21st March

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CONTRIBUTORS:

FJW 1955-2007

CHW 2015-

JCW 1897-1939

CW 1940-1955

2020 – CHW

Two separate garden tours today with Peter Clay and Tom Hudson. Four and a half hours in the garden! The National Trust has now decided to shut all its gardens having left them open for free so far last week. Are we now obliged to follow suit?

Magnolia ‘Purple Star’ has its first two flowers. Not bad but not yet large flowers.

Magnolia ‘Black Swan’ in a similar state. I fear this is wrongly named. I was expecting something much darker from the Magnolia Society listings about this new variety.

A young Magnolia ‘Apollo’ very fine despite the biting east wind.

Magnolia ‘Crystal Chalice’ not terribly exciting.

Magnolia ‘Black Tulip’ x Magnolia ‘Serene’ – an interesting first flower.

Magnolia ‘Black Tulip’ x Magnolia ‘Deep Purple Dream’ – now named ‘Aphrodite’ or ‘Antje Zandee’. The latter grows nearby so this is, I think, the former. Confusing to have two named forms of the same cross.

Magnolia ‘Atlas’ x Magnolia ‘Vulcan’ is a good thing. This is also the parentage of ‘Felix Jury’ which this clearly is not so I am not sure where we are with this one.

Magnolia ‘Black Tulip’ x Magnolia liliiflora ‘Holland Red’ – first flower which shows promise. This is now called ‘Olav Kalleberg’ I understand.

Magnolia ‘Petit Chicon’ – the first yellow on the scene.

The male form of Cephalotaxus fortunei laden with flowers and pollen.

Magnolia ‘Darkest Purple’ x Magnolia ‘Betty Jessel’ just about to show.

Ilex kingiana with berries and flower.

Rhododendron ‘Broughtonii’ just coming out. This group were tissue culture raised.

Rhododendron ‘Duke of Cornwall’ full out.

Magnolia floribunda has masses of flowers high up. They are very yellow from a distance. However Tom Hudson thinks this is just another form of Magnolia doltsopa. He takes away a branch to study it more closely. It is nothing like as good as his Magnolia maudiae yesterday.

Sophora microphylla ‘Sun King’ full out and superb.

A young Daphniphyllum oldhamii with reddish new growth.

Rhododendron ‘Harry Tagg’ excellent on Burns Bank.

Acacia full out by the Playhouse.

2019 – CHW
A mild warm week with everything rushing out into leaf. The day before yesterday a tour with Joe Sharp after the annual stockbroker meeting.One Staphylea holocarpa ‘Rosea’ nearly full out now with the flowers gently fading to white.
And the other one nearby. Identical I think but very fine! These photographs will form part of my new article on Staphylea.

Magnolia ‘March-Till-Frost’ with its excellent spring colours. The out of season flowers are much more turgid and darkish purple.

The nearly pure white form of Camellia reticulata is an excellent plant.

A flower bud already (four to six weeks early) on Magnolia sieboldii sinensis.

Magnolia ‘Lili-Diva’ planted in 2011 and performing nicely for the first time.

Acer japonicum in full flower – planted in 2010. A Crug collection with especially red flowers.

The best Rhododendron macabeanum just about out.

Our own Magnolia ‘Tropicana’ raised, named and registered but not bred by us.

Flowers further out on Rehderodendron indochinense.

A startlingly good batch of wild violets on a hot sunny bank. Some are much darker than others.

The white Rhododendron arboreum just out but looking rather old and sickly.

Garden Society dinner last night at White’s. Very well attended but the exhibits brought by members reflected the fact that the magnolia season has already passed for many of us. Instead we saw lots of grevillea species (the best were Grevillea miqueliana and Grevillea barklyana), Proteas from Tresco and an amazing climbing hydrangea from Tregrehan with pink flowers which were red in bud – Hydrangea serratifolia x peruviana. I took Michelia doltsopa, M. doltsopa ‘Silver Cloud’, M. ‘Mixed up Miss’, M. ‘Touch of Pink’, M. maudiae, M. foveolata and (from Burncooose) M. macclurei. The consensus after dinner was that M. macclurei was indeed the true species although neither Maurice Foster nor Tom Hudson had ever seen it in flower. They also confirmed that M. maudiae and M. foveolata were correctly named.

2018 – CHW
Back on the night sleeper which terminated at 5.11am at Plymouth. Not much sleep but we finished the last of this year’s planting in the morning. Mainly hydrangeas, fuchsias and some oddments.A few good camellias on the way:Camellia ‘Midnight Magic’ – still a sparse flowerer at a young age.

Camellia reticulata – white form is new to us. Crinkly leaves when young. Planted 2015.

Snake bark maples breaking into leaf two days after the second lot of snow departed.

Even the wild or naturalised crocosmia has been frosted. It will readily recover unfortunately.

Camellia ‘Night Rider’ in the greenhouse. Clusters of flowers all open at once.

Camellia ‘Giant White’ largely unfrosted. Strange shape as the bud unfurls.

First leaves on Acer palmatum ‘Katsura’ coming into leaf and untouched by last night’s frost.

