30th April | The Garden Diary

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CONTRIBUTORS:

FJW 1955-2007

CHW 2015-

JCW 1897-1939

CW 1940-1955

2025 – CHW (images to follow)

2024 – CHW

Lizzie heard the first cuckoo today near Old Park.

I cannot resist attaching here an article from the Irish Garden Plant Society about the Marchioness of Londonderry, Lady Edith, who created the garden at Mount Stewart and her granddaughter Lady Rose with whom we had lunch.

In our absence Jaimie has seen slow worms on the move.

And the first baby blackbird to fledge from its nest seen here.

The first group tour since our return with Max & Anna Kendry.

Rhododendron ‘Chick Lima’ nearly over while we have been away.

Rhododendron crassum has come out much more slowly.

Rhododendron chapmanii full out in a week as well with new growth.

Rhododendron ‘High Sheriff’ at its superb best.

But even better today is Rhododendron ‘Emma Williams’.

Deutzia calycosa ‘Dali’ out earlier than expected.

Magnolia ‘Honey Liz’ looking very fine.

Rhododendron veitchianum ‘Cubittii’ – a later flowering form.

Magnolia x foggii ‘Jack Fogg’ in bud but, as yet, without scent.

Rhododendron ‘Saffron Queen’ will not be on this year’s Chelsea stand!

Neither will Rhododendron ‘Michael’s Pride’.

The Caerhays bred Azalea ‘Black Hawk’.

The wisteria now nearly full out.

2023 – CHW

The Cordyline australis clump cut down as near dead last summer shows no signs of shooting from the base and needs digging out.

Lithocarpus lepidocarpus coming into new growth.

The extraordinary Magnolia ‘Woodsman’ x M. ‘Patriot’.

Our Staphylea holocarpa ‘Rosea’ is suckering from below the graft and flowering white. Suckers must go!

Camellia japonica ‘Midnight Magic’ still flowering well and a very dark red.

Last flower or two on Camellia reticulata ‘William Hertrich’.

Rhododendron ‘Ginny Gee’ in the Rockery.

Rhododendron tethropeplum – an elderly survivor in the Rockery which I had forgotten was there.

2022 – CHW

The new pheasant pen at the top of Giddle Orchard and above Kitchen Garden is now complete.

Frankie has moved on to extracting more of the huge laurel clump in Old Park to give more room for sheltered new planting.

A half split already and dangerous beech tree has been sorted along the way at the bottom of Old Park.

Rhododendron veitchianum ‘Cubbitti Group’ and Rhododendron ‘Michael’s Pride’ out side by side outside the front gate.

Rhododendron ‘Michael’s Pride’ at its best.

Rhododendron augustinii – a good dark blue form.

2021 – CHW
Tom Christian thought this was Nothofagus nitida and not Nothofagus dombeyi as I had always thought. The two are similar. If he is right, we should expect bronzy new growth so we must wait and see. The leaves do seem larger than on the plant shown next and have a slightly different configuration on the twigs.

This nearby plant was, he thought, more typical of Nothofagus dombeyi. Some red flowers showing. After a bit of research, I think Tom may be right although he did say N. dombeyi has larger or smaller leaves depending on the altitude it was collected from originally. We have a larger older tree, so I need to check and ‘go compare’.

The Rhododendron zaleucum clump has got old and rather leggy. We need to take cuttings and start off a new clump again. However, I think these plants are only about 20 years old.

Camassia leichtlinii Caerulea Group now full out in Tin Garden. The pheasants have eaten the tips of the leaves but thankfully left the flowers alone. The fritillaria planted here at the same time in quantity have largely failed for the same avian reason.

Lower branches trimmed off all the trees at the bottom of Kennel Close by Tim and Jack. When the pole chainsaw returns from the menders, we can go up a bit higher. An excellent job giving more light and space to the new plantings since 2007 which the shelterbelt was beginning to encroach upon.

Magnolia ‘Lois’ at its absolute best. I do not think it has ever performed as well. In a dry year very little leaf yet showing. The two older plants of Magnolia ‘Daphne’ nearby on the Main Ride are only just showing colour. ‘Lois’ has been out for a fortnight or more.

Rhododendron ‘Harry Tagg’ just coming out.

