The original Acer franchetii has total leaf drop.

Snake bark maples are leafless but I hope they will survive this premature leaf drop which is a safety mechanism in a drought.

Magnolia globosa is showing autumn colour.

Another dead Rhododendron sinogrande.

Another dead young Rhododendron viscosum.

This Cercidiphyllum is now dead as expected.

Several Betulas have shed half their leaves.

Sorbus thomsonii with major leaf drop.

2025 – CHW

Cotoneaster cornifolius (Ogisu 93330) laden with nearly ripe berries.

Fruit clusters still green on the quick growing Cornus drummondii ‘Sunshiny Drops’. They should turn black in time.

Pterostyrax hispida with numerous huge seed tassels.

Hydrangea ‘Vanilla Fraise’ even closer to being dead in the drought.

I do not know what sort of moth caterpillars these are munching through the leaves on young newly planted birch trees. They only seem to eat birch leaves. We have seen them gorging themselves before but usually on the newer leaves in May. This second crop in very late August is unexpected.

Hedychium x moorei ‘Raffillii’ at its best.

Hedychium spicatum ‘Liberty’ (BWJ 8116) is less impressive.

Hedychium tsengongense (WWJ 4964).

A rather battered Hypericum lancasteri with much die back has eventually produced some flowers.

2024 – CHW
A trip to Burncoose today and in the cash point the amazing herbaceous Hibiscus moscheutos ‘Starry Starry Night’. Enormous flowers and very reddish leaves.

A new catalogue entry is Hoya carnosa ‘Silver Spots’.

Eucryphia × hillieri ‘Winton’ flowering well by the till.

Entelea arborescens is starting to grow away.

Pseudopanax ‘Gold Finger’ is not a bad name for the new growth.

Pseudopanax ‘Gecko Gold’ has plain green, younger leaves and yellow, variegated, older ones.

Alchemilla pectinatus with attractive dead seed heads.

Callicarpa kwangtungensis in full flower, as are all the other Callicarpa in the tunnels.

Melicytus crassifolius covered in blotched white berries. Excellent plants in 3 litre pots.

Parthenocissus quinquefolia turning red already.

Pileostegia viburnoides in full flower.

Persicaria alpina in full flower.

Last week in Yorkshire I was photographing knapweed (Centaurea nigra). Here, in the nursery, is a cultivated form but still easily recognisable by flower and leaf shape – Centaurea ‘Silver Feather’.

2023 – CHW
Cones forming on Picea abies which has now been exposed to more light after our clearance work in the Rookery.

Down to the nursery for the ’40 years at Burncoose’ staff photograph in the packing shed.

I soon spot a new plant – Dais cotinifolia.

Aralia cordata setting seed.

Camellia ‘Apollo’ has a flower nearly out in August!

Euonymus planipes with ripe and splitting seed heads.

Lonicera x americana still nicely in flower.

Styrax japonicus ‘Pink Chimes’ with what looks like a secondary flowering.

Chaenomeles x superba ‘Nicoline’ with a well-formed quince.

The new rhododendron seed house full to capacity.

A fine crop of Schefflera pauciflora seedlings.

Rhododendron liners equally good.

Loropetalum chinense rubrum ‘Blush’ well out already.

Rhaphithamnus spinosus with blue berries.

2022 – CHW
So what do conclude from 2 days of viewing plants suffering from drought?a) It is not as bad as 1976 YET! Drizzle overnight does help. The Sunday’s rain 7 weeks ago which southern England didn’t receive has been the difference. In 1976 it didn’t rain here from 23rd April until the first week of September.
b) The worst affected plants are the hydrangeas on the drive followed closely by young rhododendrons planted in hottish places in the last year 3 years.
c) In 1976 elderly beech trees were the worst sufferers. This time it is the mature sycamores which have the worst premature leaf drop. We have been seeing elderly sycamores dying of old age in recent years. This process will now accelerate.
d) Watering big leafed rhodendorns (with our own private and plentiful water supply) does work but you have to water hard to get the soil damp enough to get the water to penetrate over a few consecutive days. Nevertheless you cannot begin to water everything so 2022 will see the demise of many 30-40 year old big leafs planted after the 1976 drought.
e) We must take more care with what we plant in full sun and what we plant in dappled shade.So far its really not as bad as I had feared when coming down the drive last Sunday. However a few rare ancient and original Chinese introduced trees will probably pass out more quickly in the next year or two than would otherwise have been the case. Aesculus wilsonii is top of the list and the 3 biggest Pinus insignis look dreadful. I suspect Cornish gardens have fared better than their counterparts in Hampshire, Kent, and other home counties. Exbury and the Savill Gardens can irrigate but they are the exception.https://youtu.be/xur5ezEm7ygThe big leafed rhododendrons in Burncoose Garden have survived the drought better than Caerhays. Burncoose had the benefit of a good few thunderstorms.

2021 – CHWYet more magnolias in flower located today.

Magnolia wilsonii (DJHC 98369) having what I assume is a second flowering. Very fine for late August and I find a Magnolia sieboldii doing the same. I presume the wet summer has led to exceptional extra new growth and we are really seeing next spring’s flowers?

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