2017 – CHW
A proper full planting day – 60 to 70 magnolias put out plus 100 or so other rarities all over the garden.Prunus ‘Umineko’ is just out (Prunus incisa x Prunus speciosa) and very fine. Hellish name though!

Then a huge surprise! Cephalotaxus fortunei – the Chinese plum yew, full of flower for the first time ever or ever seen by us anyway. The plants are dioecious so the two we have are probably females. The males produce olive brown plum fruits which ripen in the second year. Actually the second smaller plant had far less flower so it might be a male? Time will tell.

Enkianthus serrulatus just coming out. Tom Hudson’s gift as a layer two to three years ago.

The first flowering at Caerhays, in our era anyway, of Camellia pittardii. Reddish single flowers and one plant has a weeping habit while the other is very erect. Quite a distinct leaf to this species. Not amazing but certainly different.

Magnolia ‘Kalleberg’ is quite nice in the sun today above the Crinodendron Hedge.

The first leaves of the year on a sycamore that I have yet seen. Rather later than last year.

This is how an ants’ nest created in the spiral tree guard has killed this grafted magnolia. Soil taken up the spiral by the ants to about 18’’ and now growing weeds.

2016 – CHW
More planting in Kennel Close of magnolias, carpinus, crataegus and aesculus (two full loads) which covers previous losses and fills up the third planting coupe nearest the road.While Michael and Jaimie fetch the second load a chance to catch up on what is out:Magnolia ‘Felix Jury’ has its first five flowers. I do not know how we have come not to plant this wonderful hybrid until recently? It is too good to miss from any serious magnolia collection. Perhaps we have others tucked away which have not flowered yet.

A 2008 planted Prunus ‘Okame’ is absolutely laden with flowers. We now have a few of these and they are wonderful value as early cherries.

A second 2012 planted Magnolia ‘Betty Jessel’ has its first two flowers.

Magnolia ‘Princess Margaret’ of 2008 vintage is coming into its own with 25 or so flowers and a blue sky. A different shape to ‘Caerhays Belle’ and ‘Kew Surprise’ which, despite its name, are its sister seedlings. Paler pink and more upright in habit perhaps.

Some views of Kennel Close planting with Magnolias ‘Aurora’, ‘Plum Pudding’ and ‘Sweetheart’ in the distance in some of them.

The true original Magnolia campbellii ‘Alba’ against a blue sky takes quite some beating. We have three originals (one in Old Park) which are all more or less full out in what looks like another dry week.

The magnolias and some conifers are getting the extra high netting around them to prevent deer damage.

2015 – CHW

A display of magnolias the like of which no showbench at any flower show has ever seen for Serena’s wedding.

2000 – FJW
Trevor’s digger left. Mags at their best – glorious weather.

1992 – FJW
Magnolias at their best only frosted ones near Backyard and one in Bond St, Drive Bank mag fine. New Phillip Tregunna has won FCC.

1991 – FJW
Still very wet – Mags good despite early frost except for Bishop Peter and early M above crino hedge.

1931 – JCW
Very hard frost on March 9, Rhodo’s just recovering and Lutescens leads a long way and the Camellia speciosa has been good owing to the buds opening almost at once when the frost left.

1929 – JCW
The rain came after 25 days without.

1928 – JCW
All blooms knocked out 8 days ago, new begin to show and Wilsons plants give most of these. Manglietias felt the cold very much indeed. Michelias hardly at all.

1925 – JCW
Very much as in 1922. The Kobus is again the first Magnolia. Absence of wind and of hard frost has given us great beauty of flower, masses of bloom and hardly a sopt on them.

1922 – JCW
Double [?] is very good. Prunus conradinae too, one or two Auklandii a good red and one or two Auklandii x white show colour. The early Mag kobus is good and not the other. Clematis armandii has been very fine for a long while.

1918 – JCW
Blackthorn came out a week ago, well ahead of 1914.

1914 – JCW
I found the first bit of Blackthorn in the Battery Walk.

Half (bare) the Princep Mary open, some Mag halleana, Rho ciliatum, Rho primulinum, Rho argenteum well out and at their best. R barbatum going over, most of the blood red hybrids are very good. Mrs Butler x coming along, double C reticulata all open. A good few daff seedlings open.

1908 – JCW
P M most of them have had the pollen out. M halleana shows colour. Most of the K A, some C J Backhouse, late year.

1905 – JCW
Princep Mary half of them open, a few M hume, Forde nearly, most of the King A’s, Monarch thrusting bud well, one White Queen, Mag halleana open.

(Hand Written note attached to Garden Book Page)
Rhodo’s in flower at Caerhays 1931
* = in flower in 1932

Repens, Scabrifolium*, Spinuliferum*, Sulfureum*, Irroratum*, White Pulfureum, Lutescens*, Intricatum*, Baileyi, Hippopaeoides*, Quinquefolium*, Hemidartum*, Stewartianum*, Sutchuenense*, Keiskii*, Obtusum*, Delavayi*, Racemosum, Honewellianum, Glischrum, Barbatum*, Pink Arboreum, White Arboreum, Albrechtii, Fargesii*, Neriiflorum, Anthospaerum, Meddianum, Floccigerum, Cyanocarpum.

The Garden Diary

A Cornish garden diary from Caerhays Estate over 100 years

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