The laurel cutting gets as far as the tree fern.

Tidying up deads as they go.

The tree fern looks likely to fall over soon.

A great job in what is a 5-7 year cycle.

2024 – CHW
Another very drab, cold and overcast day.

Camellia ‘Cinnamon Scentsation’ with just a few flowers as yet.

Camellia ‘Cinnamon Cindy’ well out and beautifully scented today with no wind.

A strange white mould on the trunk of an elderly magnolia. I don’t think it is doing any harm.

The seeds have all now shed on Schefflera delavayi. I hope we remembered to gather some?

Rather more worrying is rot (looks like honey fungus) at the base of our oldest Magnolia ‘Caerhays Surprise’. Strangely this happened once before 25 or so years ago and the tree died to ground level but reshot as a multi-stemmed plant.

First flowers on a young Camellia japonica ‘Diamond Head’.

2023 – CHW
Daphne bholua ‘Garden House Ghost’ now full out above the greenhouse.

First flower out on the garden form of Camellia reticulata above the Aucklandii Garden.

The Malus have all now gone and the plant sales area is nearly clear of everything still to be planted out.

2022 – CHW
Early germination of Dodonea viscosa seedlings in the nursery in our new seed production house.

First flowers out on Edgworthia ‘Red Dragon’ at Burncoose.

An excellent new crop of customer information notice boards in the nursery produced by our own staff.

This is one of the unwelcome side effects of trying to use compost which is peat free. Inevitably bark and woodchip based composts will always grow fungi like this. Unsightly to say the least but probably not actually harmful to the herbaceous plant in this pot. Try telling that to a customer if you sent him a dormant plant with this level of ‘disease’!

2021 – CHW
Trimming up and uplifting on a Michelia x foggii ‘Allspice’.

The elderly Camellia maliflora which was storm damaged and cut down 10 to 15 years ago. It is rather chlorotic in parts.

Recent trimming has exposed a fine clump of Phyllostachys nigra with very dark canes.

The original and huge (despite being cut down 20 to 25 years ago) Camellia x williamsii ‘John Pickthorn’ just coming out. The buds are long and tubular.

The fruits on what Tom Hudson identified as Malus rockii (he said x rockii but this is not in Hillier’s) are now ripe. New Trees says the fruits are ‘pome red’. There is a hint of reddish brown in them but they are clearly not red!

Still some leaves on Crataegus aestivalis (wrongly spelt austivalis on the plant label) which was unexpected.

Betula utilis var. jacquemontii ‘Inverleith’ with a developing and colourful trunk.

Sorbus japonica still covered in ripe and attractive red fruits with odd spotting.

Sorbus hupehensis likewise.

Salix fargesii. Last year’s new growth is red, two year old growth has green bark that eventually becomes woody. A quick growing and attractive shrub.

Cedrus brevifolia with lots of new growth which has shorter and sparser needles than the more mature growth.

Abies pinsapo developing nicely.

Tilia mexicana has a drooping habit and frequently has branches split off in the wind when in full leaf.

Picea morrisonicola – a rare and graceful spruce from Taiwan. Mount Morrison spruce.

Cedrus libani

The bamboos in Kennel Close have not yet been scorched and partially defoliated in the wind. They look rather impressive clumps today.

Fargesia robusta

Chimonobambusa tumidissinoda – the most vigorous and spreading of these six.

Fargesia rufa

Fargesia utilis

Himalayacalamus falconeri

The evergreen leaves of Quercus rugosa have some scorching.

I had expected Camellia tsaii to be out earlier but it is just starting with loads of buds. Similar to Camellia cuspidata.

The seedpods we saw in the summer on Fitzroya cupressoides have long since ‘popped’ and shed their seeds.

I have seldom planted Hamamelis here as nobody ever sees them and we had previously found them suspect to Phytophthora ramorum. However I had forgotten this Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Ruby Glow’ tucked away in far too much shade by the Acer griseum. I think next year we ought to try a new planting of some of the best new varieties. An ideal spot would be on the drive where the ash tree fell recently and where we ripped out some poor Camellia reticulata seedlings in the spring.

I attempted to see if Magnolia martinii had any flower buds for the spring. Most are new leaf growth buds I fear.

Camellia ‘New Venture’ is now nicely out.

New posts installed above the main quarry to keep visitors ‘safe’ if we are ever allowed any.