Harewood House

Saturday I was out and about heading to another garden visit.  I was walking to the bus stop and got caught in a random rain shower which soaked me but I did manage to capture a photo of the rainbow that followed(yeah).  I got on the 36 bus in Harrogate and a few stops later I was at Harewood house. 

 Being a large estate I walked down the country lane that lead to the house.  The sides of the road were lined with fields fillled with sheep.  I came around the corner to the first glimpses of the house.  What the house it is!  Great houses like these were built on slavery and usually sugar.  As I reached the house an old car was pulling up it was being rented by a couple who were getting married at the property that day.  It was cool to see the car in that setting. 

 The house hadn't opened yet but I was content to look around the porperty; that was why I was there.  I checked out the back of the house first which was a very formal terrace garden.  Right now it was planted with purple and white hyacinth.  I continued to explore the estate and discovered their bird garden which included several birds including penguins and my favorite flamingos!!!  The path from the bird garden led me to the walled garden which was planted with all the fruit and vegetables.  It was very large and it needed to be to provide enough food for the estate back in its glory days.  After that I wandered back through the himilayan garden where I saw the small waterfall and to get to it I walked across a line of stones that made a bridge which I was quite afraid to falling into the stream below. 

After checking out all of the estate it was time to check out the house.  Unfortunatley I can't show you any pictures as we were not able to take any but believe me it was incredible.  The detail and money that went into that house were incredible.  We were able to walk around the estat upstairs which had bedrooms and dining rooms.  The library was at the back of the house and looked out over the formal terrace garden.  It would be pretty nice to site and read a book with that kind of view outside.  After checking out the upstair we were able to look at the downstairs which was the heart of the house this included the kitchen, pantry area, and china storage.  This was my favorite part of the hosue it would be amazing to see the house run like it was back in the day. 

That brought my day to an end I got back on the bus and it was back to Harrogate.  This is a picture of me riding on the second floor of a proper British double decker bus.  I was able to ride in the front seat for most of the ride back.  So weird but awesome!!!!

Harrogate Flower Show

I have to admit that the Harrogate Flower Show was a bit more impressive than the Cornwall Flower Show.  It was a lot bigger than the Cornwall show with more exhibits and space.  The Cornwall show however was nice that it was at an estate with nice country side where this show was at a show grounds which weren't particularly nice.  Thursday morning at work they asked me if I wanted to go to the show that day because they needed some extra help with one of their booths.  The RHS is involved in several projects particularly those that involve the education of young people about horticulture.  I was helping with the education booth we were teaching kids to make paper pots which are recyclable and decomposable and then planting them with a sunflower seed.  It was a fun morning teaching the kids not at all what I expected to be doing that day.  I helped out at the booth until lunch time and then I had the rest of the afternoon to check out the show.  Fortunately it was a pretty nice day outside so I was able to enjoy the outside exhibits as well as the indoor ones.  Not only did the show have indoor show gardens which were a site to see they also had outdoor show gardens created by landscape companies as well as college groups.  Some of them were pretty incredible there was one that was called the living room which created a family room out of living plant material.  There was floral art again as well; the ideas that people come up with are incredible.  Along with all of this there were lots of booths selling horticulture tools to crafts.  There was also a tent devoted entirely to food which I enjoyed.  In the booth they also had cooking demonstrations.  I sat down and watched one; it was nice to sit down and rest but the demonstration smelled so good and made me hungry.  All in all it was an amazing but unexpected day.

The Main Boarders

Much of my week has been spent doing the spring maintenance on the main boarders.  This maintenance included lifting and dividing plants, removing unwanted plants, and taking back spreading plants.  The main boarders of Harlow Carr are comprised of a selection of perennials.  These perennials are planted in what is known as drifts to create natural flows of colors through the bed.  Dynamic and subtle plants are planted to draw the eye through the bed.  After a few years however plants begin to look tired and often suffer from the doughnut effect.  The doughnut effect is where the center of the crown dies out and the result looks like a doughnut pictured right.  To help rejuvenate the plants they are dug up and then divided removing the dead bits.  The plants are then placed back in the bed and once positioned they are planted back in the ground to produce a lovely show again this summer. 

York

 What a city York was amazing.  I think it has been my favorite city visit so far; I wouldn't mind going back again.  I went to York by train, the train station is one of the largest and prettiest ones I've seen so far.  One of the first things I learned upon setting foot in York is that it is the home of Nestle.  I had some idea of what to expect from what people had told me but the city was just spectacular.  The city is an old mideval town and has a city wall that runs around it, you can walk on and I walked along this path for a while.  You get some amazing views from the wall.  York has a lovely river running through it so I saw a lot of rowers and people out enjoying the water.  The Yorkshire museum is i York and along with the museum they have a lovely garden and the remains of an old abbey.  After checking out the museum gardens I made my way to the yorkminster cathedral which is quite the site to behold.  Outside the cathedral a street artist was working on a mural on the street so I stopped and watched his work for a while.  I also visited a national trust garden while in York called the treasuerers house which was a nice courtyard garden. I stopped for lunch in a square and was treated to some live music by a local band called king no-one which was very good.  I had a fun day out in York and returned home to go out to dinner with my roommate Maria and some friends.  We went out to an Indian resteraunt my first Indian food and it was awesome.  I ate way to much though but the food was so nice.  After dinner we went to the pub for a pint it was the perfect ending to the day!

Harlow Carr Nursery

 I finished my first week off working in the Harlow Carr nursery.  We started out sowing seeds of perennials, annuals, and vegetables.  I was able to sow my favorite vegetable kohlrabi!!!  Below you can see photos of all the seed trays under the covers on the heated mist bench.  Once these seeds germinate they need to be pricked out which was my next task.  Each seedling had to removed from the tray and then put in its own pot.  Other tasks for the week included labeling plants the nursery has grown which they are going to supply to their garden center.  This is new for the nursery to provide the garden center with plants they produced.  This comes with consumers wanting locally sourced plant material.  We also potted some snow drops which will be planted out this fall in the garden.  There was a lot of plant moving that went on to make room for more plants.  The weather was nice towards the end of the week and it was kind of a shame being stuck in the nursery it even got a little to warm working it there.   Friday afternoon was gorgeous so I took a little walk around the garden after work.

Willow Weaving: Spiling

 Today a willow specialist came into the garden to work on a project to stabilize the bank of the stream that runs through the garden.  The man they hired in has been working on this project for several years now each year completing another stretch of the stream.  He also does other projects like willow statues and woven baskets.  I helped him today to install another section of willow retaining wall.  First posts are pounded into the ground and these are used as braces to support the woven willow.  Next the willow is wove in front and behind the posts to make a strong wall.  The willow branches are shoved into the dirt of the bank to make good contact between the stick and the soil.  Within a few months the willow will hopefully root and the stream will have a living retaining wall.  The roots of the willow will also help stabilize the bank when they begin to grow.  It was an interesting new concept one I had not heard of before.  It was quite the opportunity to help create something aesthetically pleasing and something that will help conserve the stream.