6th June

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

2023 – CHW

The Rare Plant Fair at Tregrehan was a complete sell out with over 1000 people attending in the sunshine and 23°c. Rare plants sold without a word from the customers to people who knew exactly what they were.

Couldn’t help stopping on the way out of the show to photograph Cornus kousa ‘Doubloon’.

Cornus kousa ‘Doubloon’
Cornus kousa ‘Doubloon’
Cornus kousa ‘Doubloon’
Cornus kousa ‘Doubloon’
The Burncoose selling tables.
Burncoose selling tables
Burncoose selling tables
Phytolacca bogotensis (BSWJ 14221).
Phytolacca bogotensis
Phytolacca bogotensis
Thalictrum delavayi var mucronatum – also on the Crug Farm stand.
Thalictrum delavayi var mucronatum
Thalictrum delavayi var mucronatum
Anemone rivularis.
Anemone rivularis
Anemone rivularis
Roscoea humeana.
Roscoea humeana
Roscoea humeana
Hydrangea serrata ‘Tiara’ on the Tregrehan stand.
Hydrangea serrata ‘Tiara’
Hydrangea serrata ‘Tiara’
Schefflera sweilliensis has a very different texture to its leaves to S. taiwaniana.
Schefflera sweilliensis
Schefflera sweilliensis
Schefflera sweilliensis
Schefflera sweilliensis
This is S. taiwaniana.
Schefflera taiwaniana
Schefflera taiwaniana
Schefflera taiwaniana
Schefflera taiwaniana
Styrax japonicus ‘June Snow’ on the Burncoose stand.
Styrax japonicus ‘June Snow’
Styrax japonicus ‘June Snow’
Styrax japonicus ‘June Snow’
Styrax japonicus ‘June Snow’
Styrax japonicus ‘Snow Cone’ which sold immediately.
Styrax japonicus ‘Snow Cone’
Styrax japonicus ‘Snow Cone’
Styrax japonicus ‘Snow Cone’
Styrax japonicus ‘Snow Cone’
Lonicera giraldii interesting.
Lonicera giraldii
Lonicera giraldii
Lonicera giraldii
Lonicera giraldii
Machilus yunnanensis on the Burncoose stand.
Machilus yunnanensis
Machilus yunnanensis
Huodendron tibeticum on the Burncoose stand with flowers.
Huodendron tibeticum
Huodendron tibeticum
Azalea viscosum.
Azalea viscosum
Azalea viscosum

2022 – CHW

Nursery day today – warm but welcome rain overnight.

A huge clump of Lupinus ‘Manhattan Lights’.

Lupinus ‘Manhattan Lights’
Lupinus ‘Manhattan Lights’
Rosa ‘Kent’ a new one for the nursery.
Rosa ‘Kent’
Rosa ‘Kent’
Also Rosa ‘Sussex’.
Rosa ‘Sussex’
Rosa ‘Sussex’
Rosea gallica ‘Variegata’ is something rather special.
Rosea gallica ‘Variegata’
Rosea gallica ‘Variegata’
The hydrangea beds all spaced and re-potted with flowers appearing. A much better effort than in previous years with Louise in charge.
hydrangea beds
hydrangea beds
hydrangea beds
hydrangea beds
A new entry for the 2023 catalogue – Paeonia daurica – just into leaf.
Paeonia daurica
Paeonia daurica
Nothing quite matches Meconopsis baileyi (syn. betonicifolia) as a blue flower in the early morning sunlight in the cashpoint.
Meconopsis baileyi
Meconopsis baileyi
Meconopsis baileyi
Meconopsis baileyi
Lupinus ‘Manhattan Lights’
Lupinus ‘Manhattan Lights’

