19th December | The Garden Diary

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CONTRIBUTORS:

FJW 1955-2007

CHW 2015-

JCW 1897-1939

CW 1940-1955

2024 – CHW

The first flowers on a Camellia reticulata.

Camellia sasanqua ‘Sugar Dream’ and Camellia japonica ‘Lady Clare’.

Camellia japonica ‘Little Bit’ has both double pink and double red flowers.

Not good news to see the outer coatings falling of Magnolia campbellii ‘Darjeeling’.

Suckers appearing on Magnolia ‘Queen Elizabeth’. Should we remove these?

Still leaf on Aesculus wangii.

Premature flowers on one of Dad’s Azalea hybrids.

Polyspora longicarpa looking very fine.

Camellia japonica ‘Italiana Vera’ just out.

Camellia x williamsii ‘Beatrice Michael’ and Camellia saluenensis.

A snakebark maple blown over in Storm Darragh.

Velvet buds on Michelia x foggii ‘Jack Fogg’.

Nice scent on Camellia grijsii.

Camellia reticulata ‘Mary Williams’ and Camellia ‘Cornish Snow’.

Periwinkle in the Picea omorika.

2023 – CHW
An overcast and drab day with drizzle.

The replanting in Dry Walls is complete and, hopefully, now well up to the Forestry Commission’s stipulations. The natural regeneration was insufficient so we have had to bolster it.

The buds on Daphne bholua ‘Jacqueline Postill’ are swelling but not yet open.

One forgets that Cotoneaster horizontalis is not an evergreen and what a good winter colour show it can produce.

Still a few tail end flowers on the ancient Camellia sasanqua No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4.

2022 – CHW
First flowers out on Sarcococca wallichii.The Malus collection which awaits planting in the Kitchen Garden still has colourful fruits on the following varieties:-Malus ‘Royal Beauty’

Malus ‘Admiration’

Malus ‘Golden Gem’

Malus ‘Red Sentinel’

Malus x robusta ‘Fruitilicious’

Malus brevipes ‘Wedding Bouquet’

Malus baccata

Malus evereste

Still an amazing show for mid-late December in a cold snap.

2021 – CHW

An unnamed ancient Mahonia buried in behind the Hoheria. Jamie’s next target for a prune around.

Mahonia oiwakensis is nearly over.

A rather poor first flower on Camellia ‘Adolphe Audusson’ below Tin Garden.

The larger flowered form of Camellia ‘Cornish Snow’ known as ‘Cornish Snow Michael’. Earlier into flower than the more commonly grown form and without the purplish tint on the leaves. A hint of pink on a few of the petals. The ‘Michael’ refers to Charles Michael who bred this cross and was Head Gardener here until 1955, (C. cuspidata x C, saluenensis)

2020 – CHW
Roy Lancaster’s Christmas card also said that his Carpinus rankinensis was still in full leaf. So is ours!

Still some leaf on Salix moupinense (but Salix fargesii nearby has none).

Beautiful orange-yellow berries on a Sorbus for which we have lost the label. Any ideas please?

I did reply to Roy’s Christmas card saying Carpinus kawakamii is actually evergreen as here and putting on new growth now as well.

Rhododendron ‘Turnstone’ with a couple of errant pure white flowers.

Cotoneaster glomeratus had no fruits this year and is now, as usual, shedding its leaves slowly and late in the season like the older and larger plants on the drive. Semi evergreen with us.

A young Acer sikkimense still has plenty of leaf in a windy spot.

Euonymus hamiltonus ‘Popcorn’ has still to develop its seedpods and it is now probably too late in the year for it to do so.

2019 – CHW
Trimming back the Rhododendron ‘Cornish Red’ at Donkey Shoe now complete and the seat is now useable again. A tidy job.

Trimming of lower branches on 30 years old trees below Slip Rail was overdue but has now made a lot more light and space for smaller growing shrubs. The evergreen azaleas here will benefit.

Regrowth from below the graft on the base of a Sorbus removed yet again during the trimming.

2018 – CHW
Severe flooding in the water meadows after the storms. Worse than last February.

Meanwhile, in the mild conditions, the gorse is coming into flower.

And the hazels are now in full flower.

2017 – CHW

FJW’s rhododendron hybrid outside the front gate is out again for Christmas. Its only redeeming feature!

The Ginkgo biloba is now shedding its leaves but still quite a sight today.

2016 – CHW
The Camellia ‘St Ewe’ clump above the Auklandii Garden is full out and splendid in the sun.

Alongside are the first flowers on Camellia ‘Jurys Yellow’.

Jaimie has done another round of spraying over the new daffodil plantings and around the plants in Kennel Close which is showing up nicely.

2015 – CHW

Already the magnolia buds outside the Back Yard have shed their outer secondary protective layer. You can even see a hint of colour on one of them. Only one lower bud that I can see still has two ‘overcoats’.

If we get any real frost later the flowers are a ‘goner’ for next spring. The way it looks today some may well be out by late January. Amazing! Plenty of younger magnolias have still hardly shed any leaf at all!

1970 – FJW
Flowers out on pale Gunroom door Saluenensis – very mild indeed to date.

1933 – JCW
Fuchsias cut down excepting my father’s old one. Ice on the pond but over 100 waterfowl. I picked Thea speciosa flowers yesterday.

1932 – JCW
White camellia as above. Lapagerias nice. Fuchsias fairly good but have had heavy gales. No Barbatum open.

1918 – JCW
The white camellia by the Engine House, Rho dahuricum, mucronulatum and one barbatum are all nice, the pink and rose nobleanum are very good.

1914 – JCW
The day of the Belgian wedding breakfast. Some lapagerias open, some coums coming. Some Cam sasanqua open. All the remainder of the eligible ones leave for the war next week.

1904 – JCW
No daffs show flowers yet, several on the move in the open and in the pans. A few coums open, a few lapageria, little else. The heavy snow and frost of Nov 23rd has knocked out all flowers.