RHS GARDEN CENTRE Harlow Carr

Spent an hour or two at Betty's restaurant at Harlow Carr, Nr. Harrogate this afternoon and then popped into the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) garden centre next door to see if any plant could lure me to buying it.  I was so tempted when I saw a beautiful clematis with a small flower like a jasmine.  It had a wonderful perfume and was very floriferous but only flowers from June to September.  I am afraid I demand more than that from my climbers - more like 6 months or more.  But here it is, clematis flammula:  (click on the images to enlarge)



Clematis - 'Flammula'

There was a lovely Dahlia or two although I have to say that none was as beautiful, to me, as the one I grow, Fascination, which has a lovely deep red leaf and bud.  Kelvin Floodlight was really pretty though.




Dahlia - 'Kelvin Floodlight'

I think that Penstemons (below) are lovely if you have a herbaceous border but not particularly the best choice for the frozen north although I did have some success with them in a previous West Yorkshire garden of mine.  I think it depends how exposed your garden is.   This is the RHS webpage giving advice about them. 

I wasn't tempted at all today, except for the clematis, but I took a few shots of the garden centre so that you can just see where I get many of my David Austin roses from:

RHS Garden Centre, Harlow Carr

 

 

I always liked the idea of growing grasses but I don't think they are right for my garden.

 

 

Imperata 'Red Baron'

 

Putting all the pots out - £45 each for large ones! but with a lifetime guarantee.

 

Indoors at the garden centre - all the bulbs out for autumn planting onward

And last but not least, check the bark on this lovely eucalyptus tree, just outside the RHS garden centre boundary and inside the RHS gardens at Harlow Carr.  Beautiful, I think but then I'm a bit of a tree hugger and if I had my way I would have acres of land with a vast range of trees in it - an arboretum like the one at Thorpe Perrow, North Yorkshire.