2020 – CHW
The rain this week has been exactly what the garden and the farm crops have needed. I saw the first two swifts last night but did not see them go to their nest site in the tallest tower eaves. A good 20 house martins happily building their nests and mating away. Hopefully more pairs will appear any day. No sign yet of the swallows in the back yard which have hatched two or three broods above the dog kennels in recent years. A good show of grey wagtails on the lawn but I have yet to see a flycatcher there.Here is a good bit of refutation of one of the many COVID conspiracy theories floating about in the ether of social media:Confirmation of what was suspected – click hereNobel Laureate Tasuku Honjo Refutes Link To ‘Man-Made’ Coronavirus Claim – click here for details.Nobel prize winner Professor Tasuku Honjo presumably did not actually make the claims attributed to him earlier.All good clean fun for the conspiracy theorists but just another example of how mad this is all getting.However I do not see much Chinese involvement in our 5G networks happening whatever the government said pre COVID.The wisteria on the camellias and over the building below the Playhouse is at its best today after another good night’s rain.

Surprising how many camellias still have decent flowers on the last day of April:
‘Nuccio’s Jewel’

‘Primavera’

‘Matterhorn’

‘Ruby Wedding’

‘Drama Girl’

reticulata ‘White Form’

Cercis chinensis ‘Avondale’ with its first flowers two years on from planting. Mostly the flowers are on the main stem.

Pyrus ‘Pashia’ with attractive new growth which I had not seen before.

Pterocarya tonkinensis just coming into leaf but already with attractive bark.

The Taiwanese form of Trochodendron aralioides with early flower and interesting new growth.

A young Rhododendron smirnowii with its first two flowers.

Azalea ‘Salmon Pink Cushion’

Magnolia ‘Woodsman’ x ‘Patriot’ still with its extraordinary range of colours from blue to yellow.

New growth on Agathis australis.

Supposedly a young Staphylea holocarpa (white) but I do not think so!

Maakia chinensis with its attractive silvery new growth.

A carpet of sycamore flowers on the Main Ride after the rain.

Rhododendron ‘Corona’ is named after Corona North once from County Carlow in Eire which is where I first saw it. A plant also to layer. Quite a show today!

First flowers on a young Magnolia wilsonii which are hard to photograph.

Rhododendron ‘Bow Bells’ (williamsianum hybrid) fades from pink to light pink as does its parent.

Azalea ‘Melford Lemon’ looking stunning today. I have never taken in this clump before. Azalea ‘Crosswater Red’ is not yet out next door.

Viburnum setigerum just coming into leaf and flower. Nice new growth.

Magnolia ‘Honey Flower’ too young to take much notice of yet.

2019 – CHW
An IDS tour with 30 people. Wonderful trip with knowledgeable people from all round the world. Two and a half hours was not enough. Click here for their ‘Thank You’ email and photos.

Syringa microphylla ‘Superba’ just starting to flower by the front door.

Opposite Rhododendron fragrantissimum is nearly full out.

Tropaeolum ciliatum growing vigorously but no flowers as yet. Last year it was out by now.

Then on to Tregothnan for an evening tour.

Eucalyptus coccifera in full flower offsetting the peeling bark.

The camellia species I could not remember last time was Camellia glabsipetala. It is not in the Chinese camellia species book.Weinmannia trichosperma in full flower.

The first time I have seen the newish tree paeony collection in flower. There has been loads of hassle with the labelling and with the survival rate. As usual with Chinese suppliers many turned out initially not to be what they were supposed to be.Paeonia ‘Superb’

Paeonia ‘Duchess of Kent’

Paeonia ‘Delavayi’ – not the usual colour if correctly labelled?

Paeonia ‘Oukan’

Paeonia ‘Isononami’

Paeonia lutea var. ludlowii – a very fine large flowered form

Paeonia unnamed

Paeonia rockii Farfalla Grigia

A whole new subject to get into one day.

2018 – CHW
Off to the greenhouse to sort through seedling rhododendrons then to be grown on in the frames and others to the nursery bed in the Rookery. Asia has done a superb job in the last six months to get the production line of replacement plants going. So many species live only short lives that if you forget to propagate they are gone. With the closure of Glendoick nurseries, at least for mail order, where else in the UK can you actually now buy rhodo species in variety? Defra is probably to blame for turning all rhododendrons into invasive beings in the public perception.

On the way above the greenhouse is Magnolia ‘Sunsation’ with its very erect and upright habit. One of the better yellow mixtures but many of the Sunsomethings are very similar indeed.

A Clematis forsteri cutting with a few flowers.

