2022 – CHW

Flowers nearly over on a young Camellia transnokoensis.

A gift from Margaret Miles of an unknown species of Eriobotrya collected originally in North Vietnam. Fully evergreen but not very like any of the other two species of Eriobotrya which we grow.

We are constantly urged by environmentalists to leave piles of deadwood to rot away and decay naturally. Here the insects, birds, fungi and bacteria are doing their stuff. This beech tree blew down, I guess, 10 or so years ago. The stump has nearly rotted away but honey fungus all around no doubt.

Lithocarpus harlandii getting away with high deer protection after planting a year ago.

Pittosporum glabratum has some recent secondary new growth and is also doing well so far.

First flowers out on a Pieris this this. This is Pieris ‘Dorothy Wykoff’ from memory.

First flowers full out on the American Oemleria cerasiformis.

The Camellia ‘Adelina Patti’ on the Main Ride has a few pure red flowers but, as yet, no pure white ones. It sports both colours on the same bush.

The yellowish Magnolia campbellii ‘Valentine’s Torch’ is now properly out.

Below is a full list of the plants delivered via Burncoose earlier this week. Boring perhaps but this diary is a useful record.

Magnoliastore
Coates
Darkest Purple x Betty Jessel
First Love
cylindrica Hohman
J.C. Williams x Apollo
John Bond
Katja Landner
Lilac Chalice
virginiana Ludoviciana
Melon Sky
Peter Dummer
Purple Breeze
Purple Eye
Purple Star
Rose Marie
Rominas Pink
Sybille
dawsoniana Valley Splendour
stellata Wisley Stardust
R&G
Celtis sinensisPavia
Euonymus americanusAvaxa
1 Acer macrophyllum
1 Berberis jamesiana
1 Berberis kawakamii
1 Callicarpa dichotoma
1 Callicarpa membranacea
3 Hydrangea involucrata
3 Hydrangea serr. Mount Aso
1 Ilex pedunculosa
1 Mahonia sheridaniana
1 Myoporum laetum
1 Nothofagus cunninghamii
1 Stewartia Anne
1 Syringa protolaciniata
1 Syzygium aff. Griisii
1 Cryptomeria jap. AraucarioidesBurncoose stock
Prunus Shimidsu/Shogestsu x 2
Davidia Sonoma x 2. Requested one and billing for one. Sent two as small.
Abies concolor x 3 one needs replacing, I am aware. Not on attached list.
Carya ovata
Corylopsis pauciflora x 3
Hippophae Leikora
Hipophae Pollmix
Ilex Sunny Foster
Pittosporum napaulaensis
Pseudowintera Moulin Rouge
Rhus Tiger Eyese large
Ribes speciosum x 3
Sophora Dragon’s Gold
Sorbaria Sem x 3
Viburnum cinnamomifolium
Viburnum sieboldiiFrank Matthews
Prunus x per Spring Glow 125cm + bare-root
Malus Admiration (Adirondack) 7L container
Malus baccata 12L
Malus florentina 12L
Malus Prairie Fire® 12L
Malus tor Aros® 7L
Malus trilobata 12LLunaplant magnolia
Gorgeous C3 60/80
Illini Gold C7,5 120/140
Illini Moonlight C7,5
Bronwyne C7,5 100
Ian’s Cerise C20 250
Dark Shadow C3 60/80
Dennis Ledvina C3 60/80
Eternal Flames C3 100
Fire C7,5 120
Nancy C12 180
Pickard’s Schmetterling C7,5 140
Pink Pyramid C12 120/140
Romina’s Pink C3 60/80
Rose Quartz C3 60/80
Snow Goose C3 120
Spring Peppermint C20 140/160
Toro C20 160
Ula C7,5 160/180
Badenweiler C3 60/80
Flaming Heart C12 140
Romance C12 180
Miss Marble (fastigiate) C3 80/100
Nelly C3 80/100
Pink Butterfly C7,5 140
Summer Lady C7,5 120/140
April Melody C3 80/100
Avalon C3 60/80
Black Tulip x Ian’s Red #01 C3 80/100
Cassiopeia C12 100
Anne Leitner C12 200
Pink Flanell C3 100
Summer Rose C12 220
Vulcan’s Forge C12 160
Diana C12 160
Livia C3 100
Snowblood C20 180
Dimas Giant C3 60/80
Lesa Purple C3 100
Freya C3 100
Jost Wallis C3 100
Angels Landing C7,5 120
Tjebbe Talsma C3 80/100

2021 – CHW
Quite a bit of snow at Burncoose which, after two hours of plotting the planting programme in the garden, finally spurred me to go home for fear of the roads. Nearer Truro no snow at all but The Beast is with us and just as bad now as in March 2018. So strong is the east wind that it is totally unsafe in the garden this afternoon. Grim!

9am and a smattering of powdery snow through the nursery.

Even the euonymus in the tunnels are showing their displeasure.

Nevertheless lifting and despatching orders goes on apace.

I find a plant in the nursery which I have never heard of. Campylotropis macrocarpa. When I look it up it is a Chinese shrub with trifoliate leaves and long racemes of flowers which are purple to pinkish white. One goes in the car for Caerhays. I wonder where Clare, the nursery buyer, found this?

