29th January

FJ Williams Profile Picture
FJW 1955-2007
CH Williams Profile Picture
CHW 2015-
JC Williams Profile Picture
JCW 1897-1939
C Williams Profile Picture
CW 1940-1955

2024 – CHW

Camellia lutchuensis has hardly opened at all in the last fortnight.

Camellia lutchuensis
Camellia lutchuensis
Tetrapanax rex ‘Meifeng’ (NMWJ 14580) has lost all its leaves in the frost as one would expect.
Tetrapanax rex ‘Meifeng’ (NMWJ 14580)
Tetrapanax rex ‘Meifeng’ (NMWJ 14580)
Another evergreen unexpectedly dropping its leaves after the frosts – Cotoneaster glomerulatus.
Cotoneaster glomerulatus
Cotoneaster glomerulatus
First flower out on Camellia ‘Scentuous’. Earlier than usual. This is a cross between C. japonica ‘Tiffany’ and C. lutchuensis which was bred in New Zealand.
Camellia lutchuensis
Camellia lutchuensis
Final leaves dropping on the lower branches of Prunus pilosiuscula. I cut the ivy on this old Record Tree in August but it has been so wet since that it is only now dying off. A storm damaged branch on the ground too.
Prunus pilosiuscula
Prunus pilosiuscula
Jaimie has tidied up the last of the pollarded stumps of Osmanthus yunnanensis leaving a child’s seat for visitors.
Osmanthus yunnanensis
Osmanthus yunnanensis

2023 – CHW

A series of pictures of big leafed rhododendrons suffering from drought, frost and lack of new growth last year all on Sinogrande walk.

big leafed rhododendrons
big leafed rhododendrons
big leafed rhododendrons
big leafed rhododendrons
big leafed rhododendrons
big leafed rhododendrons
big leafed rhododendrons
big leafed rhododendrons
Tree fern fronds frosted more than for several winters by the Playhouse.
Tree fern fronds frosted
Tree fern fronds frosted
Yuccas frozen out too in the pre-Christmas cold week. They survived March 2018 and the Beast but I doubt that they will now?
Yuccas frozen
Yuccas frozen
The huge Camellia japonica ‘Magnoliiflora’ just out above the Top Wall.
Camellia japonica ‘Magnoliiflora’
Camellia japonica ‘Magnoliiflora’
Buddleia tibetica with its foliage frosted but it will survive!
Buddleia tibetica
Buddleia tibetica
An old camellia japonica ‘Alba Simplex’ covered in brambles which urgently need removing. Some frost damage.
camellia japonica ‘Alba Simplex’
camellia japonica ‘Alba Simplex’

2022 – CHW
Acer palmatum ‘Scolopendrifolium’ on the drive at Burncoose always holds its old leaves through the winter. An unusual habit for an Acer palmatum type.
Acer palmatum ‘Scolopendrifolium’
Acer palmatum ‘Scolopendrifolium’
The new (to the nursery) Helleborus ‘Moondance’ just coming into flower. Attractive.
Helleborus ‘Moondance’
Helleborus ‘Moondance’
A new water storage tank by the pumphouse at Burncoose to give more capacity when the well is at its lowest in a dry summer.
water storage tank
water storage tank
‘Artists bracket’ – Ganoderma applanatum – on a beech log in the Burncoose garden spotted by our new fungi enthusiast there. Well past its best and now rotting away.
Ganoderma applanatum
Ganoderma applanatum

2021 – CHW

Watching yet another Plant Heritage webinar on buddleia last night I was struck how far we could we could improve on the varieties which we currently grow and offer on the Burncoose website.

Longstock Park Nursery and Peter Moore have held the National Collection of buddleia since 1998. Seventy varieties of Buddleia davidii in the collection and 14 new varieties bred by Longstock are now available in the nursery trade.

We still offer the Nanho strain of supposedly dwarf growing buddleia but the US bred ‘Buzz’ varieties are smaller growing, more dwarf, and have larger flowers.

Buddleia ‘Black Knight’ and ‘Empire Blue’ have been superseded by ‘Buzz Indigo’ / ‘African Queen’ as good purples and by ‘Blue Horizon’ as a darker blue.

B. ‘Orchid Beauty’ has spectacular balls of flowers up the flower spike.

B. ‘Santana’ is better than our B. ‘Harlequin’ which reverts a lot to being unvariegated in its leaves.

B. ‘Buzz Velvet’ and B. ‘Sugar Plum’ are better than B. ‘Royal Red’.

A fair bit of naughtiness and cheating in the naming of new varieties too. B. ‘Hocus Pocus’ with yellow flowers (touched up in the adverts) sold by Hayloft is really just B. ‘Sungold’ (or so Moore maintains).

