Magnolia sinensis x sieboldii ‘Jersey Belle’ with its first smallish flower. This is a good hybrid which we grow elsewhere here and is occasionally offered on the Burncoose website.

A good Melliodendron xylocarpum making headway unlike most of the others.

First flower on Illicium philippinense and the bronze new growth is excellent.

Cotoneaster fangianus just about to flower with light green rounded leaves on arching stems.

Euonymus wilsonii now in full flower and rather striking for a euonymus.

The new laurel hedge protecting the Rookery from salt laden westerly gales was planted this spring. Some drought casualties as it only went in the ground in late March.

The hedge of Ilex perado ssp. platyphylla on the other side of the same path is already doing its job about eight years on from planting.

The extended Rookery nursery bed pleasantly weed-free for this time of the year and with a good crop of new growth on scores of rhododendrons.

2018 – CHW
Away at a board meeting at Belvoir Castle. Our latest plant supply is now happily planted by the old monastic lakes at Croxton Park and the hydrangeas and gunnera are settling in nicely but it is still very dry in Rutland!Meanwhile Jaimie and his team have been busy at home.

They have trimmed the elm regrowth by the now restored Nash arch on the Battery Walk.

Look at the views over Porthluney Beach from here.

The landscape trees planted in the Trevanion deer park above the beach are doing well.

First cut of the grass on the banks outside the front door.

Buddleia colvillei just out by the regular bonfire.

2017 – CHW
I had nearly missed the Styrax wilsonii still in the greenhouse too. The smallest flowers of all the species which we so far know here. We planted two others out but they are currently lost in the tall vegetation and we will not now complete this year’s planting plans until after the first cut. I cannot remember exactly where we put them.

I got a strange email from overseas after Chelsea asking if we had a plant which was a cross between an eriobotrya and rhaphiolepis. I said I had heard of it but that I had not seen it. Then I find a plant in the frames for planting out next year! Asia will need to tell me where it came from? It is called x Rhaphiobotrya ‘Coppertone’ which I suppose assumes it is a cross between Eriobotrya deflexa and Rhaphiolepis (perhaps) umbellata. I have missed the flower which was light pink and rhaphiolepis like but the leaves look more like a gordonia to me? So does the habit which seems to turn in on itself. Like all bigeneric crosses in the plant world it is rather odd and ugly. Or in the animal world come to that (eg labradoodles for starters).

Some of the ancient Azalea indica clump varieties in the Auklandii Garden are over, some out now and some still to show. Today we have red, pink-large single flowers and pink-smaller flowers. Quite a mixed large clump as you can see.