2021 – CHW
The rare plant fair at Tregrehan with a normal level of attendance by nurseries and the public. Good to meet up with the serious gardening fraternity after so long.The Deutzia purpurascens in the trade stand area.
Deutzia purpurascens
Deutzia purpurascens
Deutzia purpurascens
Deutzia purpurascens
Acer carpinifolium as a mature tree by the car park at Tregrehan.
Acer carpinifolium
Acer carpinifolium
Acer carpinifolium
Acer carpinifolium
A newly planted Quercus hyplencoides (Mallet Court).
Quercus hyplencoides
Quercus hyplencoides
Quercus hyplencoides
Quercus hyplencoides
Deutzia longifolia in Nick Lock’s display.
Deutzia longifolia
Deutzia longifolia
Polygonatum vietnamensis on the Tregrehan display.
Polygonatum vietnamensis
Polygonatum vietnamensis
A new species of Tibouchina grossa (BSWJ10758) on the Crûg stand with red flowers.
Tibouchina grossa
Tibouchina grossa
The Burncoose selling tables by 8.30am.
Burncoose selling tables
Burncoose selling tables
Burncoose selling tables
Burncoose selling tables
A gift of a seedling Lithocarpus quercifoleia which Tom obtained as seed in Hong Kong.
Lithocarpus quercifoleia
Lithocarpus quercifoleia
The attractive but dwarf growing Kniphofia pauciflora which I had not seen elsewhere.
Kniphofia pauciflora
Kniphofia pauciflora
Libertia ‘Taupo Blaze’ in flower. Pure white flowers contrasting with the coloured leaves.
Libertia ‘Taupo Blaze’
Libertia ‘Taupo Blaze’

2020 – CHW
The dog pen is now complete as are the repair works to the lead gutters above the Georgian Hall.It seems we may have four electronic and automated parking machines for Porthluney Beach car park in three to four weeks. Pay when you arrive, leave or during/beforehand on an app. The kit is supplied to the owner and the installer collects the fines from those who do not pay as his return on the investment. This is how car parks operate today.COVID 19 has made us go ‘contactless’ as we rethink and improve. We hope we have selected the best and most reputable local installer of such equipment having canvassed the market. Their equipment is at Fistral Beach and several other south coast beaches in Cornwall. The operator has had meetings with our local MPs and has a good track record of not cheating or being stupid over the fines. Providing you input two digits of your car registration number correctly into the machine you will not get fined (providing you have paid!). In winter we will not charge for the first hour but then perhaps £1.00 per day.There will probably be an uproar from the locals so batten down the hatches on social media. No overnight parking will now mean you get fined rather than a bollocking or being moved on.No need to lock the gates each night. Less labour taking the money (all cash) by hand as in the past. However the loos will still need cleaning and the rubbish sorting out all over the beach and in the car park.Those who will oppose all this and be disgusted need to understand a few things:1. Season ticket holders will be free (in their own car) once they have paid the (unchanged) fee

2. The system can be turned off for weddings, evening events, fetes etc.

3. Garden visitors will have a way to cancel the parking charge

4. Locals, staff, holiday let guests, Vean guests or anyone else who qualifies and gives us their car number plate to enter into the system will not need to pay (as now).

5. Business rates on car parks are considerable as is the cost of scarifying, levelling and importing hard core to the car park every year after winter storms.

6. The estate has spent over £30k on beach defence repair/strengthening works over the last five to seven years. Without this work a good part of the car park would have disappeared into the sea. The actual repair cost was more than double this but insurance covered the rest on the basis that insurers will never cover the beach defences again.

The installer of the equipment told us that COVID 19 has brought forward the ‘cashless’ society by eight to ten years. This is the reality in which we all now live even in the beautiful, inaccessible, not overlooked, and unspoilt backwater of Porthluney Beach. There are very few places left like it in Cornwall and a new parking payment system is not going to change that.

An unnamed and very late flowering evergreen azalea by Georges Hut. It had a flower or two out at Christmas. A green hue in the base of the trumpets. These dwarfish plants may have once been indoor Christmas azaleas which surprisingly survived.

Late flowering evergreen azalea
Late flowering evergreen azalea
Late flowering evergreen azalea
Late flowering evergreen azalea
Late flowering evergreen azalea
Late flowering evergreen azalea
This is our largest (of two) Carrierrea calycina which was a gift from Penrice Castle about 10 to 12 years ago. Very healthy and very much in full sun in a hot place but no sign of a flower yet. Good new growth this year. The leaf shape is unusual but easily recognisable once known. I have been told that Borde Hill have flowered this but need to confirm.
Carrierrea calycina
Carrierrea calycina
Carrierrea calycina
Carrierrea calycina
Carrierrea calycina
Carrierrea calycina
Carrierrea calycina
Carrierrea calycina
The water bowser is in place and very much in use watering young trees in Kennel Close. We have had a little drizzle over the last few days but no more than that.
Water Bowser
Water Bowser
Crataegus schraderiana now full out.
Crataegus schraderiana
Crataegus schraderiana
Crataegus schraderiana
Crataegus schraderiana
Crataegus schraderiana
Crataegus schraderiana
Cornus capitata with exceptionally large creamy bracts this year.
Cornus capitata
Cornus capitata
Cornus capitata
Cornus capitata
Cornus capitata
Cornus capitata

Stewartia rostrata with pink buds just opening.