Menziesia ciliicalyx var purpureum flowering in the greenhouse. These plants will eventually be for the Rockery as they are fairly dwarf in habit. Menziesia have only recently been added to the genus rhododendron rather than being on their own. Odd to understand how these flowers are rhododendron-like? Menziesia are now all Rhododendron multiflorum! More botanist bollocks!

Prunus ‘Shogetsu’ is pink as it opens then turning white. The natural shape of the tree is umbrella-like. Very fine in the sun today. Certainly as good as Prunus ‘Shirotae’ which has a similar habit.

The swan has decided to nest again in the same spot as last year where it hatched off only two cygnets from eleven eggs. Neither survived to maturity and the last one perished in late January when its parents drove it away.

The newly buried electric cables in Beach Meadow left us on the generator here for a day.

2017 – CHW
To Burncoose to finalise the 2017/8 budget and enjoy the unaudited year end figures to 31.3.17 which make happy reading yet again.

Rhododendron ‘Surrey Heath’ is another good yakusimanum hybrid which is one colour in bud and when first out but quite another when full out. You can see both outside the nursery entrance where some have had more full sun than others.

A fine clump of Hebe ‘Wiri Charm’ in flower in the nursery. Nearly over in fact.

Rhododendron radicans is a true rockery species with a short life and, as here, the flowers can be variable in colour.

Rhododendron ‘Graffito’ is a new introduction to the website. A tough old hybrid by the look of it but still only one bud today.

Rhododendron ‘Gartendirektor Rieger’ has faded a bit but nice red spots in the bells. Shy to flower in a pot and only one in the row has.

Magnolia acuminata var subcordata nicely in flower in a pot. This is a small growing form of the ‘cucumber tree’ and the one from which so many of the newer yellow magnolias have been bred. Not a huge flower and a variety of yellow hues as the flower develops.

The first time I have seen Magnolia ‘Jersey Belle’ in flower. A cross between Magnolia wilsonii and Magnolia sinensis but showing, in its anthers at least, more wilsonii than sinensis in terms of colour. The plants are grafted which is a surprise but the flowers are very fine. Sadly too early for Chelsea where it would have been a show stopper! Furry indumentum on the new growth too which is more sinensis than wilsonii.

What a show on the batch of specimen sized plants of Calycanthus raulstonii ‘Hartlage Wine’. Some held back in the cool for Chelsea.

Do not the Viburnum plicatum ‘Kilimanjaro Sunrise’ look a great batch too. This is the larger size. No pink yet in the flower but it will come.

The new clump of Rhododendron royalii flowering for the first time in the Burncoose garden. It died out at Caerhays years ago but was just as dark as these when in flower on the drive.

I went to hunt down Viburnum cinnamomifolium in the garden to compare it with the Viburnum cylindricum seen in Wales with berries but as yet no flowers. Seems I was nearly too late for the flowers here but the leaf is similar. New growth more like Viburnum odoratissimum. Three quite similar species if that is what they are?

This is a pure white form of Abutilon x suntense we think which Clare has acquired and hidden in the office for ‘safe keeping’. Hopefully it will go on to a happier life in the propagation house soon. Hilliers claim this as a chance seedling they found in 1975. In their nursery called ‘White Charm’. It does not look like a white Abutilon vitafolium but we could be wrong?

The Olearia scillionensis is full out beside the car park already. A bit too early for butterflies to enjoy it today!

2016 – CHWThe season is racing on alarmingly quickly and no matter how many times you go around the garden there are still many surprises to take in before you miss them for another year.

Crataegus chinensis in flower in the greenhouse is a new plant to us.

Staphylea holocarpa ‘Rosea’ is especially fine above the greenhouse. Strangely the pure S holocarpa (white) nearby is not showing colour yet.

Rhododendron edgeworthii x leucaspis is full out and nearly over in just 10 days.

Nearby the pure Rhododendron edgeworthii is in a similar state. Note the larger and more bullate leaves.

Rhododendron ‘Martha Wright’ is out in the rookery nursery. A new scented hybrid for us bred at Glendoick.

Rhododendron moorii is ready for planting out next spring to replace the old clump by Georges Hut which is dying of old age. The second time in a generation that we have had to start this medium sized species off again.

Beside it are two nice plants of Rhododendron ‘Wine and Roses’ coming out. The underside of the leaves has bright purple indumentum.

