More giant mushrooms on the lawn.

A fine late show on Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’.

Flower tassels well on on Garrya elliptica ‘James Roof’.

The last pictures of the only half intact crown of the Turkey oak taken from the front door.

I do not recognise this tiny butterfly enjoying the very last of the knapweed.

The crown has gone and Ross assists Kel back to the ground. An extraordinarily skilled job which has taken perhaps 7-8 hours of tree surgery. Now for a tidy up and then the main trunk comes down. We have had a time lapse camera observing the work and perhaps we will add it to the diary.

2023 – CHW
The Mallotus japonicus which was a gift from James Garnett and the Botanic Gardens in Nantes is particularly good in flower this year.

The branch of the Pinus radiata left a nasty hanger as you can see and also smashed up the Buddleja colvilei, Hypericum lancasteri and the lower branches of a decent Styrax japonicus ‘Emerald Pagoda’.

The Pterocarya rhoifolia is growing in a laurel hedge and urgently needs more space.

Third and last grass cut this year in Tin Garden.

Callicarpa bodinieri ‘Profusion’ takes some beating as a garden plant in the autumn.

Rhus punjabensis is suckering after the wind snapped one of the two main branches.

2022 – CHW
The growth in Aralia foliosa (ex. Roundabarrow) is phenomenal. At least 6 feet a year and only planted in 2019. It is now around 25 feet tall and still growing strongly after the recent rain.

As yet unripe seed on Meliosma tenuis. Very few seeds seem to set from the much larger numbers of flowers in each panicle.

The first 2 flowers out on the first of the 5 different, ancient Camellia sasanqua’s along the castle wall. About a fortnight earlier than last year. I photographed Camellia ‘Kitty’ with a tail end flower this year on 1st August. So this diary has shown a Camellia in flower in every month of this past year. This is also the case with Magnolias and Rhododendrons. These can have secondary flowers out of season but Camellias do not. It is arguable that all three have some species in flower every month of the year without any secondary flowers needing to be counted.

A rather nice combination of berries on Cotoneaster horizontalis and flowers on Fuchsia magellanica var. gracilis.

Astonished to find plenty of flowers on Rhododendron mucronulatum which would normally be out on bare, leafless, stems in December. Is this secondary flowering or has the drought confused things for this species?

Cedrus atlantica ‘Glauca’ absolutely smothered in flower cones.

2021 – CHW
Early autumn colour on Stewartia x henryae.Magnolia ‘Cleopatra’ now has even more dark secondary flowers.

A few secondary flowers on Rhododendron ‘Elizabeth’ as usual.

Not long to wait before Camellia taliensis is in flower. Some colour just showing.

Seed swelling on Rhododendron ‘Elsie Frye’. This may well be worth gathering and sowing in case it produces a novel new natural cross with different colouring. There are several different scented rhodos nearby.

Secondary flowers on Rhododendron ‘Bow Bells’.

I have missed the first two flowers ever on Schima argentea. One is nearly brown. I can see no more buds on this vigorous and healthy tree for this season. Three out of our four different species of Schima have flowered this year. Schima wallichii did not perform.

2020 – CHW
Work is now underway making a new planting below the camellia foliage area for large leaf rhododendrons next spring. A well sheltered area in dappled shade which will remain damp in dry spells. A few very old Camellia japonicas are to go as well as some myrtles and a few trees have been upraised around about.

An early flower on Camellia sasanqua ‘Showa no sakae’.

The elderly pale pink Camellia sasanqua is nearly full out but no colour yet on the four others which are different colours.

2019 – CHW
A howling gale just coming up which may or may not be the tail end of the expected hurricane which the forecasters are uncertain about exactly when it will hit Cornwall. Bloody wet anyway and quite a bit of wind damage as we will see.A fine flower before the wind arrives on Magnolia grandiflora below the lawn.

Acer saccherinum, the silver maple, has five-lobed leaves. Many blown off without turning colour but just a hint of the true yellow one might get in a colder autumn.

An oak branch down which has hit the Maakia but not too badly. Both need tidying up.

Magnolia ‘Princess Margaret’ has keeled over even more and needs pollarding to survive. A clear split at the graft at ground level so it may well be ‘curtains’ anyway.

Schefflera pauciflora with now ripe seeds which Asia ought to gather with some put aside for when Paul calls here in late October.

Schefflera aff. myriocarpa beside it just about to flower exactly as it did this time last year. Odd how two separate species from one genus can perform so differently.

The last flower for this year, it would seem, on the excellent Magnolia grandiflora ‘Kay Parris’.

Ironically, 100 yards from the elderly beech with the splitting trunk which tree surgeons are currently removing for safety reasons, a much younger (60 to 70 year old) beech has also split in half. As usual two main leaders and, as you can see, water ingress into the trunk which has caused the collapse in the wind over last weekend. This had not happened by last Friday anyway. It fell away from the path so was no threat even if we had been open to the public. In a woodland garden you are never going to be able to predict occurrences like this however many tree surveys you undertake – short of felling everything over 15ft in height!

2018 – CHW
A last late flower on an elderly Rosa ‘Mermaid’ after at least four months of flowering.

And the very last poor flower for this season on Romneya coulteri on the front of the castle. What a show we have had here all summer. This plant really enjoyed the drought.

2017 – CHW
Guests were asking what the rhododendron full out on the drive was. I had not yet noticed but there is a rather full secondary display on Rhododendron ‘Norfolk Candy’. It may mean it is infected with honey fungus and is in its last throws of life. Its neighbour died in the summer. However another plant by ‘Georges Hut’ is full out too as I found out later.

The many seed pods on Rehderodendron macrocarpum are still not quite ripe enough to collect. Asia needs to keep an eye on them. Unusual for so much fruit on such a young tree.