The mist benches in the greenhouse are filled with healthy looking rooted and rooting rhododendron cuttings. Outstanding!

A good selection of new (to us) camellia species which Asia has grown from cuttings collected at Tregrehan on 1st October 2018.

A nice batch of rare Illicium oligandrum liners.

A flower on a Camellia yushienensis liner also from a Tregrehan cutting. Odd shape.

A cutting from the original Camellia saluenensis being grown for the new RCMG camellia species collection at Harlow Carr gardens.

These look like potted camellia seedlings from one of the outdoor cold frames.

A good trayfull of Araujia sericifera seedlings.

Very impressive all round – I am like a child (or adult) at Christmas with a box of Quality Street!

2019 – CHW
The very last flowers on the last of the elderly Camellia sasanquas to come into flower. This one by the arch has been out for three months.

First flowers on the pure Camellia japonicas in Old Park which we grow for foliage for sale at Covent Garden. Most have smaller red flowers than this seedling but the foliage is perfect for flower arranging.

A fallen tree above the Gunnera bed at the top of Old Park.

Still some green leaves on the Gunnera manicata which proves how little frost we have had thus far. The huge rhizomes look as though the new leaves are not far away either.

A magnolia has split in half on the top path preventing me proceeding to inspect the squirrel traps. Some rather dodgy reversing then needed.

2018 – CHW
Bitterly cold east wind today and a trip to Burncoose forgetting my gloves. The pictures will be as cold as I felt but, as always, a few missing photographs for the website jumped out and a few new things to look at.Camellia ‘Tregye’ out early. A Tregrehan hybrid which I had forgotten together with its location in the garden.

Camellia ‘Sundae’ is new to the 2018 catalogue. Rather like Camellia ‘Bokuhen’ I think? Even Camellia ‘Amemoniflora’ but darker? A Trehane introduction I suspect?

First rather poor flowers on the young plants (first year grafts) in the nursery of Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Aurora’ with yellow flowers at first turning bronzy-yellow. Larger plants still to show colour.

A nice new batch of plants labelled as Eriobotrya ‘Coppertone’ without any sign of the coppery new growth yet. Now properly classified as x Raphiobotrya ‘Coppertone’ since it is a US cross between eriobotrya and raphiolepsis. The plant at Caerhays has more rounded flatter leaves as you would expect but is semi-mature. In fact I do not see much raphiolepsis in these plants at all? I wonder if this is simply an eriobotrya with red new growth and not the x raphiobotrya cross at all? Eriobotrya deflexa in fact? Need to keep an eye on these plants – the jury is out!

Mahonia nitens ‘Cabaret’ with a few blue seeds left. I have missed the flowers but the leaf structure is pleasant.

Mahonia gracilipes. These are seedlings and a bit variable as can be seen from the leaf colours. Some have a purple hue while others remain green. A good new plant which will become popular once it is better known.

2016 – CHW

I find some damage in the Top Garden.

Rhododendron ‘Penvose’, a Caerhays hybrid, is half uprooted but can probably be saved if cut back hard (again) and reembedded in the soil.

A small Nothofagus has gone over thus proving yet again how badly this genus performs in the wind. This was a young tree planted in 1991 of about 15 to 20 feet in height. They are surface and shallow rooted trees. Probably a Nothofagus alpina.

Camellia ‘Mary Costa’ is well out by the big Acer griseum.