Above the green gate two ‘new’ magnolias are out for the first time (to me). The Magnolia x veitchii seedling from Chollipo in Korea has huge flowers just over and the Magnolia ‘Sweet Merlot’ is full out with some leaves emerging. One day they will look splendid from the castle lawn.

2015 – CHW
A filthy day with some rain and a strong south east wind. Perhaps a good night for lamping!
Two new first time flowering magnolias (to me anyway):

MAGNOLIA 'Rose Marie x Black Tulip' 02 — MAGNOLIA ‘Rose Marie x Black Tulip’

Magnolia ‘Rose Marie x Black Tulip’ is a very late flowerer and darkish red but lacks the neat shape of Black Tulip. Do not see this being one for the public at large even if it does get awarded a name.

Magnolia ‘Carlos’ is yet another pale-ish yellow but has no particular distinguishing marks that would make many people want to grow it.Good to see yellow flowers on Yellow Lantern from the front door today. A new first for Caerhays as the plant is tall enough to show up (against the new beech leaves behind) above the wall by the old play house.

Three Syringa pinnata full out outside the front gate. I first saw this very unlilac-like syringa at Altamont Garden in south Ireland 10 years ago and had no idea what it was. Susyn Andrews had one in a bag at Rosemoor. She is probably the most knowledgeable botanist/plant identifier in the UK so we appear to share a ‘like’.

BERBERIS insignis var INSIGNIS 02 — BERBERIS insignis var insignis

Also Berberis insignis var insignis flowering for the first time having just shed its large and very prickly old leaves. Rather ‘floppy’ but perhaps it will square up in time.

I am not one for herbaceous woodland plants but Cardamine pentaphyllos on the drive was always a favourite of my mother’s. The white form seems to have died out beside the purple on the drive.

1998 – FJW
A very wet April – cold.

1993 – FJW
A wet April.

1944 – CW
All daffs over in Tin Garden. Auklandii still very good. Magnolia rostrata and fraseri out also. A good many Maddeni hybrids. Single peonies and two double out in Tin Garden.

1911 – JCW
A few daffs to come. Montana rubra ⅓ open. Indian Arboreums at their best. Auklandii’s a few open. Sir C Lemon going over. Big recurvas poet at its best.

1900 – JCW
Audreana shows colour. Many Iris germanica open, daffs are nearly over except Marvel and recurvas not yet open.

(Handwritten note attached to Garden Book page re planting out of Oaks and Magnolias in Oct 1927 to Feb 1928).

2 thoughts on “30th April”

frank joyce says:

3rd May 2018 at 4:49 pm

Hi,
Interested in your comments re Magnolia “Jersey Belle”.

In my teens I worked as a garden boy at Highdown (Chalk Garden). It was there that I saw Magnolia highdownensis and this on a soil no lower than pH 8. Of course the sweetly scented pendant blooms looked great but even then I was more interested in the form and foliage. The wide spreading multi branched form together with the bold foliage pleased me. Although I worked in arboriculture most of my working life the opportunity to re aquaint oneself with old friends is not always possible and memory dims.

I planted a 3 litre pot of M wilsonii but it hasnt done well. Planted as a small plant and badly attacked by slugs. Soil heavy clay with some sub soil (disturbed soil) although I have mulched. I planted when soil was at its most workable.

So I am left with the decision of whether to replace with another M wilsonii or go with Jersey Belle. I prefer a multi stem wide spreading habit. Wondered if the larger flowers would go brown and hang on the tree in inclement weather? Also interested in your comment about it being a grafted plant. Would you consider it preferable for this plant to be produced from cuttings and is there a disadvantage of grafted Magnolias?

Also is there much difference between the two, branching form and foliage wise. Trouble with that as always it requires one to have seen both plants when reasonably mature often no easy task. Or perhaps I should go with something such as M sieboldii or sinensis as an alternative?

Would value any suggestions please as I have little experience of this Genus.

Many thanks,

All best,

Frank.
1. Charles Williams says:
  
  4th May 2018 at 3:20 pm
  
  Dear Frank
  
  As far as growth and habit are concerned there is very little to choose between wilsonii, Jersey Belle, sieboldii or sinensis. All are multi stemmed, spreading trees and (with the exception of Jersey Belle) they will all be on their own roots rather than being grafted.
  
  If you are worried about your soil and are looking for a quick result in terms of early flowering I think Magnolia sieboldii would probably be the easiest to grow.
  
  However, at the end of the day, it is really for personal choice as to which flowers you like best.
  
  Kind regards
  
  Charles

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