2026 – CHW
House martins have arrived in smallish numbers albeit a few days later than the norm.
An intermittent jet of water is observed beyond the Bottom Lodge yesterday evening. Has the mains water pipe burst? No! Mevagissey Fire Brigade have a new (second hand) fire engine (one of 14 ‘new’ ones in Cornwall) and are testing it with water from the River Luney. Not impressed, they say, with the new engine which seems to be leaking water into the road at an alarming rate. New yellow biker helmets for all the Meva. boys but no jokes as there are 2 supervisory cars also present.
Prunus ‘Ju-nioi’ at its absolute best by the garden entrance – stunning.
Fat lamas at Penvergate.
Magnolia ‘Yellow Lantern’ below the tower has now had a lots of seedling myrtles removed so that it can be seen properly.
Dad’s Rhododendron morii x Rh. euchates cross (no name) by George’s Hut.
Persea japonica with ripe and (green) unripe fruits although many have already dropped.
Daphniphyllum oldhamii (CWJ 12351) has kept all its (yellowish) leaves but very small flowers.
Clethra mexicana also untouched by the hurricane and still with an unripe seed head.
Mahonia fargesii (M. sheridaniana or M. fargesii ‘Ogisu’) with attractive new growth.
Daphniphyllum chartaceum (KWJ 12244) leafless after the hurricane but now flowering on bare stems. Lots of new growth shoots so I hope this will survive two years on from planting.
2025 – CHW
A search for newly opening flowers on multi-coloured magnolias.
A pheasant’s nest in Old Park. It must be under or near the Cunninghamia lanceolata judging by the dead leaves around it.
Michael found a tiny grass snake on his drive as he came to work. It was released in cover here.
A young Magnolia ‘Tropicana’ in Tin Garden.
Magnolia ‘Carlos’.
Prunus incisa a mass of colour.
Magnolia ‘Banana Split’.
Magnolia ‘Apricot Brandy’ – gorgeous colour mix.
Magnolia ‘Crescendo’ – sparse flowering this year.
Magnolia BBG 11/6. Planted in 2016 – no name.
Prunus ‘Hally Jolivette’.
Magnolia ‘Kusious’.
Magnolia ‘Hot Flash’ (M. x brooklynensis ‘Woodsman’ x M. ‘Elizabeth’).
Magnolia ‘String of Pearls’.
Magnolia ‘Peachy’ – I still wonder at the difference and current naming of ‘Peachy’ and M. ‘Daybreak’.
Rhododendron ‘Johnny Johnstone’ – there are so few genuinely double rhododendrons.
Magnolia ‘Rose Marie’ x ‘M. ‘Black Tulip’ is developing well into a decent tree.
2024 – CHW
Saw the first house martins yesterday when the 3 days of severe gales finally abated to give us a rare glimpse of the sun.The electric charging points ready to go in the Porthluney car park.
Saw the first house martins yesterday when the 3 days of severe gales finally abated to give us a rare glimpse of the sun.The electric charging points ready to go in the Porthluney car park.
Rhododendron spiciferum (I think) below Burns Bank. An elderly plant which has enjoyed being cut back.
Another Wilson 50 azalea puzzle from Polly Cooke. This may be Azalea ‘Tamafuyo’ (No.23) or it may be Azalea ‘Gosho Zakura’ (No.46). Hopefully this irregular faint pink flecking on the flowers will enable Polly to solve the naming puzzle here and we can then propagate this one properly. (Below Burns Bank beside Azaela ‘Hoo’).
Phillyrea angustifolia is making a good flowering clump in the Isla Rose.
Vaccinium corymbosum nicely in flower.
I am impressed how Magnolia ‘Helena’ has survived the severe weather.
Prunus ‘Ichiyo’ (‘Pink Champagne’) at its absolute best in the Isla Rose. Out too late for the spring show.
Amelanchier bartramiana is a shrubby species and rarely seen.
Prunus ‘Matsumae-fuki’ (‘Chocolate Ice’) still not quite fully out as you can see.
Taiwania cryptomerioides has finally developed an upright leading shoot of its own volition instead of its earlier floppiness which we tried to stake up with little success.
Amelanchier sanguinea below the path on Sinogrande Walk. Another fairly unexciting variety.
A rare sighting of Rhododendron ponticum in flower above the Fernery. Very little ponticum not destroyed in the SOD outbreak 2003-2010.
Camellia ‘Spring Festival’ still a wonderful show late in the camellia season. We saw this several times on the show bench last weekend but not from Caerhays.
