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12 June 2012
In the strawberry patch in our Walled Garden there are absolutely loads of strawberries forming!
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| Strawberries – fruits flowering after pollination by the bumblebees! |
There are only a few flowers left to be pollinated, the rest have been and the fruits are now forming and gradually dropping under their own weight down onto the straw mulch as they swell.
We just need the sun to come out and ripen them, then you’ll be able to buy your own fresh punnet from our shop…mmm!
12 June 2012
As well as our traditional ‘English’ cottage garden flowers, some of our more tender exotics, such as the lovely blue salvia patens (Gentian Sage) from Mexico and the ornamental onions from central Asia are to be seen in flower now too…
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| Flower border in early June |
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| Rose Constance Spry |
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| Rose Ophelia |
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| Rose Blairii No.2 |
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| Salvia Patens |
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| Bearded Iris |
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| Ornamental Onion Flower |
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| Rose Madame Alfred Carriere |
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| Foxglove Excelsior Hybrid |
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| Delphiniums |
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| Foxglove Elsie Kelsey |
The borders are a must-see attraction at Harewood!
8 June 2012
In response to the global crisis in bee populations bumblebee ‘lodges’ are being installed in amongst the vegetable and fruit beds and orchard in the Walled Garden at Harewood for the second year.
Head Gardener Trevor explains it’s all part of Harewood’s conservation and sustainability strategy, “We use bumblebees to help with pollination in the orchard and vegetable garden. Bumblebees carry more pollen, visit more flowers and work at lower temperatures than the average honey bee and we’re keen to support British bumblebee populations as much as we can.” The Beepol bumblebee ‘lodges’ were installed last year for the first time and were a great success with bees buzzing happily in the borders.
What’s new this year, is a wax-moth-guard which attaches to each of the Beepol Lodges…
The nests and hives of a number of different bee species, including bumblebees, are sometimes invaded by wax moths. Wax moths lay their eggs within or close to the bee nests and the larvae hatch then disperse into the nest feeding on the contents. If nests are invaded during the early stage, then the wax moth infestation is often fatal.
Amazingly, the bumblebees soon learn how to push open the guard to leave and return to the nest. Wax moths however, are neither strong enough or clever enough to do this! It’s a great chemical-free solution.
You can find out more about the Beepol Lodges, and wax-moth-guards on the Beepol website, and Beepol Lodges will shortly be available to purchase from our Bookshop and Plant Stall in Terrace Cottage here at Harewood.
Gardens have become such important places for bees – here at Harewood the Gardens Team also make a point of growing bee-friendly plants such as salvias, catmint, raspberries, lavender, green manures such as phacelia, and other flowering shrubs.
Beekeeping Taster Days and Demonstrations…
The Harrogate and Ripon Beekeepers Association also have a working apiary in the Walled Garden where they run Beekeeping Taster Days and demonstrations throughout the summer, helping people to find out more about bees and get some hands-on experience if they are thinking about keeping their own…
Click here to visit the gardens webpages for videos, recipes and more…
8 June 2012
Work is in progress on the Terrace today…various flowers are currently on display in the Terrace Borders…
Pruning Rose Ophelia
Box Hedging before trimming
Flower borders in June with Ophelia Rose and Dictamus Fraxinella
Trimmed Box Hedging
Clipping the roses in the Border
Cutting the Box hedging on the Terrace Parterre
Spring bedding on the Terrace Parterre
Cutting the Parterre, trimming the Box Hedge, clipping the roses, planting the Spring bedding…it’s a busy time of year in the Gardens!
11 May 2012
You may have noticed trestle tables outside the bookshop with a glorious display of healthy plants for sale including flowers, herbs and vegetables….the new plant stall at the bookshop is open!
Call into the Bookshop on your next visit to Harewood…
We have hardbacks and paperbacks, books for adults, books for children and a comfy area for you to kick back, relax, enjoy a cup of coffee and browse the books at you leisure.
Harewood Second-hand Bookshop is run by a team of volunteers and depends entirely on donations…
All proceeds help fund educational projects around Harewood House and Gardens and the Bookshop run events and activities to promote reading to the young and old.
We are currently desperate for music CDs, so if you are spring cleaning your collections, we would love to have any unwanted copies you may have…
Shhhhhhh….the Clandestine Cake Club comes to Harewood, read the bookshop newsletter to find out more… There’s also still time to enter our Favourite Five survey to let us know your top reads.