2026 – CHW (images to follow)
Late flowers on Camellia maliflora.
Crataegus schraderiana in flower at last.
Ehretia anacua with some flowers high up.
Diplopanax stachyanthus (WWJ 12110) finally out in flower. Not great flowers but attractive to bees and wasps.
Tom Hudson’s Magnolia insignis in the Rookery is a much darker red in colour than ever before.
Magnolia conifera ssp. chingii (20070857) settling in well.
As is Magnolia fordiana var. calcarea (also from Raf).
Phoebe sheareri with good new growth.
A young Weinmannia trichosperma in flower in the Rookery. The flowers are however white (according to the IDS) so these must be the young red fruits?
Ilex paraguariensis with new growth.
2025 – CHW
Illicium merrillianum (KWJ 12113).
Ligustrum confusum covered in flower.
Exochorda tianschanica with ripening seeds for Asia to collect soon.
Cercis chingii with very distinct leaf veining.
What I think is the very late flowering Azalea ‘Jane Fire’.
Stachyurus praecox ‘Devon Purple’ getting established.
Lomatia tinctoria now full out.
Lomatia fraseri not yet out.
Stewartia x henryae with sparse flowers.
Rapaena salicina syn. Myrsine salicina making good progress.
One of Tom Hudson’s Manglietia insignis flowering well in the Rookery clearing.
2024 – CHW
First flowers just emerging on Hydrangea seemannii.
First flowers just emerging on Hydrangea seemannii.
Toona sinensis ‘Flamingo’ has been slow to lose the colour of its leaves this wet year.
Euonymus tonkinensis in flower.
Viburnum taiwanianum is rather good in flower and bud.
Euonymus tingens with quite a show.
Euonymus carnosus (NMWJ 14515) seems very similar to E. tingens?
Viburnum wrightii nearly over.
Viburnum x hillieri ‘Winton’ putting on a wonderful show.
Microtropis petelotii also looks very like E. tingens?
Viburnum fordiae.
The first flower ever on Merrilliopanax alpinus (BSWJ 13939) is nearly over.
Impressive new growth on Schefflera rhododendrifolia. The plant is now 15 feet tall.
2023 – CHW
The very ancient dark red Azalea indica outside the front door.
Below the lawn a rather attractive wild flower which I do not remember seeing before, at least as such a stand out flower. Galium verum or Lady’s Bedstraw I think.
Lady Cynthia Carew Pole’s day lilies as good as over by the tower. The original names long last but I try to piece together what they might be.
This looks like Hemerocallis ‘Marion Vaughn’.
Unknown.
Perhaps Hemerocallis lilioasphodelus.
Unknown.
Hemerocallis ‘El Desperado’.
Possibly Hemerocallis ‘Catherine Woodbury’.
Tropaeolum ciliatum full out by the Georgian Hall.
2022 – CHW
Grass cutting starts in Penvergate with two machines. There are two plants of Aesculus wilsonii here and one has done especially well.
Grass cutting starts in Penvergate with two machines. There are two plants of Aesculus wilsonii here and one has done especially well.
The Azalea indica by the front door is covered in flower all at once. A far better flowering than for years.
Flower buds nearly open on Clethra kaipoensis.
Syringa yunnanensis (SBEC 1022) planted in 2015 is now multi stemmed and 10-12ft tall with most flowers at the top of the new large shrub.
Cornus hongkongensis just coming out. Not many bracts this year and the best plant blown over last year below Hovel Cart Road.
Rhododendron auriculatum with some drought dieback. One to collect seed from in case it dies after this excessive flowering.
A young Euonymus tingens with its purple speckled flowers. This becomes a tree but our original introduction has few flowers in its old age.
Ilex gagnepaniana going ahead well.
A young Staphylea bumalda (BSWJ 11053) has dieback after planting last year. It appears to be the true species unlike the plant on Rookery Path which is labelled S. bumalda but is probably a hybrid with S. colchica.
Dipelta floribunda with seed capsules. Dipelta have short but spectacular lives.
Styrax americanus – Kankakea Form – is now properly out.
A wonderful show on Magnolia sieboldii on the Main Ride. Small flowers on this form.
I have missed the flowers on Magnolia rostrata this year.
Schefflera species Nova (NJM 13.118) with its gigantic new growth.
Metapanax davidii with slug damage on the new growth.
Now off to the Isle of Wight.
2021 – CHW
Hydrangea seemanii will shortly be out.
The pink form of Rhododendron decorum at its best.
Styrax wilsonii now properly out with bees in attendance.
Styrax americanus is not quite out yet beside it.
Fagus sylvatica ‘Purpurea Pendula’
Had we been at the Hampton Court show in 10 days’ time this would have been a feature plant – Lomatia ferruginea at its best. We pruned up the lower branches last autumn and the trunk is producing new shoots.
Ligustrum confusum with huge inflorescences.
The attractive bark of Maytenus boaria with some branches weeping and drooping as is normal.
Another separate plant of Maytenus boaria has much more erect and upright branches.
The oldest plant left of Rehderodendron macrocarpum is dying and half the stem is rotten.