So a bit of thought, stock plant buying, and a new look at some trade liner lists to help us improve our offering to customers of better plants for garden growing.

Now the RHS Council are asking members to vote at the next AGM on a rule change which will allow Council to ‘appoint’ (in ‘exceptional circumstances’ of course but determined by them) and support for election NON qualifying NON RHS members. Previously, to be eligible for election to the Council, you had to be an RHS member for three years and have the written support of 10 well known RHS members to stand for election.

We can all guess what this means. The RHS will be taken over, as have other well-known public charities (RSPCA, RSPB, National Trust), by left wing thinkers with a woke and political agenda. More of Mr Weed’s ‘diversity’ drive here.

This is all portrayed as ‘routine’ RHS business but it is not! The beginning of unwelcome change where the RHS becomes a climate action group rather than sticking to its charter as a plant based charity delivering what its members have always wanted.

VOTE it out!

2020 – CHW
Off to the nursery for the first time in a month and I am immediately struck by the wonderful hellebores in flower.

Helleborus ‘Sally’s Shell’ has a delicate pink frill to the edge of the flower which fades a bit as you can see.

Helleborus ‘Sally’s Shell’
Helleborus ‘Sally’s Shell’
Helleborus ‘Sally’s Shell’
Helleborus ‘Sally’s Shell’
Helleborus ‘Sally’s Shell’
Helleborus ‘Sally’s Shell’
Helleborus ‘Cheryl’s Shine’ has a rather more entire pink flower.
Helleborus ‘Cheryl’s Shine’
Helleborus ‘Cheryl’s Shine’
Helleborus ‘Cheryl’s Shine’
Helleborus ‘Cheryl’s Shine’
Helleborus ‘Anna’s Red’ is much redder on the back side of the flowers than the front but much darker overall than the other two.
Helleborus ‘Anna’s Red’
Helleborus ‘Anna’s Red’
Helleborus ‘Anna’s Red’
Helleborus ‘Anna’s Red’
Helleborus ‘Anna’s Red’
Helleborus ‘Anna’s Red’
Also out today was the new Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Pinish Orange’.
Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Pinish Orange’
Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Pinish Orange’
Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Pinish Orange’
Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Pinish Orange’
Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Rubin’ was also looking particularly good.
Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Rubin’
Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Rubin’
Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Rubin’
Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Rubin’

2019 – CHW
The two magnolias through the arch continue to come out despite the coldish snap and some northerly gales with heavy rain. Ridiculously and worryingly early.
magnolias through the arch
magnolias through the arch
magnolias through the arch
magnolias through the arch
magnolias through the arch
magnolias through the arch
Azalea ‘Hinomayo’ is nearly full out beneath them as well. Not just the odd few early flowers as we have come to expect here and at Burncoose in recent years.
Azalea ‘Hinomayo’
Azalea ‘Hinomayo’
Azalea ‘Hinomayo’
Azalea ‘Hinomayo’
Camellia x williamsii ‘Donation’ has its first few flowers by the Green Gate. Donation only performs later here and well after many of the original Caerhays x williamsii camellias are in their prime.
Camellia x williamsii ‘Donation’
Camellia x williamsii ‘Donation’
Camellia x williamsii ‘Donation’
Camellia x williamsii ‘Donation’

2018 – CHW
First flowers on Rhododendron moupinense a little later than last year I think.
Rhododendron moupinense
Rhododendron moupinense
Rhododendron moupinense
Rhododendron moupinense
Disaster with the Schefflera macrophylla which blew over in the gales. Fortunately only a few roots had snapped so it has been re-staked.
Schefflera macrophylla
Schefflera macrophylla
Schefflera macrophylla
Schefflera macrophylla
Fine leaf indumentum on Magnolia grandiflora ‘Kay Parris’.
Magnolia grandiflora ‘Kay Parris’
Magnolia grandiflora ‘Kay Parris’
Camellia ‘Cornish Snow’ has shed a fair number of its flowers to the ground already.
Camellia ‘Cornish Snow’
Camellia ‘Cornish Snow’
Camellia ‘Cornish Snow’
Camellia ‘Cornish Snow’
Michelia ‘Touch of Pink’ laden with well advanced buds.
Michelia ‘Touch of Pink’
Michelia ‘Touch of Pink’
Michelia ‘Touch of Pink’
Michelia ‘Touch of Pink’
First single flower on Magnolia campbellii ‘Strybling White’. It wins the contest for the first full open magnolia flower again this year.
Magnolia campbellii ‘Strybling White’
Magnolia campbellii ‘Strybling White’

