Oxalis tetraphylla surviving well.

A rather less drought struck Anemone ‘September Charm’.

Scarborough lily.

Rudbeckia, Hydrangea and Nicotiana.

Rudbeckia ‘Goldsturm’

The Dahlia bed in full swing.

2025 – CHW

A visit to Burncoose.

The Acer recently imported bare root from New Zealand are just coming into growth having been potted a month ago.

Callistemon ‘Rose Opal’ a new variety to us and a new colour.

Callistemon salignus ‘Honey Pot’ another new yellow variety with narrow leaves.

Wisteria floribunda ‘Domino’ recently arrived bare root from New Zealand and a couple of flowers have appeared.

Debregesasia edulis ‘Elite’ with its curious orange fruits. The only other plant I can think of with similar fruits is Maclura tricuspidate.

Hibiscus ‘Hamabo’ looking good in the cash point.

Two thirty plus year old magnolias, one cherry and one cercidiphyllum dead from drought by Burncoose lawn.

2024 – CHW
Eucryphia lucida ‘Pink Cloud’ has odd flowers all year round but this is it most prolific month.

Male flowers cover Mallotus japonicus? The flowers are not the same as the male ones at Ventnor. One or the other must be female? This small tree is absolutely covered.

Flower spikes show up already on Schefflera delavayi.

I really do now believe that our ancient leafless Magnolia nitida is now well on the way to a full recovery after its total defoliation this spring after the drought years. A wet summer has saved it! Just look at the new secondary new growth.

More hydrangea pruning above the drive.

And below it where the hydrangeas were connecting with the traffic.

A windy August day on the beach where there were only 3 cars and misery for tourists. On Sunday there were 300.

2023 – CHW
Bach home and the Hedychiums are out.

Hedychium yunnanense ‘Lago’ (BSWJ 9717).

Hedychium coccineum flowering better than ever before.

Hedychium tengshongense (WWJ 11964) seems very similar to H. yunnanense.

Last flower on Rhododendron ‘Harrow Hybrids’.

Rhododendron ‘Blue Tit’ with a fair showing of secondary flowers.

Magnolia ‘Yakeo’ with 20 flowers.

2022 – CHW

Returning to Cornwall the horrible sight of so many dead things from drought. A few magnolias half defoliated, many dead hydrangeas, and many dead young rhododendrons. At least there has been some light rain in the last week and drizzle all morning. Nevertheless it is nearly as bad now as 1976. The only big plus is that Jamie and the team have spent several days trying to save the Rhododendron sinogrande and Rhododendron macabeanum with some success. These were the main casualties of 1976 of all sizes and ages as were the mature beech trees here which had severe crown dieback. I saw many dead beech and sycamore trees besides the motorway yesterday from Bristol to Cornwall. Beyond Exeter whole rows of mature poplars dead too. Our sycamores between the Top Lodge and in the village are shedding leaves but the rain may just have saved them.

Spores from Dicksonia antarctica caught in cobwebs under the long fruiting fronds. Has the drought encouraged a bumper crop?

Chicken of the woods, Laetiporus sulphureus, growing on an upright oak tree. Oblivious to the drought it would seem.

Hedychium tengchongense ‘Trum Trom’ (WWJ 11964) is the first of the gingers to flower this year at last.

Final clearance of the Kitchen Garden now completed by Frankie and old paths and bridges reinstalled. Planting of the start of the new Malus collection can now proceed in the spring.

Then to Old Park to view drought casualties.

Even the Gunnera manicata beds are suffering here and there.

Dieback, leaf drop, and death in young magnolias. The plants put in this spring in sunny spots are all nearly dead as I had feared.

A young Rhododendron sinogrande has shed its old leaves but survives in a shady spot below a spring.

A dead camellia by the fernery on top of a hot dry bank.

Dead hydrangeas by The Hovel by the dozen.

Major lead drop on the magnolia ‘Caerhays Splendour’ on the drive.

The sad remains of the flowers of Hydrangea ‘Ayesha’. Shrivelled and rejected.

Strangely the 20 autumn planted Matsumae cherries below White Styles are all fine as are the Cotoneaster and Sasanqua camellia collections here. Two deaths in the Amelachier collection but 16 survive. Amelanchier were spring planted and there is a lesson here. AUTUMN PLANTING IS BEST.

2021 – CHW
Colin French found Sibthorpia europaea in flower in a boggy area above West Portholland. He had never seen this plant actually in flower in all his years of recording wildflowers in Cornwall. The flowers are tiny.