…flowers in the frame. Nothing startling really. Magnolia ‘Cup Cake’ Magnolia ‘Cup Cake’ Magnolia ‘Black Velvet’ is a surprising white with, I admit, a blackish velvety stem. Wrongly named? No…

…Rhododendron ‘Glendoick Velvet’ Rhododendron ‘Glendoick Velvet’ Rhododendron ‘Glendoick Velvet’ – plastered, but not my colour. Rhododendron ‘Norfolk Candy’ Rhododendron ‘Norfolk Candy’ Rhododendron ‘Norfolk Candy’ – Millais. Shy flowerer. Looked better…

…stripe amid the dark purple. Rhododendron ‘Glendoick Velvet’ Rhododendron ‘Glendoick Velvet’ Reevsia sinica has shed what was left of its old leaves after the ‘Beast’ and is thankfully producing attractive…

…sloes forming but still green and swelling. Last year they were ripe. sloes sloes Even the blackberries were sparse, undeveloped and with tiny fruits. blackberries blackberries The elders mainly had…

…x Rhododendron falconeri) – I am promised a cutting. Rhododendron ‘Colonel Rogers Group’ Camellia ‘Konronkoku’ (‘Nigra’ or ‘Kunlong black’) still had plenty of near black flowers out today. Camellia ‘Konronkoku’…

…may even have planted it 40 years ago. Rhododendron haematodes One flower on Rhododendron haematodes. This is a replacement for long dead originals. Wisteria ‘Black Dragon’ Wisteria ‘Black Dragon’ Wisteria…

…now in the centre of the Old Park. 2019 planted. Magnolia ‘Black Swan’ Magnolia ‘Black Swan’ Magnolia ‘Black Swan’ Magnolia ‘Theodora’ is Maurice Foster’s UK bred M. ‘Dark Shadow’ x…

…shown. R.GRIFFITHIANUM x glendoick em velvet cross R.GRIFFITHIANUM x purple splendour cross R.GRIFFITHIANUM x JC Williams cross R.GRIFFITHIANUM x arboreum sub delavayii cross R.GRIFFITHIANUM x cetewayo cross 2016 – CHW…

…smaller growing, more dwarf, and have larger flowers. Buddleia ‘Black Knight’ and ‘Empire Blue’ have been superseded by ‘Buzz Indigo’ / ‘African Queen’ as good purples and by ‘Blue Horizon’…

…flower. Orange velvet on the new growth. Magnolia figo var crassipes x (M. foveolata x M. laevifolia) Magnolia figo var crassipes x (M. foveolata x M. laevifolia) Magnolia opipara (also…