Worrying seepage from between two branches on an elderly Magnolia campbellii. The side branch will split out before long.

Rhododendron ‘Assaye’ survives because of good layering around the old, now dead, trunks.

Yesterdays Camellia reticulata flowers are now on the ground.

Two rhododendrons blown out of the ground in the gales in the Rookery.

Camellia japonica ‘Konronkoku’ just out on Rookery gate path.

The water running down the main paths collects in the side ditches.

2024 – CHW
Another minor storm casualty. Berberis insignis has blown over but not out of the ground. Restake or cut back?

Suddenly the first flowers on Tom Hudson’s Rhododendron ririei.

My father’s almost pure white x williamsii hybrid below the Engine House.

Disaster! Our best grafted Magnolia sprengeri ‘Diva’ has had dieback in some branches after the last two years of drought. The disease and damage to the man stem at ground level is new and there is evidence of the tree trying to regrow the bark around the problem. Plenty of buds still on some branches but others are now dead. We had pruned out the dead earlier in the year but the problem has grown. We need to plant more grafted young plants just in case the same happens to out other pure ‘Divas’! The one on Hovel Cart Road may now be the best left?

The now fully registered Camellia x williamsii ‘Mary Pickthorn’ with its slightly irregular bicolour flowers. I had forgotten to look in the last fortnight.

Camellia x williamsii ‘John Pickthorn’ is easily identifiable by the shape and droopiness of its early flowers and buds.

2023 – CHW
A few more camellias venture out as the rain persists.Camellia ‘Winton’ is particularly good at present in several places in the garden.

Camellia sasanqua ‘Sekiyo’ is a good large flowered single near-red.

Persia thunbergii with more errant pink new growth. Seasonal muddle!

Camellia x williamsii ‘Brushfield’s Yellow’ just out.

Camellia japonica ‘Sodekakushi’ (‘Gauntlettti’) now full out and undamaged.

Rhododendron decorum still has flowers!

Daphne bholua ‘Garden House Ghost’ just showing.

Camellia ‘Cinnamon Cindy’ just out.

I think this is Bleeding Oak Crust (Stereum gausapatum).

2022 – CHW

Warm and wet which restricted photography today.

Daphne bholua ‘Jacqueline Postill’ now full out by the side door.

The darker original form of Camellia saluenensis by the side door which is only just now full out.

Secondary, but decent, flowers on the large Azalea ‘Greenway’ which once travelled to Chelsea and back.

Camellia ‘Silver Anniversary’ well out now.

Camellia ‘Silver Anniversary’ and a pinkish (unnamed) form of Camellia japonica near the tallest veitchii.

Another plant of Camellia ‘Cornish Snow Michael’ with the larger flowers up by the original Aesculus wilsonii. The smaller flowered and more normal form of ‘Cornish Snow’ next to it was only out high up and impossible to photograph in the rain.

2021 – CHW
First flower (and rather a poor one) on Camellia ‘Adolphe Audusson’ on Burns Bank.

Another Camellia x williamsii ‘Debbie’ has just the odd decentish flower.

Camellia ‘Midnight Magic’ coming out on Sinogrande Walk. Three plants together. A good early red – variable semi double shape.

Still plenty of colour on the mounded Liquidambar styraciflua ‘Ocanee’. All the other forms are now leafless.

This spreading Taiwannia cryptomeroides has, at last, developed a leading shoot.

Pseudocydonia sinensis still with plenty of leaves and plenty of new growth in a more sheltered area than the two others here. Frost has not damaged the new growth.

Azalea ‘Kirin’ badly frosted. These are, I think, secondary flowers in the same way as you see early flowers on ‘Hinomayo’.

A darker form of Rhododendron mucronulatum just out by the fernery.

One forgets that Deutzia multiradiata is evergreen.

These are the fallen fruits of Cornus capitata which the crows have been gorging on.

First snowdrop nearly out. Another couple of frosty days would do it.

Hydrangea lobbii is, absurdly, now coming into full flower as expected.

Black berries on Sarcococca saligna. Most flowers are already over in the main.