11th February 1897 – 2020 | The Garden Diary

FJW 1955-2007

CHW 2015-

JCW 1897-1939

CW 1940-1955

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.

2016 – CHW
Yes DJW and CHW both appear on ITV (local) news last night. David at No 10 Downing Street and me at Heligan sounding more pompous than I thought but it will give everyone a good laugh. Alex Smit (son of Tim) not the most eloquent of speakers and he had given up his breakfast due to nerves over his TV debut! Seldom have two brothers representing Caerhays and Burncoose appeared ‘live’ on TV in the same programme on the same day! Heligan’s head gardener clearly not too keen on No 10 and a host of Tory MPs (Cornish) and one minister (George Eustace – agriculture). Pity Caerhays is not open to the public yet to benefit.Dad of course missed the TV despite prompting but enjoyed the pictures of Downing Street and DJW.Filming at Heligan took 1hr 40mins to produce 2 minutes and 15 seconds of TV. About par for the course either side of a hailstorm and we only did two ‘takes’. In the first Smit was supposed to say ‘Cornish hotels and gardens are open for business’ and talk magnolias. Instead he waffled about autumn colours in New England and referred to ‘rhododendrons the size of hotels’. Not quite the theme we had in mind so ‘cut’.Yes ‘we’ were on BBC news (local) as well entering No10 but no BBC filming inside No10 unlike ITV.The main news item about Caerhays is embargoed until Monday but here is the press release which you cannot see until then (and will not due to the time lag in uploading this)! Rather more likely to encourage new visitors here than the media bunfight at No10.HHA/Christie’s press release and Great Gardens press release Telegraph article ‘Magnolias mark the start of this year’s Cornish spring

2015 – CHW
Found a tail end flower on Magnolia grandiflora ‘Edith Bogue’ Jaimie says it’s ‘Symmes Select’. Is this a record for lateness in the wrong season? First colour showing on record Magnolia campbellii on main path. Should be out in full by end of month if no frost or east winds.

1994 – FJW
Still very wet – some magnolias out.

1971 – FJW
Very mild February to date. Burns Bank partly replanted – snowdrops past best. Burnt Downs.

1954 – CW
We have had very bad frost and pond frozen over a week. 16° frost Lanarth . Almost all flowers out. Michelias looking very bad. Apart from Cam Tsai Hu no camellias hurt. Taliensis looks alright – Magnolia buds look all bad.

1914 – JCW
Some Caerhays daffs in the orchard. R lutescens is very nice, R mucronulatum going over. Several kinds of Rhodo’ open in the Beech Walk. Snowdrops at their best, Clematis chrymocomer is good now.

1906 – JCW
H Irving, G Spur, Tenby all open.