22nd October | The Garden Diary

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CONTRIBUTORS:

FJW 1955-2007

CHW 2015-

JCW 1897-1939

CW 1940-1955

2023 – CHW

Two swallows seen near the church.

A tour of the garden with Tony & Sally Kirkham.

Camellia sasanqua ‘Setsugekka’ well out already.

Abies homolepis performing well again.

Abies delavayi is nearly as good.

Sorbus alnifolia rather less impressive.

Malus transitoria ‘Roundabarrow Ruby’ with smallish fruits.

Sorbus japonica glowing in the sun.

Sorbus adamii fruiting for the first time.

Mespilus germanica with a secondary flower alongside the nearly ripe fruit.

Still decent flowers on Hoheria populnea ‘Variegata’.

First flower absurdely early, as it was last year on the same branch, on Camellia x williamsii ‘Jovey Carlyon’.

Ripe fruits already on the Hedychium.

Mahonia japonica just showing.

2022 – CHW
The Kitchen Garden is greening up. Stones and roots all now in piles and all ready for planting.

Fruit on Malus hupehensis in Old Park (top path).

Two Camellia sasanqua just out at the bottom of Old Park. Old plants cut down to reshoot 10 – 12 years ago.

Rhododendron ‘Polyroy’ with the odd secondary flower beyond George’s Hut.

Euonymus alatus starting to turn.

Hoheria populnea is the best thing in the garden today. Multi stemmed and at least 20 feet in height. Plastered in flower but hard to photograph.

Callicarpa species unknown from Nanning in Guangdong province.

Acer truncatum var barbinerve with the seed heads colouring.

Carpinus caroliniana with excellent autumn colour which I have not picked up on before. One of the best Carpinus species in this respect.

2021 – CHW
Lapageria rosea ‘Picotee’ in full flower. Even the buds have a picotee edging. The same plant from which we gave cuttings to Tregrehan a fortnight ago.

Lead valley repairs above the ladies loos.

Secondary flowering on part of the forsythia beside the gents loos. Last year we saw this after the leaves had fallen and there were far less flowers than here.

A large branch has fallen off the Quercus ilex opposite the front door.

And another bit has split off another tree by the 1955 planted Magnolia ‘Lanarth’.

Flowers and a seedpod on a Camellia sinensis grown from Tregrehan cuttings.

2020 – CHW
The first flowers this year on Camellia x williamsii ‘November Pink’.

Amazing colours on Lagerstroemia limii which was a gift from James Garnett at Nantes botanical garden.

Seedpods forming on Euonymus morrisonensis.

Seed clusters have formed on the Lithocarpus hancei but they are tiny and not viable.

Ternstroemia gymnanthera with startling red secondary new growth. Gorgeous!

2019 – CHW
Pay rise review at Burncoose today. From 14th December a new law has been introduced by the UK regarding the need to put a ‘plant passport’ on all plants sent out by mail order or sold by garden centres or in the trade. We hear about this only in the trade press and not directly from government. Our local plant health inspector knows nothing about it and Andrew finally ended up speaking to the child support agency when he tried to ring the plant health HQ in York on a government ‘helpline’! It will take 12 months to put a passport on every plant label in the nursery. If this was European bollocks we might understand it as plant traceability is clearly important to avoid importing diseases. My guess is that it is a European initiative which the UK have told Brussels that they will comply with as the Brexit drama has unfolded. You cannot comply with a law if the government is incapable of telling you the detailed rules. The Horticultural Trades Association members are in uproar. Small businesses fear for their existence but it will, as usual, all be fudged in reality for many months yet.Protea nerifolia ‘White Night’ (imported from France with, as yet, no passport) with its first flower bud about to open.

Euonymus grandiflorus ‘Ruby Wine’ now has pinkish seed capsules and most of the leaves have turned a vivid red. This has all occurred in a fortnight since I last photographed these plants.

Saxifraga fortunei ‘Shiranami’ literally plastered in flower with no leaves showing. What a plant this is for an autumn show.