Stewartia rostrata
Stewartia rostrata
Stewartia rostrata
Stewartia rostrata
Stewartia rostrata
Stewartia rostrata
Dog fence now complete and dog proof!
The dog fence
The dog fence

2019 – CHW

Styrax japonicus ‘Emerald Pagoda’ absolutely plastered in flower as never before. Easily the best named clone of japonicus.

Styrax japonicus ‘Emerald Pagoda’
Styrax japonicus ‘Emerald Pagoda’
Styrax japonicus ‘Emerald Pagoda’
Styrax japonicus ‘Emerald Pagoda’
Styrax hookeri is much sparser in flower and only just now coming out.
Styrax hookeri
Styrax hookeri
Abies delavayi covered in blue cones. As good as Abies pinsapo.
Abies delavayi
Abies delavayi
First ever flowers on Liriodendron chinense. They are much less colourful than on Liriodendron tulipifera. This tree took 29 years to produce its first flowers or the first that we have seen anyway.
Liriodendron chinense
Liriodendron chinense
Liriodendron chinense
Liriodendron chinense
Styrax hemsleyanus just coming out. The flowers are in panicles.
Styrax hemsleyanus
Styrax hemsleyanus
Styrax hemsleyanus
Styrax hemsleyanus
Styrax wuyuanensis also plastered in flower. The best display yet from this species.
Styrax wuyuanensis
Styrax wuyuanensis
Styrax wuyuanensis
Styrax wuyuanensis
Catalpa fargesii f. duclouxii just coming into full flower. Darker in colour than the one I photograph at Ventnor.
Catalpa fargesii f. duclouxii
Catalpa fargesii f. duclouxii
Catalpa fargesii f. duclouxii
Catalpa fargesii f. duclouxii
A young Magnolia dealbata with its first flowers (the mature plant has flowered for about 10 years). They last only a day and smell horrible. One cut for the front hall was full out in the evening and over by the next morning. Quite some flower though!
Magnolia dealbata
Magnolia dealbata

2018 – CHW
A very late season flowering of a red form of Rhododendron cumberlandense (or so it says on the plans).
Rhododendron cumberlandense
Rhododendron cumberlandense
Plenty of old and rather pale flowers still left on Magnolia ‘Iolanthe’.
Flowers just going over on Cornus kousa chinensis ‘Milky Way’. The cornus next to it dead from ‘The Beast’.
Cornus kousa varchinensis ‘Milky Way’
Cornus kousa varchinensis ‘Milky Way’
The new early growth on Acer mandchuricum was frosted off and I had expected some die back but secondary new growth is now emerging.
Acer mandchuricum
Acer mandchuricum
Seed forming already on Stachyurus praecox.
Stachyurus praecox
Stachyurus praecox
Hydrangea ‘Mme E. Mouillere’ is out already. It was out in February just before ‘The Beast’. Amazingly long flowering season.
Hydrangea ‘Mme E. Mouillere’
Hydrangea ‘Mme E. Mouillere’
Syringa komarowii is a huge scented spectacle and the best thing on the drive today. Flowers are rose pink outside and whiter inside in drooping panicles.
Syringa komarowii
Syringa komarowii
Syringa komarowii
Syringa komarowii
This Magnolia denudata ‘Forrests Pink’ was felled to a 4ft tall stump by a leylandii in the autumn but is now reshooting vigorously.
Magnolia denudata ‘Forrests Pink’
Magnolia denudata ‘Forrests Pink’
Camellia ‘Konronkoku’ (‘Konron-jura’) still full out in June!
Camellia ‘Konronkoku’
Camellia ‘Konronkoku’

2017 – CHW
Starting to photograph new plants for inclusion in the 2018 Burncoose catalogue:Lonicera tragophylla ‘Maurice Foster’ is out for the first time ever with us. A gentle light yellow flower with a large flower cluster.
Lonicera tragophylla ‘Maurice Foster’
Lonicera tragophylla ‘Maurice Foster’
Lonicera tragophylla ‘Maurice Foster’
Lonicera tragophylla ‘Maurice Foster’

Clematis florida ‘Taiga’ got into the shortlist of 10 for Plant of the Year at Chelsea 2017. Its first flowers in the nursery.