Amazingly a Kniphofia ‘Ice Queen’ is just coming into flower in a pot. I do not fancy its chances in the howling gale.

Pseudopanax laetus in the garden with its first flowers out in the snow. The flower buds and seed heads look much the same.

A quite well grown Ilex yunnanensis behind the pond. Totally un-holly-like leaves.

A fallen flower of Camellia ‘Little Bit’ on a snowy bench.

Rhododendron ‘Seta’ just showing by the tennis court. A short lived hybrid and on its last legs.

Rhododendron ‘Bo Peep’ (pink form) just coming out. A few days ahead of ours here.

An elderly Rhododendron rirei on the drive just out. A very different colour to ours.

Camellia x williamsii ‘Gay Time’ on the drive.

Wonderful bark and masses of flower on Rhododendron barbatum by the lodge.

2020 – CHW
Malcolm Pharoah and his team from Marwood Hill Gardens visit Burncoose to see how a mail order operation works. They plan to start a mail order offering from the garden. Astilbe first with other herbaceous and Dr Smarts camellias later.Time to look at a little of the nursery properly between the violent squalls and rain that are the tail end of Storm Ciara.Camellia ‘Betty Sheffield Supreme’ in the cash point. This variety is a sport of ‘Betty Sheffield’ which is pure white! ‘Betty Sheffield Supreme’ has red frills so we appear to have propagated a branch that has reverted or muddled the stock plants.

Arbutus andrachne in full flower at the cash point. £25 size which seems a fair price for a rare plant of this size.

Daphen bholua ‘Peter Smithers’ looking especially good and scenting the till area.

Pictorial labelling of the whole sales area virtually now complete. A great advance in presenting our plants to visiting customers.

Daphne ‘Guardsman’ slightly disappointing now it is out. New on the website but, so far, a sparse flowerer.

I now discover that a huge beech tree above the sales area split in half in a squall yesterday leaving a precarious second half dancing in the wind. No access to the garden this way until it is still enough to cut the remainder down. It actually fell on its own half an hour later. This old beech had a rotten centre but was leaning into a nearby oak tree which had supported it for 25 years until the aftermath of Storm Ciara. Quite a mess to clear before we open next Monday!

The magnolia outside the back yard nearly out after the storms.

2019 – CHW
Another trip to Burncoose with more time for photography.Daphne odora ‘Marianni’ in full flower and beautifully scented in a tunnel.

Loropetalum chinense ‘Fire Dance’ with buds and flowers. An attractive harbinger of spring which is becoming more popular. The dark leaves offset the red flowers to good effect.

Lonicera alseuomoides has produced a crop of black berries which now look ripe. A Wilson introduction. I had not seen the berries on our nursery plants before.

2018 – CHW
Off to the greenhouse to pick out different piles of plants from the frames for different planting areas next Friday which is a scheduled planting day.The huge camellia overhanging the top wall has been slightly frosted but still good in the sun and hailstorms.

A new form of Fuchsia arborescens from Crug Farm and Columbia is nicely out in the frame. Smaller individual flowers but larger trusses than I remember from what the nursery has grown in the past.

The Daphne bholua ‘Alba’ by the top wall is the best thing in the garden today. Scent immense and plastered in flower. The buds have a faint pink tinge but open pure white. The plant is 20 to 25 years old. Other varieties which grew nearby have died of old age.

A flower and a bud or two on Hydrangea lobbii in February! This grew well at Burncoose by the lawn but died, I think, of honey fungus or perhaps it is a bit too tender for us? In very full new growth in the frame but with a covering and some wind protection.

Stauntonia hexaphylla (or is it Holboellia latifolia?) has flower clusters nearly out. A vigorous climber here easily covering a 15ft high wall and 30-40ft across as a plant. I think the flowers will be white, tinged violet, with separate male and female racemes of flowers. We will see shortly!

Naturalised cyclamen, primroses and snowdrops all over the bank outside the front door.

2017 – CHW
A few more glimpses of the results of a very mild winter. One night of hard frost and hard ground and four to six days starting with a bit of white on the grass is all we have had although a cold east wind today. Camellia x williamsii ‘Mary Jobson’ has quite a few flowers out now and this one has a nice scent today.

Tropaeolum ciliatum is in full growth up the wall and intertwined in a Camellia ‘St Ewe’ which is in flower. It seems to have been putting on a new growth all winter.

First flower for 2017 on the arum lily clump by the gents’ loo. No hint of frost damage here and a few snails hide in the flower.

Trip to Tregullow to see the garden (and the rugby). This used to be a much more frequent event before we moved from Burncoose. Rhododendron ‘Red Admiral’ flowers in the kitchen.The largest stinging nettles you are likely to see in February! 4-6’’ already. Cesspit nearby I suspect.

The propagating house is full of home grown cuttings of rarer rhododendrons. Phil, the gardener, has been doing a great job. Taught originally by Jaimie.

A new statue outside the back door with rather phallic connotations!

Rosemarinus officinalis ‘Prostratus’ in full flower in February which is most unusual. Out of kilter to put it mildly.

Not a single flower bud this year on their big Magnolia ‘Lanarth’ by the back door. First time it has missed out for 20 years. I wonder why?

Some general shots from the Tregullow front door on what is now a bitterly cold day looking across the main road to the farm beyond.

England just beat Wales in Cardiff so all rather jolly.