of the plants. She has done a lot of flower decorations and makes some lovely displays in church. We discussed the forth coming harvest on the 28th September and we are having a bit of a change this year so watch this space and I will publish some photo's.

This part of the Victorian garden was the children's garden. the edges of the boarders were lined with scallops shells, I had not noticed this before when I was with Robert.

Lynda grows some fabulous Cosmos and when we got to the scented garden she just loved the chocolate cosmos and wants to have a go at growing it next year. All round the gardens we kept seeing a lovely little climber, was it a clematis or a vine. We had to ask it got the better of us. It turned out to be a Chinese purple bell vine (Rhodochiton). Half hardy annual. We found a packet of seed it in the shop and Val said she would buy it and Robert is to grow the seed and give us all a few, there is only ten seed so we hope they all germinate, no presser there Robert. Time flew and before we new it it was past 4o'clock. The garden shop had started to put out the Christmas decorations out to early but couldn't help having a look. At my shop things have started to arrive for Christmas, I'm trying to fine space for it all. We all agreed it was a great day out and said it would be good to go again in the spring to see the flowering bulbs.