Magnolia (Michelia) ‘Fairy Lime’ has just arrived. Nice plants. We already have a ‘Fairy White’, a ‘Fairy Blush’, and a ‘Fairy Cream’ and all three have grown and flowered exponentially in the garden here. Six feet in height now after three or four years from planting at this sort of size. Is ‘Fairy Lime’ really going to be that different?

2018 – CHW
Autumn colours on Liriodendron tulipifera ‘Aureomarginata’. Not nearly as good a yellow as L. tulipifera itself further down the drive.

New cladding on the end of the old black shed. This will over-winter another 10 fat cattle. The work was talked about some 10 years ago!

Liquidambar styraciflua ‘Red Star’ exhibiting its whole range of autumn colours. Sadly the gales have broken its leader again. This is a real problem with young liquidambars. Yellow, then reddish, then a real red although some leaves are still green. Quite a sight today in the pale sunlight.

Deutzia calycosa ‘Dali’ with late flowers. This selection was named by Roy Lancaster following a 1981 expedition to Yunnan. Clearly this is going to grow into a large upright bush. The flowers are large by deutzia standards.

2017 – CHW
This is what Hurricane Ophelia did to the sand on the beach at Porthluney.

2016 – CHW
Horrid, very ripe bindweed seed outside the back yard, hidden, until now, in an azalea.

A clutch of new bought in magnolias from Magnoliastore. This is the list with several nice new things:Magnolia acuminata ‘Seiju’Magnolia Kobus ‘Isis’ ® (Maráczi)

Magnolia Chameleon (‘Chang Hua’)

Magnolia ‘Charles Coates’

Magnolia ‘Crystal Tulip’

Magnolia ‘Flamingo’

Magnolia ‘Fukuja’

Magnolia ‘Pink Charm’

Magnolia ‘Purple Eye’

Magnolia ‘Purple Star’

Magnolia ‘Sentinel’

Magnolia ‘Sybille’

This pyrus originated from Werrington. Its flowers have a vile smell which it takes its name after but I cannot remember or trace it in the reference books. I might get it from the Werrington Chinese Garden plant list. It may well be Pyrus pashia.

2015 – CHW
Symphoricarpos albus (Snowberry) on the lawn still has some leaves but the large white marble like berries are already forming. This used to be a much larger clump under the yew tree but my mother and I dug it up to make room for a swing some 50 years ago. This whole area was once covered by a huge Pinus insignis which I remember being felled. The indentation in the lawn where the stump was burnt and then covered with earth is still clear.

Just inside the gate in a corner is Sarcococca saligna now in full flower. This is a less well known species of Sarcococca with no scent and suckering stems up to about four feet and attractive narrow leaves. Quite tender and prone to being cut to the ground in a very cold winter.

1982 – FJW
Two flowers on smaller C williamsii in Big Quarry.

1957 – FJW
Picked flowers Cam oleifera, 1 flower Burmanicum, Yellow Hammer good for a long time. Lapagerias and fuchsias excellent. Sasanquas flowering well having had last year off. Picked 3 ½ opened buds November Pink.

1943 – CW
Double white Camellia below Engine House out – also some Cornish Scarlet and a lot of Yellow Hammer – Sasanqua in full flower on wall. Mag delavayi and grandiflora both have flowers, also Nigra and Conpsicua.

1934 – JCW
Some Mag delavayi is in flower and perhaps more to come.

1932 – JCW
Magnolia delavayi has no flowers now, but Mag grandiflora has a number. The hydrangeas are good. C panniculata is V.G.

1928 – JCW
Camellia sasanquas start. Hydrangeas start, some blooms on Mag delavayi and grandiflora.

1927 – JCW
Clematis panniculata good. R moyesii fruit, also not much bud on Camellia sasanqua.

1922 – JCW
A late cool dry period for the last 3 weeks. Hydrangeas, roses, cyclamen, R moyesii (fruit) are all good.

1900 – JCW
Some Polyanthus up. Many good roses on walls and in beds. Belladonna V.G.