2017 – CHW
An enquiry from our friends in Holland with whom we had been selling camellia flowers in years past. Why are they so late they ask? Look at their anticipation of last week’s weather is clearly the answer but, for now, the high pressure has gone and we are back into wet, westerly and mild conditions.First flower high up on Camellia x williamsii ‘Mary Jobson’ by the side door. No scent yet.
Camellia x williamsii ‘Mary Jobson’
Camellia x williamsii ‘Mary Jobson’
The wind and frost have not yet destroyed the darker of the two original Camellia saluenensis.
original Camellia saluenensis
original Camellia saluenensis
original Camellia saluenensis
original Camellia saluenensis
And the earlier into flower pale form still also has a few deceit flowers.
pale form
pale form
The buds on Magnolia ‘Caerhays Belle’ have shed their outer secondary coating presumably in the wind.
Magnolia ‘Caerhays Belle’
Magnolia ‘Caerhays Belle’
However the magnolia the other side of the wall which was out last year on 3rd January still has its outer secondary coating intact. A bit more sheltered perhaps?
magnolia the other side of the wall
magnolia the other side of the wall
magnolia the other side of the wall
magnolia the other side of the wall
First few flowers on Camellia x williamsii ‘Donation’ outside the back yard. Small and pale as blown open in the wind.
Camellia x williamsii ‘Donation’
Camellia x williamsii ‘Donation’
Camellia x williamsii ‘Donation’
Camellia x williamsii ‘Donation’
Camellia x williamsii ‘Donation’
Camellia x williamsii ‘Donation’
This Rhododendron ‘Lady Alice Fitzwilliam’ is on the way out from honey fungus by the cash point despite all the big buds. It will be dead by April and the leaves are just yellowing and starting to droop.
Rhododendron ‘Lady Alice Fitzwilliam’
Rhododendron ‘Lady Alice Fitzwilliam’
The two plants next door are still fine and well. We started with six or eight in this clump and now, 10 to 15 years on, have just two left. Typical of rhodos in a honey fungus spot but these are short lived plants anyway.
two plants next door
two plants next door
The flowers on the Fuchsia exorticaticas have now turned or opened into the correct darker colour despite all the cold last week.
Fuchsia exorticaticas
Fuchsia exorticaticas
Fuchsia exorticaticas
Fuchsia exorticaticas

2016 – CHW
Another day, another magnolia is out. Magnolia campbellii var alba ‘Strybing White’ is normally one of the first to show colour and is often frosted. Here, yet again, this is at least a month early. The flowers of this cultivar are a bit insipid with a slightly greenish/yellow hue as they first open. Nothing like as good as the true M campbellii var alba.
Magnolia campbellii var alba ‘Strybing White’
Magnolia campbellii var alba ‘Strybing White’


1933 – JCW
Very far behind 28. Forrest’s Camellias are the best flowers after the passing of the Hamamelis. 4 hardish frosts.

1928 – JCW
Later than 27 for Daffs, but many Rhodo’n hybrids and species show flower, some nice R sutchuenense open in the Old Park. Barbatum and the early Blood reds are good, also moupinense – lutescens – irroratum – mucronulatum. Prunus cerasus conradinae show colour.

1927 – JCW
Cyclamineus daff has been open for some three days, nothing else of that family. Camellia speciosa, oleifolia and the tea plant show flowers say 10 Rhodo ‘n species show flower of which lutescens, parvifolium and irroratum are the best.

1923 – JCW
Picked the first buds of Sutchuenense, most of the above are open, one or two cyclamineus open.

1922 – JCW
Pollen to be had off the following species R obtusum – moupinense – rubiginosum – neriiflorum – cuneatum – racemosum – scabrifolium – oreodoxa – cyanocarpum – mucronulatum – dahuricum semperivens – lutescens – baylei – sulfureum – micranthum.

1920 – JCW
Only one daff (cyclamineus) open so far, the blood red hybrids very good, irroratums have just begun to show their value, some arboreums in flower, Rho’n praecox was never better.

1915 – JCW
One cyclamineus is open the first bit of yellow, many beautiful scarlet Rhodo’s are open including R barbatum which only shows colour. Hamamelis mollis is really the best thing open.

1906 – JCW
Send eight or ten seedling daffs to Engelhart at Dinton, the first Soleil D’or came out, Narcissus Prince shows colour.

1905 – JCW
Picked the first seedling (Cyclamineus Max). Perhaps two or three open, nearly half the daffs above ground.

1904 – JCW
Yellow crocus open for a week or ten days, coums at their best, and snowdrops, a few seedling tets show colour, Soleil D’or well open and so Aconite.

1901 – JCW
I saw the first minor open. Snow and N.E wind.