A trip to the nursery in some rain.
About halfway through potting up this year’s camellia liners.

Looking good today in the nursery:Lilium nepalense

Hoheria lyallii

Acca sellowiana ‘Gemini’

Roscoea x beesiana

Orders still coming in at the rate of 100 a day in lockdown. Everyone in the packing sheds is getting tired!Then back here for some filming for the weekly VLOG and topical tips for the website.

Lomatia ferruginea is absolutely laden down with flower this year after two dry summers. Normally it is one of the things which we know will be out and sell well at Hampton Court. The best thing in the garden today.

Neolitsea aff. polycarpa was simply too tall to stand upright when we planted it out this spring. So we simply chopped off 6ft and hoped for the best. After the rains came we finally have some reshooting.

The elderly clump of Acer palmatum ‘Sango-kaku’ is already turning an autumnal orange after the heatwave.

Aesculus x mutabilis ‘Induta’ is already producing a crop of ‘conkers’.

2019 – CHW
This may be Magnolia virginiana ‘Havener’? It is an evergreen tree with an overall height of 12-15ft and 8-10ft across. Only two flower buds that I can see and they look too small to be ‘Havener’ according to the reference books. The flowers are supposed to be double with a pinkish tinge. We will see. Planted in 1992.

After three days away at Hampton Court the flowers are now well out on Magnolia yuyuanensis (formerly Manglietia). The three outer tepals are probably correctly sepals. They soon curl in on themselves so that the red outsides are not visible for long. The flowers are pendulous with purple anthers which fade quickly and finally open out upside down which is not exactly how they are shown in ‘Magnolias of China’. The flowers do not look much like those on Tom’s either so this may not be correctly named? However I cannot see any other Manglietia species featured in the Chinese book which looks closer. Perhaps the tree is young and well shaded so that the flowers will stand more upright in maturity? The scent is strong only in those half out and is essentially the magnolia sap scent with a hint or more of lemon. Still more buds a long way from being out.

The third bud on Magnolia sapaensis still not out. The other two now just seed heads.

Reevsia sinica had shed all its old leaves before the very attractive new growth emerges.

2018 – CHW
I had forgotten where we had put Styrax americanus and how late into the season it flowers. Looking very attractive today as a smallish shrub. Its nearest equivalent Chinese species is probably Styrax wilsonii.

Stewartia sinensis is at last full out and, this year, the flowers seem larger than I remember. The five long calyxes preceding the bud opening are quite clear here. It is a huge tree but you need to look up from underneath it to see the best of the flowering effect.

The old leaves on the primroses are going yellow and have flopped down flat on the ground. Even in full shade the plants are close to going dormant until spring having restored their energy from the leaf growth. No seed heads evident here but plenty nearby.

The bluebell seed heads are also already dry and ripe. They are shedding their seeds naturally. Fine now to begin grass cutting properly. Another small part of natural regeneration has taken place.

2017 – CHW
200 entrants in the Mad Hatters triathlon. Swimming, bicycling and running all over. Not a peaceful Sunday. Karol took a few pictures and here is a sample of what went on.

I discover a rhododendron labelled Rhododendron ‘Dragonfly’ which is a new name to me growing just beside where the original Rhododendron ‘Rebecca’ has just died out. I cannot find it in the obvious reference books but it bears more than a passing resemblance to Rhododendron ‘Pink Polar Bear’. Nearly over sadly.

I have also almost missed Chionanthus virginicus which has nearly finished flowering. Not much flower this year.

The new growth on Quercus cleistocarpa has always been ‘droopy’ but I have never noticed its initial coppery colouring before which is quite strangely attractive. Inflorescences are also to be seen abundantly even on lower branches of this huge tree. We have only very occasionally found any acorns though.

The trunk on Tetrapanax papyrifera ‘Rex’ seems to be dead but we have several suckers growing well away from the old stem and a cluster of new shoots near the base.

Eucryphia lucida is full out above the Auklandii Garden in full sun. Eucryphia milliganii is in bud and Eucryphia ‘Pink Cloud’ out as we saw last week. Eucryphias can flower over a range of weeks in July to September and they are not always consistent year on year.

2016 – CHW
The debate rages over the new Chinese laser labelling machine (£1,500) which Karol has located to make new labels for the whole garden (eventually). The question of what size and colour the labels will be and at what cost is a difficult one. Also what information to actually put on the label itself. We are not a botanic garden so do not need accession numbers for everything and cannot afford the time and effort to compete with Windsor who have a man on this full time. The planting date and full name spelt correctly may have to suffice but a meeting with all the participants is needed to agree how we sort this all out next week. It could be a lengthy but gigantic leap forward and might even help John Williams get to know his plant names rather better and more quickly in the future. Certainly it would help with everything new which we plant
out.

2015 – CHW

Our Seaview garden is a total dump but fortunately the former barman at the yacht club has cut down the worst of the jungle. The only half decent thing is a huge Hypericum Hidcote in full flower.