17th January | The Garden Diary

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CONTRIBUTORS:

FJW 1955-2007

CHW 2015-

JCW 1897-1939

CW 1940-1955

2024 – CHW
No real frost here although the rest of the country has had a very cold week.

No apologies for again showing you Rhododendron nobleanum just going over. In an early year this is a late flowering for this species. Still a great show today and unfrosted.

Rhododendron ‘Winter Intruder’ at its very best and about on time.

Rhododendron ‘Christmas Cheer’ hardly showing on the drive as we have seen elsewhere.

Camellia japonica ‘Magnoliaeflora’ still quite excellent near Top Lodge.

Camellia japonica ‘Desire’ now properly open but you only really see the pink petals from the side.

Camellia japonica ‘Debutante’ sprouting lighter and darker flowers here and there.

The very first flower this year on Camellia x williamsii ‘Mary Phoebe Taylor’. Perhaps my favourite x williamsii variety?

2023 – CHW
Cold North wind but no frost yet.Fatsia polycarpa now out. Too big a plant now to photograph easily.

Another Schefflera rhododendrifolia (CWJ 9075) which I had forgotten about has a very different habit to the others. 8 feet tall with a truss of leaves only at the top. Bare single stem.

Camellia ‘Cornish Snow’ covered in flowers but dropping.

Rehderodendron kwangtungense still retains some leaves – nearly evergreen hare n a mild winter.

Camellia x williamsii ‘Beatrice Michael’ now full out with many fallen flowers on the path as a results of the strong winds.

2022 – CHW
First solitary flower on Camellia ‘Sundae’. None of the other newer varieties on Sinogrande Walk are showing as yet.

Acer pectinatum ‘Mozart’ glowing in the sun on Sinogrande Walk.

A paler form of Rhododendron mucronulatum below the fernery.

Leaf shoots emerging already on Rhododendron mucronulatum.

The larger fernery in the sun – apologies for the poor picture.

Acer davidii ‘Karmen’ and Aucuba japonica ‘Crotonifolia’ – an interesting contrast.

Plenty of buds showing on a Rhododendron ‘Michaels Pride’.

The first bedraggled flower on the Camellia ‘Lady Clare’ on the wall beyond the front door.

2021 – CHW
The elderly Camellia ‘Imbricata’ on the top wall just starting.

A small self-sown Camellia saluenensis seedling near a huge clump of Camellia sasanqua ‘Hugh Evans’ (above Rogers Quarry) is clearly an interesting little cross. It has grown up through a holly tree. I have seen a Trewithen named variety very similar to this but cannot remember its name [I remembered: it is Camellia saluenensis ‘Isadora’]. A great find! Good colour and quite bold and dramatic in the sun. Just one flower out so far.

Camellia x williamsii ‘John Pickthorn’ shows the flower shape clearly.

Deer have nibbled the leaves on our best Quercus insignis.

First flowering of a cutting raised Camellia lapidea (ex Tregrehan 01/10/18) in the greenhouse.

2020 – CHW
Daphne bholua ‘Limpsfield’ one year on from planting in a border is full out.

Camellia x williamsii ‘Mary Jobson’ now full out by the side door.

First flower on Camellia ‘Lady Clare’. A bit later than usual but the first frost of the winter this morning.

2019 – CHW
Magnolia ‘Star Wars’ has had the odd rather decimated flower as we have seen over the last two or three months but here is a proper one bursting open. Again, we fear what might be coming weather-wise.

2018 – CHW
Rhododendron mucronulatum full out in the sun despite a cold SE wind. A much darker colour on this old plant than on the younger plants elsewhere.

A few days on and the snowdrops at the Four in Hand are nearly out.

First flowers on Camellia x williamsii ‘Monica Dance’ which are nicely striped in the sun.

Camellia ‘Duchess Decazes’ in bud and flower with some wind damage.

Rather puny flowers (and late!) on this poor form of Rhododendron ‘Christmas Cheer’.

More odd flowers of Azalea ‘Greenway’.

2017 – CHW
The Daphne bholua ‘Jacqueline Postill’ is just out and rather later into flower than last year by the side door. This is a replacement plant for one which died here after 12 to 15 years. A short lived plant. No scent on it yet.

The arum lily clump beside it is, as last year, quite untouched by our one night of frost (so far) and the recent hail and heavy rain. Where else in the UK would an arum look like this in January?

The original Camellia saluenensis (pale and dark) are starting to shed after the hail. The pale pink is a week ahead of the darker pink one. Quite a lot of white on the ground.

2016 – CHW
Another magnolia is out in Bond Street. It is Magnolia Red Lion which is the same cross as Magnolia ‘Star Wars’ and therefore a lengthy flowerer. The colour is perhaps slightly less insipid than ‘Star Wars’ but the tree has a much less upright habit.

2005 – FJW
Flower on Mag. Bishop Peter – Nobilissima fully out.

1935 – JCW
Just as in 1935.

1932 – JCW
R parvifolium is over but has done us very well since before Christmas day. The double white Camellia has been nice since Christmas day and so the Hamamelis.

1924 – JCW
The best Rhodo’n after mucronulatum is R parvifolium, moupinense is nice, to C coums are fair, the hamamelis are going over whilst the Caucasicums have no buds this year like all the early rhodos. Clematis cirrhosa and snowdrops both open fairly well.

1913 – JCW
A good bit of cold and frost, flowers have been pushed aside rather.

1911 – JCW
Most of the coums open, it is the best thing now with the R nobleanum, some Anenome blanda show colour. Iris stylosa has been on and off since December, several roses going, a Camellia or two, also R barbatum is fair, and white Clianthus, a trumpet has been open 10 days under the big wall.