Drought stress on Sorbus ‘Pearly King’.

Rosa rugosa ‘Roseraie de L’hay’ nearly dead from drought.

Sorbus thibetica ‘John Mitchell’ with its large leaves shrivelling in the drought.

Corylus colurna seems unaffected.

More dying rhododendrons.

Even the Gunnera are smitten.

Picea omorika just about surviving.

Liriodendron with leaf drop.

Darmera peltata drooping.

The pond is very low.

Other Sorbus are fruiting well.

2025 – CHW
An elephant hawk moth caterpillar found when weeding a nursery bed.

Clerodendrum bungei now forming a good clump in Tin Garden.

Another Magnolia ‘Yakeo’ covered in flowers.

Good seed heads on Magnolia mollicomata ‘Werrington’.

Cercis canadensis ‘Flame’ with a fine crop of seeds for Asia to collect in the near future.

Hedychium densiflorum ‘Assam Orange’ just out.

2024 – CHW
Acer tsinglingense has bark split in a few of its branches. It is very early into leaf as we have seen but we hardly had any frost?

Liquidambar acalycina has a very vigorous set of secondary new growth. This is a much quicker growing tree than other species and forms of Liquidambar growing in Kennel Close.

Cyclocarya paliurus was thought to be a species of Pterocarya but it has round fruits and other different characteristics. I saw a mature plant in Gloucestershire a fortnight ago where it was part of a National Collection of Pterocarya.

Magnolia laevifolia ‘Sophie van Vyve’ has yet to flower but is making good growth. Planted in 2020 and yet another gift from Raf.

The columnar English oak which looked sick a fortnight ago has now joined the dodo. Honey fungus in all probability.

2023 – CHW
Secondary flowers on Magnolia ‘Iolanthe’.

Already well swollen seed heads on Stewartia rostrata.

A few secondary flowers on Rhododendron ‘Winsome’.

Sorbus ‘Pearly King’ already starting to show up well.

Flowers and seed heads on a Magnolia sieboldii.

The first Hedychium to show here this year is H. yunnanense. I fear that I may have called it H. coronarium in error in previous years.

Hydrangea aspera ‘Hot Chocolate’ – only 1 of 3 has survived the two droughts and is now making headway.

Quercus nuttallii is getting away well now on Sinogrande Walk.

I have never been able to confirm the name of Carpinus nimpoli (as labelled) on this very dwarf hornbeam plant struggling in too hot a spot.

Ripening Rehderodendron macrocarpum seeds front the male flower heads on Araucaria araucana.

Fuschia ‘Blacky’ – should sell well!

A pied wagtail fledgling in the Back Yard.

2022 – CHW

Cyrtanthus elatus, the Scarborough Lily, in full flower on the steps of the Cottage in Yorkshire. This plant has greatly enjoyed the drought although the fields are much greener here than in Cornwall.

I think this is Mentha longifolia or Horse Mint but it might just be Mentha rotundifolia or Apple Scented Mint. The leaves look some way between the two species but I could not smell any apple scent when crushing the leaves in this heatwave.

The commemorative Quercus robur ‘Fastigiata’ has grown about a foot taller.

2021 – CHW
A visit to Braithwaite & Sons just off the A1 at Leeming. An old fashioned family run nursery business which actually grows things and acts as a florist as well! Mr Braithwaite senior grafts the trees while his son has developed a good display of newer and more novel herbaceous plants. So very much a nursery and not a garden centre. Among the novelties seen were:Achillea ‘Summer Fruits Lemon’ and Achillea ‘Lilac Beauty’

Achillea ‘Summer Fruits Carmine’ and Agastache ‘Golden Jubilee’

Anemone ‘Pretty Lady Susan’

Monarda ‘Knight Violet’ and Eryngium planum ‘Magical Purple Falls’

Lobelia siphilitica ‘Blue’and Lobelia ‘Fanship Burgundy’

Lobelia ‘Fanship Scarlet’ and Lobelia ‘Fanship Blue’

Monarda ‘Melua Pink’ and Monarda ‘Melua Violet’

Rudbeckia ‘Enchanted Forest’

Rudbeckia ‘Enchanted Romance’

Rudbeckia ‘Enchanted Embers’

Rudbeckia ‘Enchanted Flame’

Clematis ‘Fascination’

Clematis ‘Aromatica’

Scabiosa caucasica ‘Fama Deep Blue’

Scabiosa caucasica ‘Fama White’

2020 – CHW
Jaimie spots Sorbus chamaemespilus with its first fruits in Kennel Close. Planted in 2019.

Jaimie thinks this is a Castanopsis below the borehole but I believe it is actually an oak. Cannot remember which but we will see who is right when the fruits or seeds develop. I think probably Quercus castaneifolia.

2019 – CHW
The Robinia slavinii ‘Hillieri’ shattered in the wind and rain. We saw this earlier in the summer in this diary and commented that a collapse was near.

2018 – CHW
Head Gardener Jaimie has been keeping up with the daily diary while I have been away in the north.Echium seedlings coming up in the gravel drive after the rain – a few potted up before we have to spray off the Castle Drive.

My magnolia hybrids from 2017 coming on nicely.

Malus hupehensis has a nice crop in the Isla Rose Plantation despite the lack of rain.

Callicarpa psilocalyx – in the Isla Rose Plantation. A new species to us not seen before.

2017 – CHW
The new machine has done a nice job cutting the banks outside the front door for the second time this summer. The machine mulches the grass which saves raking it up.