First flowering of a young replacement Prunus ‘Amanogawa’.
Azalea ‘Saotome’ (?) outside the front gates.
2023 – CHW
Easter Monday and a good moment to look at the first Malus into flower in the Old Kitchen Garden on a sunny day. All these small trees were planted in January.
Easter Monday and a good moment to look at the first Malus into flower in the Old Kitchen Garden on a sunny day. All these small trees were planted in January.
The Old Kitchen Garden has filled up a bit but still plenty of room for more Malus varieties. We have now seen 18 of the 65 varieties planted here in their first flowerings. I really do think that, given time, this collection is going to be a major addition to and improvement in the gardens overall.
2022 – CHW
A newly planted Neolitsea sericea ‘Silver Leaf’. Both our old established N. sericea have died in the last year. Wonderful, but hardly silvery, new growth here. The silver is on the undersides of the leaves as on all N. sericea but especially pronounced in this named form.
Magnolia ‘Genie’ still full out. The flowers last far longer than so many other magnolias. Another scoring point against M. ‘Black Tulip’ which is already nearly over here and faded long since.
Pomaderis elliptica flowering for the second time here. A New Zealand / Tasmanian shrub with large panicles (as here) of yellow flowers. Acquired from Nick Lock. Needs full sun and shelter as nearly a conservatory plant.
Above Higher Quarry Nursery I find another Rhodoleia which was planted only a year ago. Forgetful! This is Rhodoleia parvipetala (FMWJ 13422) rather than R. aff. parvipetala as we have been looking at recently. So the true species with pink flowers? We will have to wait and see. Jaimie needs to put a plastic tube around the trunk as roedeer damage already evident. A plant 10-12ft tall without, as yet, much foliage. So a big plant when it arrived from Crûg Farm and clearly not yet a big seller for them. I suspect this diary may have helped improve demand for this peculiar and spectacular new genus.
Auklandii Garden camellias beside the main path – a review to help cutting taking in the autumn.
Camellia fraterna (species with a low growing and drooping habit and fleshy leaves – top plant but not on plan so planted later I guess).
Camellia ‘Tiny Princess’ (next one down).
Camellia japonica ‘Clark Hubbs’ (bottom corner – incorrectly shown on plan as ‘Marinka’ – these two reds have been swoped on the map – both are present and correct but ‘Marinka’ too high up to photograph).
Camellia x williamsii ‘Elsie Jury’
‘Christmas Daffodil’ is correct on the map but ‘Daintiness’ seems to have gone/died although I fear ‘Tiny Princess’ and/or ‘Daintiness’/fraterna may have been muddled up looking at the original plans in previous cutting collecting?
2021 – CHW
Still near frost overnight. 0°C in the car at 6.45am.Prunus ‘Hally Jolivette’ not flowering as well as last year.
Still near frost overnight. 0°C in the car at 6.45am.Prunus ‘Hally Jolivette’ not flowering as well as last year.
Prunus incisa just coming out properly.
This is the first time Magnolia ‘Apricot Brandy’ has flowered properly here. Another curious mix of colours which not everyone will like but certainly ‘different’.
Magnolia ‘Sentinel’ is a Gresham hybrid. Not a great colour but shaping up into a decent tree.
Flowers on Magnolia ‘Lemon Star’ just beginning to emerge. Gorgeous yellow.
Flowers just starting to open on Rhododendron ‘Countess of Haddington’.
Amomyrtus luma (formerly Myrtus lechleriana) absolutely full out and hugely scented.
This emerging bamboo shoot should enable me to identify the species conclusively. Last year I photographed it, but the reference books were at Burncoose. After much reading and viewing ‘A Complete Compendium of Chinese Bamboo’ I am not much the wiser. I had always thought this was Phyllostachys flexuosa but it does not seem to marry up with the pictures of the young shoots or the text. This one has large purple hairs which none of the other features Phyllostachys species shoots seem to have. Anyone know the answer please?
This is Jaimie’s hybrid between Rhododendron ‘Titness Park’ (a calophytum cross or form I was given by Windsor) and Rhododendron ‘Rebecca’ (a Caerhays bred hybrid) growing and prospering below Slip Rail. Well worth growing but perhaps not quite worthy of naming.
2 thoughts on “10th April”
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Charles
Surely Magnolia ‘Tutti Frutti’???
Loving your diary.
x
We have settled on ‘Tropicana’!