I then look at the 1913 Magnolia campbellii by Tin Garden and, sure enough, colour here too. This must again be a record early flowering. I will email around other Cornish gardens to see what they have.

Traces of frost in Kennel Close.

The dwarf Pinus mugo ‘Winter Gold’ looking fantastic in the sun.

Eucalyptus simmonosii with peeled bark and flower buds.

Eucalyptus mannifera var. praecox has also largely shed its bark to reveal the new trunk. What a transformation!

2023 – CHW
A welcome and unexpected day off as two shooting parties appeared yesterday at 9am on the same day. Consternation but the second shooting party had arrived a day early! Their fault not ours. They had come from Kent and could not return today on the correct day.So a day to start placing out the new Malus collection in the Kitchen Garden with all hands on deck. 185 plants of 65 different Malus varieties and 3 forms of Pyrus as well.

A long job to sort out what goes where according to the plan with the correct spacings for each variety or species in accordance with ultimate height and width and habit. Needless to say the plan gets changed a bit when we are in situ. A few plants missing and a few extra ones so the master list will have to change a little.

The old Dog Kennels below Kitchen Garden with the stream blocked and overflowing.

A very wind battered and miserable big leaved rhododendron nearby.

Ilex laevigata is a deciduous species with good autumn colour from the Eastern USA. For above the Dog Kennels I think. Supplied by Mallet Court Nurseries to add to our Ilex species collection. (Ilex cornuta also for the same place).

Betula utilis ‘Melony Senders’ is new to us. It will produce a wonderful white bark in maturity but not yet!

A replacement Acer kawakamii (A. caudatifolium) for the 2 mature trees that have recently died here from the disease which hits snake bark maples in maturity. Need to think where to plant this in shelter and isolation. Taiwanese.

2022 – CHW
Drizzly but mildStyrax tonkinensis (WWJ 11868) still has a full, if battered, set of leaves on its upper branches.

The stake on a Taiwannia cryptomeriodes has snapped in the wind.

First two or three flowers high up on Camellia x williamsii ‘John Pickthorn’.

A young Acer heptophlebium has also blown over.

A good show on Camellia ‘White Nun’ in a Kennel Close windbreak. Gigantic stamens.

Camellia saluenensis and Camellia x williamsii ‘Beatrice Michael’.

Camellia saluenensis shedding flowers fast now.

Camellia x williamsii ‘Beatrice Michael’ just starting to shed.

2021 – CHW
Cold but sunny.Emerging Hemerocallis leaves eaten by rabbits or pheasants.

A couple of decent young Camellia x williamsii ‘George Blandford’ below Rogers Quarry.

Camellia ‘Alba Simplex’ nicely out but slightly frosted.

Magnolia ‘Ian’s Red’ is shedding its secondary bud coverings. We lost a large plant at Burncoose to cold for this reason in 2012.

Camellia ‘Cinnamon Sensation’ just opening.

Annoyingly deer have been nibbling even the evergreen azaleas in Kennel Close. The bite marks are fresh and obvious.

Magnolia ‘Plum Pudding’ loaded with buds.

Rhododendron arboreum ssp. cinnamomeum now out further.

The original Stewartia pteropetiolata remains a bold evergreen.

Deer damage (horns) to a young oak tree. It will recover with scarring. The roe have got to go in lockdown.

We saw a few flowers out on Paulownia tomentosa ‘Lilacina’ in November but there are still loads of buds.

The first time I have ever found squishy and ripe green fruits to collect on our Sorbus eleonorae. Quite a find and all collected for Asia to try to propagate the seeds.

The bark on this Sorbus species is rather special in winter too. Hilliers say the fruits go from green to brown but they are clearly ripe.

Lindera tonkinensis is clearly a full evergreen with us in a normal winter.

Lindera angustifolia now with obvious flower buds and perhaps more semi-evergreen. Very quick growing indeed.

A large elderly Camellia x williamsii ‘George Blandford’ in the new Rookery clearing.

Deer damage also to a small evergreen Euonymus moupinensis (now Euonymus echinatus apparently) given to us by Roy Lancaster. Nothing escapes a roe buck looking for a juicy evergreen meal at this time of the year. Worse than rabbit damage!

Camellia x williamsii ‘Inspiration’ now full out.

This old clump of Escallonia iveyi is nearly leafless and needs (again) cutting down to ground level to reshoot. A few bits of broken rhodo and branches to uplift and tidy in this bit of the Auklandii Garden. More branches of the Nothofagus fusca to give more room to Magnolia ‘F J Williams’. Sycamore to get rid of beside the greenhouse and a dead arboreum or two.

2020 – CHW
The first snowdrop peeping out. Many more shoots will produce flowers in a couple of days.

A rather paler flowered clump of Rhododendron mucronulatum by the fernery is a fine show. These were bought from Glendoick 12 to 15 years ago.

Rhododendron ‘Winter Intruder’ and Camellia ‘Winton’ go rather nicely together.

Rhododendron ‘Winter Intruder’ now nearly full out in three separate clumps.

Rhododendron nobleanum and Rhododendron ‘Winter Intruder’ are also a good sight alongside each other on the main drive. No real wind or frost yet to spoil the show.

2019 – CHW
First flowers on Camellia ‘Lipstick’. A wonderful dark anemone form but is it so different from Camellia ‘Anemoniflora’?

Some split branches on Magnolia delavayi at the top of the garden so we have raised up the crown a bit to make the pathway easier for visitors to manoeuvre.

Daffodils well on in Kennel Close.

2018 – CHW
We have seen other evergreen azaleas flowering now (‘Greenway’ and ‘Hinomayo’) but here are a couple more. Azalea ‘Kirin’ with its hose in hose flowers.

Azalea ‘Malvatica’ with its occasional pink flash on the bud and petals.

Camellia ‘Lady Clare’ now full out directly under the Magnolia x veitchii. Still nothing out on the plant by the front door which is unusual.

Rhododendron kiysosumense (related to Rhododendron reticulatum) also has a few pale flowers out and the young growth from last year is still in full leaf on this otherwise deciduous rhododendron. Two other plants nearby are still fully dormant.

First flower on Camellia x williamsii ‘Muskoka’.

Some of the flower buds on Magnolia campbellii ‘Darjeeling’ have lost their outer secondary coating which is not good. Some evidence of rotten flowers. This is an early magnolia to perform and often gets storm damaged (but not by cold as yet).

2016 – CHW
Two flowers blown out on Magnolia ‘Dr Merrill’ but they are high up and well formed or is this in fact Magnolia ‘Wadas Memory’ ? Too high up to tell. This is above Crinodendron Hedge next to the Magnolia ‘Lanarth’.

Camellia reticulata ‘Mary Williams’ (1931 planting) is full out (but just at the top) below Donkey Shoe. Very early!

Camellia ‘Cornish Snow’ below it now has most of its flowers blown onto the ground by the wind and not many more buds to come out later by the look of it. Over by late January? Normally this old plant still has a few flowers in April.

Although I guess they have probably been showing colour for a few days I only thought today to look for the first snowdrops. More or less on time or only perhaps a week early. At least something is unfazed by this absurdly mild winter. We have always thought snowdrops (like camellias) appear quicker into flower after a cold snap. This year’s performance would seem to disprove this a little? Snowdrops emerge very quickly and can easily be missed for a day or two. One day nothing and three days later there they all are. Many more at Burncoose than here. The large clumps we moved from The Vean before reconstruction started are not showing yet on the bank but they were replanted too deeply from the outset.