Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Firecracker’ a very good dark red.

Hamamelis mollis ‘Jermyn’s Gold’ a decent yellow but not that different really.

A tree order for a landscape customer in Dorset. We aim to plant in February.

Herbaceous plants in full growth. What will happen if we do get a sudden cold snap?

Out in flower today:-

Tiarella ‘Spring Symphony’

Potentilla nepalensis ‘Miss Willmott’

Omphalodes cappadocica ‘Cherry Ingram’

Geranium sanguineum ‘Striatum’.

Hesperantha coccinea ‘Sunrise’.

The gingers have still not died down.

Newly delivered are a few plants labelled Parakmeria lotungensis. I think this should now be named Magnolia lotungensis which is quite similar to Magnolia nitida when I saw it at Tregrehan.

Jasminum nudiflorum well out as you would expect.

Camellia ‘Drama Girl’ had a flower out last week at Caerhays by White Styles but here in a tunnel.

Camellia ‘Jingle Bells’ with its peculiar flowers and flower arrangement.

The excellent Camellia sasanqua ‘Sugar Dream’ now in propagation and for sale.

Last year’s camellia liners.

Better still is this huge array of young rhododendron plants from last year’s propagation.

Helleborus ‘Anna’s Red’ now coming into flower. A little later than usual I suspect.

2022 – CHW
The wettest, foulest day imaginable to be out in. Howling westerly and 2in of rain during the day. Change of clothes at lunchtime.Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Ruby Glow’ just out.

First flower on Camellia x williamsii ‘Celebration’.

And also, very high up as last year, the first flower on an ancient Camellia x williamisi ‘Donation’.

A newly planted out Daphne bholua ‘Garden House Ghost’ above the greenhouse.

A Camellia reticulata above the Auklandii Garden now almost full out.

2021 – CHW
Some rain overnight has turned the place into a skating rink outside. The drive and yard are treacherous.Clear frosting on Rhododendron ‘Cornish Red’.

Rhododendron ‘Winter Intruder’ has fared better in the freeze but most flowers are falling.

In John Marston’s latest garden video he shows Leujocum aestivum ‘Summer Snowflake’ in flower in January. Our bulbs are well into their foliage but no flowers yet.

Camellia ‘Desire’ is now properly out.

Camellia ‘Mary Phoebe Taylor’ nearly out.

Camellia lutchuensis hybrid whose name I cannot remember just starting. ‘Fragrant Pink’ I think but no scent yet (Camellia japonica var. rusticana ‘Yoshida’ x Camellia lutchuensis).

A fine show of Camellia x williamsii (unnamed) on the drive despite the cold.

The first lowdown flower on Camellia ‘Drama Girl’ has been pecked by pheasants.

Plenty of ice on the lake. More in fact than I have seen since March 2018.

The fallen sycamore in the cuttings was cleared up yesterday. It came down a month ago.

2020 – CHW
On the way to the greenhouse I come across a young Camellia ‘Bokuhan’. The old plant growing by the front gate was dug out this year having died of old age and starvation in the ground and tarmac. A variety known in Japan from 1719.

The mist benches in the greenhouse are filled with healthy looking rooted and rooting rhododendron cuttings. Outstanding!

A good selection of new (to us) camellia species which Asia has grown from cuttings collected at Tregrehan on 1st October 2018.

A nice batch of rare Illicium oligandrum liners.

A flower on a Camellia yushienensis liner also from a Tregrehan cutting. Odd shape.

A cutting from the original Camellia saluenensis being grown for the new RCMG camellia species collection at Harlow Carr gardens.

These look like potted camellia seedlings from one of the outdoor cold frames.

A good trayfull of Araujia sericifera seedlings.

Very impressive all round – I am like a child (or adult) at Christmas with a box of Quality Street!

2019 – CHW
The very last flowers on the last of the elderly Camellia sasanquas to come into flower. This one by the arch has been out for three months.

First flowers on the pure Camellia japonicas in Old Park which we grow for foliage for sale at Covent Garden. Most have smaller red flowers than this seedling but the foliage is perfect for flower arranging.

A fallen tree above the Gunnera bed at the top of Old Park.

Still some green leaves on the Gunnera manicata which proves how little frost we have had thus far. The huge rhizomes look as though the new leaves are not far away either.

A magnolia has split in half on the top path preventing me proceeding to inspect the squirrel traps. Some rather dodgy reversing then needed.

2018 – CHW
Bitterly cold east wind today and a trip to Burncoose forgetting my gloves. The pictures will be as cold as I felt but, as always, a few missing photographs for the website jumped out and a few new things to look at.Camellia ‘Tregye’ out early. A Tregrehan hybrid which I had forgotten together with its location in the garden.

Camellia ‘Sundae’ is new to the 2018 catalogue. Rather like Camellia ‘Bokuhen’ I think? Even Camellia ‘Amemoniflora’ but darker? A Trehane introduction I suspect?

First rather poor flowers on the young plants (first year grafts) in the nursery of Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Aurora’ with yellow flowers at first turning bronzy-yellow. Larger plants still to show colour.

A nice new batch of plants labelled as Eriobotrya ‘Coppertone’ without any sign of the coppery new growth yet. Now properly classified as x Raphiobotrya ‘Coppertone’ since it is a US cross between eriobotrya and raphiolepsis. The plant at Caerhays has more rounded flatter leaves as you would expect but is semi-mature. In fact I do not see much raphiolepsis in these plants at all? I wonder if this is simply an eriobotrya with red new growth and not the x raphiobotrya cross at all? Eriobotrya deflexa in fact? Need to keep an eye on these plants – the jury is out!

Mahonia nitens ‘Cabaret’ with a few blue seeds left. I have missed the flowers but the leaf structure is pleasant.

Mahonia gracilipes. These are seedlings and a bit variable as can be seen from the leaf colours. Some have a purple hue while others remain green. A good new plant which will become popular once it is better known.

2016 – CHW

I find some damage in the Top Garden.

Rhododendron ‘Penvose’, a Caerhays hybrid, is half uprooted but can probably be saved if cut back hard (again) and reembedded in the soil.

A small Nothofagus has gone over thus proving yet again how badly this genus performs in the wind. This was a young tree planted in 1991 of about 15 to 20 feet in height. They are surface and shallow rooted trees. Probably a Nothofagus alpina.

Camellia ‘Mary Costa’ is well out by the big Acer griseum.