Calliandra surinamensis flowering a month earlier than usual in the nursery with exceptional new growth.

Hibiscus syriacus ‘Blue Bird’ had been in flower for weeks again, as you would expect in a hot summer.

Echinacea ‘Hot Summer’ at its best.

We were looking at pictures of a garden in Borrowby last week. Lets cheer us up with the same garden in the snow.

Magnolia ‘Star Wars’ in the snow.

Camellia x williamsii ‘St. Ewe’ flowering through the snow.

Rhododendron ‘Crossbill’ covered in snow.

2025 – CHW
Dipteronia sinensis with ripe seed heads.

The very rare Acer pentaphyllum was very late into leaf and I had feared it was dead. Looks pretty well today.

With its huge prickles or spikes and reddish new growth this has got to be a Photinia species I guess? Not on the planting plan although an original planting (2017) and doing well in the Isla Rose. P. nussia?

Under our Highter Tier Countryside Stewardship Scheme we have grant aid for rebuilding stone faced earth banks which have been damaged by sheep and cattle over the years. A start has been made on the first 100 or so meters in Butterfly Field. Quite a bit of sone has been dug out of the debris but we have had to find and buy in plenty of new stone from elsewhere. A time consuming and slow job but extremely well done in the traditional manner. The other half of Butterfly is still to do and, next year, a long stetch above Big Hill.

The next bit to do.

The contractors machinery.

2024 – CHWThe self-sown Rhododendron ‘Polar Bear’ beside George’s Hut has now shed its flowers.

We pollenated this ancient Magnolia dawsoniana years ago but it has not really recovered that well.

A few pure white flowers on Magnolia ‘Cecil Nice’.

I replanted a large Acer saccharinum in 1992 in the same place as our original blew over in 1990. It is now, again, a huge tree.

First flowers just out low down only on Hoheria sexstylosa ‘Pendula’.

The wind has blown off piles of seed heads (all sterile) from Magnolia delavayi.

Magnolia ‘Lili Diva’ covered in flowers.

Ailanthus altissima ‘Purple Dragon’ is making a fine tree and absolutely living up to its name.

I may be repetitive but nothing beats Magnolia ‘Yakeo’ for secondary flower on a small shrub.

2023 – CHW
The large hole was where the roots of the largest felled sycamore were in the Rookery.

The fire is well away and the timber being extracted but still much more clearing up to do.

Loads of seed heads on just one of the 5 Magnolia ‘Caerhays Splendour’ on the bank.

We cut back a number of old Erica arborea above the 5 magnolias but the regrowth is coming from emerging seedlings and not the old wood. Care with grass cutting here.

The two large Eucryphia cordifolia beyond the Playhouse are nearly over for another year. The one beside the Aucklandii Garden already over earlier today.

2022 – CHW
Magnolia floribunda ‘Furry Wok’ (ex. Raf Lennarts) has enjoyed the heat and the new growth is indeed ‘furry’.

Old and a few new seed heads on Lomatia ferruginea but most seeds have failed to form this year and the plant looks sickly to say the least.

Neolitsea aff. polycarpas (KWJ 12309), right beside it has, however, grown well.

One nearly dead Rhododendron calophytum and another, with a bit more shade, still absolutely fine.

Cercidiphyllum japonicum varieties have hated the drought and largely defoliated, as here. I saw this near Bristol as well in early July.

2021 – CHW
Myrcia laruotteana var. paraguayensis – many arguments over the correct name for this ‘myrtle’ but nice enough in flower.

Volunteers from the Eden Project gather knapweed and other wildflower seed from the bank opposite the front door.

Peter Bickford-Smith collecting the entries for the annual GWCT clay shoot here as he has done for 30 to 40 years (barring COVID last year).

Hedychium gardnerianum ‘Assam Orange’ just out below the Rabbit Warren in its new site.

The prize giving after the clay shoot.