2025 – CHW
At last I feel fit enough for a proper foray into the start of the magnolia season.
Camellia x williamsii ‘Delia Williams’ now nicely out on the castle wall.
A big excitement! The first ever flowering here, of Magnolia sprengeri var. diva ‘Fire’. This came to us from Lunaplant in Germany and is not that different from some of the other regional populations of M. sprengeri found on the Swedish/ Chinese expedition of (about) 2010. M. sprengeri ‘Dusty Pink’ is similar if not quite so early into flower. Exact origin in China is unknown but it is a superb plant. Too windy today to see if any scent. The pictures on the Lunaplant website of M. ‘Fire’ do not do it justice.
Magnolia campbellii ‘Strybing White’ full out against a blue sky.
The ancient Magnolia campbellii near Tin Garden is also full out but, as ever, a rather pale and dull colour.
The very last bit of, perhaps, 250m of laurel hedge on the Main Ride.
2024 – CHW
Rhododendron ‘Christmas Cheer’ finally at its best.
Acacia longifolia had blown over. Now uprighted and in flower.
Acacia baileyana ‘Purpurea’ now out. Acacia baileyana nearby is virtually over.
Another full bud on Magnolia ‘’Todd’s Fortyniner’.
Camellia reticulata ‘White Form’ suddenly out. Not completely white!
First flowers out high up on Magnolia zenii. So we now have 7 magnolias in flower!
First flower out on Camellia x williamsii ‘Delia Williams’. A little later than usual I suspect.
2023 – CHW
The Copper House safe.The family repurchased the dilapidated Copper House at Burncoose in 2020. Reroofing and renovating what was formally the estate office for the Williams Cornish Mining Company Ltd is now well underway.In the front room just inside the front door is a massive safe in a strongroom that can only be unlocked from a lever behind the bed in the bedroom above. In around 1964 the contents of the safe and all the mining archives were transferred from the Copper House to Caerhays.John Trudgeon supervised the move and always said that the safe was completely empty.The safe has two locks; one of which had rusted up. The keys had long since disappeared so 3 up country locksmiths quoted to get it open (c. £2000!) It took 3 visits by the selected locksmith to gain entry.
The Copper House safe.The family repurchased the dilapidated Copper House at Burncoose in 2020. Reroofing and renovating what was formally the estate office for the Williams Cornish Mining Company Ltd is now well underway.In the front room just inside the front door is a massive safe in a strongroom that can only be unlocked from a lever behind the bed in the bedroom above. In around 1964 the contents of the safe and all the mining archives were transferred from the Copper House to Caerhays.John Trudgeon supervised the move and always said that the safe was completely empty.The safe has two locks; one of which had rusted up. The keys had long since disappeared so 3 up country locksmiths quoted to get it open (c. £2000!) It took 3 visits by the selected locksmith to gain entry.
Then, with bated breath, the safe is opened for the first time in 60 years. All Trudgie had left for us was a half penny coin! Otherwise empty as you can see.
2022 – CHW
The strong NW winds which the weathermen have been warning about for a few days have now reached us from the north of the country. Wet but still mild here although snow flurries upcountry.The gigantic Camellia ‘Magnoliiflora’ overhanging the top wall.
First decent flower out on Rhododendron monstroseanum.
Unripe seed heads and foliage on Trochodendron araliodes – Taiwanese form. This is now a small spreading tree.
Magnolia ‘Todd’s Forty Niner’ a week on with a few flowers fully out. Todd Gresham’s 49th cross made in 1964 in California ((M. x soulangeana ‘Rouged Alabaster) x M. ‘Royal Crown’). The parentage is evident in the small compact form and shape of this variety planted here in 2007.
First few flowers blown out overnight on Magnolia zenii. Too high up to do justice to. Also planted in 2007 and now much taller than ‘49er’.
Similarly a few flowers on Magnolia campbellii ‘Valentine’s Torch’. Yellow as it opens fading to white. Again too high up to photograph properly. Originally from a graft gifted to us by Mount Congreve.
The original and largest 1913 Magnolia campbellii has four flowers blown out today but is still a long way from being properly out. Very little colour yet showing on the vast majority of buds.
2021 – CHW
Finally the end of the UK and Ireland champion tree of Osmanthus yunnanensis. As we have seen before one tree reshot after pollarding but the second did not. The cross section of the trunk shows obvious rot in its dotage. Look how quickly it grew and the trunk enlarged in the earlier years of its life. Very fine wood which a wood turner and polisher might well now make use of. Just the digger to remove the stump now.
Finally the end of the UK and Ireland champion tree of Osmanthus yunnanensis. As we have seen before one tree reshot after pollarding but the second did not. The cross section of the trunk shows obvious rot in its dotage. Look how quickly it grew and the trunk enlarged in the earlier years of its life. Very fine wood which a wood turner and polisher might well now make use of. Just the digger to remove the stump now.
Galanthus elwesii now full out.
Hydrangea lobbii has, not unexpectedly, caught a chill in the cold. The flowers have all dropped in protest. What do you expect if you try to flower (as we have seen) November to December?
‘Wild’ daffodils now full out on the bank at the Four in Hand.
A rather battered seedling of the normally creamy yellowish flowered Rhododendron grande here with excellent pink buds below Burns Bank. We saw another of these last year above the greenhouse. We thought then a natural cross with Rhododendron ‘Cornish Red’ or ‘Red Admiral’. The seedlings were originally gathered from beside the top frames where they had self-sown. One or two other similar forms of grande on Hovel Cart Road have been pinkish but not as pink as this. We had thought the greenhouse one might be worth naming and registering.
A camellia as yellow as this has a problem. I had suspected ring barking with a strimmer or some other damage to the trunk at ground level. In fact the plant has been blown nearly out of the ground and most of its roots have snapped. The whole plant is wobbly and needs a stake but even doing this may well be too late to save it now.
Rhododendron ‘Bo Peep’ now nicely out.
As now is Rhododendron arboreum subsp. cinnamomeum.
Absolutely gorgeous scent and full out today at 12-15ft tall is Daphne bholua ‘Jacqueline Postill’.