Clematis florida ‘Taiga’
Clematis florida ‘Taiga’
Clematis florida ‘Taiga’
Clematis florida ‘Taiga’
Paeonia ‘Moon River’ is finally out but I have missed the gentle pink hue it first is.
Paeonia ‘Moon River’
Paeonia ‘Moon River’
Dianthus ‘Shooting Star’ is a dwarfish pink with a good purple flower.
Dianthus ‘Shooting Star’
Dianthus ‘Shooting Star’
Dianthus ‘Shooting Star’
Dianthus ‘Shooting Star’
Dianthus ‘Shooting Star’
Dianthus ‘Shooting Star’
The white wisteria growing up the handrails leading up to the top nursery office door has jumped over into an adjacent conifer and is now flowering nicely through the conifer branches.
white wisteria
white wisteria
Look at this wonderful chunky new growth on an Acacia baileyana ‘Purpurea’ growing on the side of the packing shed.
Acacia baileyana ‘Purpurea’
Acacia baileyana ‘Purpurea’
Acacia baileyana ‘Purpurea’
Acacia baileyana ‘Purpurea’

2016 – CHW
The medlar tree is in place on the bank outside the front door for the official ‘planting’ ceremony by the Worshipful Company of Fruiterers later in the month. It sits beside a mulberry which is about as close to a genuinely fruiting tree as Caerhays gardens get. It may well need watering as we are now a fortnight post Chelsea without rain.
medlar tree
medlar tree
2015 – CHW
More quests for magnolias in flower today but nothing much new with two exceptions.

Umbellularia californica
Umbellularia californica

Growing well, but incorrectly in full shade, I find Umbellularia californica.  You get more than a headache if you crush and inhale the leaves.  A tender plant and quite rare outside.

Rhoiptelea chiliantha
Rhoiptelea chiliantha

Hidden away beside it is a present from Tom Hudson, Rhoiptelea chiliantha, which he collected in Vietnam.  A forerunner in the juglandaceae/rhoipteleaceae and back into the tertiary and cretaceous periods of fossil history.  A millions of years old plant survivor from the origins of evolution from mosses and algae.  Looks tender (also dull)!

Magnolia wilsonii
Magnolia wilsonii
Magnolia wilsonii
Magnolia wilsonii

Above the big tree fern on the Main Path is a smallish plant of Magnolia wilsonii. Same coloured stamens but quite different in shape from Magnolia sieboldii sinensis.  Not a very healthy plant.

Magnolia ‘Pride of Norway’
Magnolia ‘Pride of Norway’
Magnolia ‘Pride of Norway’
Magnolia ‘Pride of Norway’

Just above it are two Magnolia ‘Pride of Norway’  which look like an improved or selected form of Magnolia wilsonii with a good shape.  These came from Magnoliastore and I need to investigate further.  Presumably the magnolia breeder from Gothenberg?

Aesculus bushii
Aesculus bushii
Aesculus bushii
Aesculus bushii

Aesculus bushii  is a quick grower with a beautiful flower just going over today.

Rhododendron staminium
Rhododendron staminium
Rhododendron staminium
Rhododendron staminium

The original Rhododendron staminium in the Main Quarry is nearly over.  A week ago I did not photograph it as it was hardly out.  One year we had this at Chelsea on our stand.

Azalea Rosebud
Azalea ‘Rosebud’
Azalea Rosebud
Azalea ‘Rosebud’

On the way back down to the Playhouse I cannot resist the oldish Azalea ‘Rosebud’ in full flower.

Symplocus paniculata
Clearance work
Symplocos paniculata
Clearance work

Clearance work now complete  behind the Symplocos paniculata.  Laurel all cut back and azaleas cut down ready for the mini digger.  Our new recruit from Pengreep has done a good job.  Nice place for some large growing rhodos and two more old enkianthus uncovered here too.  Sadly over but look like Enkianthus campanulatus.

1990 – FJW
First 12 hour soak for some time. Wet Royal Cornwall. Rho’s out – micranthum, stamineum, decorum, Tally Ho x’s. Most azaleas over.

1959 – FJW
Sent the following for Royal Box at R.C. Show – Tally Ho, Griersonianum, Mich. Doltsopa, Stewartia, pink Escallonia, pink Decorum, Souliei hybrids, macrostemum and many azaleas. Werrington had very little.

1918 – JCW
Much on the previous page for 1916 and 1917 is over and the air is too dry for Rhodo’s to open well, a good Harrow hybrid with a dark leaf has turned up, no blotch, scented and a nice rose pink. One Wilson late Fortunei is open.

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