12th July

FJ Williams Profile Picture
FJW 1955-2007
CH Williams Profile Picture
CHW 2015-
JC Williams Profile Picture
JCW 1897-1939
C Williams Profile Picture
CW 1940-1955

2024 – CHW

Persea indica (BSWJ 12535) getting away well only 2 years after planting.

Persea indica (BSWJ 12535)
Persea indica (BSWJ 12535)
Still not a flower to be seen on Magnolia virginiana ‘Havener’ by George’s Hut. This has been here for 30 years and no flowers ever spotted.
Magnolia virginiana ‘Havener’
Magnolia virginiana ‘Havener’
Two dead Rhododendron ‘Royal Flush’ beyond George’s Hut – last years drought again.
wo dead Rhododendron ‘Royal Flush’
wo dead Rhododendron ‘Royal Flush’
A few tail end flowers still on Magnolia x foggii ‘Jack Fogg’.
Magnolia x foggii ‘Jack Fogg’
Magnolia x foggii ‘Jack Fogg’
Another good clump of Rhododendron maddenii near Tin Garden just opening. Very few flowers this year.
Rhododendron maddenii
Rhododendron maddenii
Maytenus magellanica getting going a year on from planting in Kennel Close.
Maytenus magellanica
Maytenus magellanica
Acacia obliquinervia seems to be struggling nearby.
Acacia obliquinervia
Acacia obliquinervia
A drought casualty that you could see would die this time last year.
drought casualty
drought casualty
Acer morifolium which blew over and split in a winter gale is clearly not going to reshoot.
Acer morifolium
Acer morifolium
Hoheria ‘Glory of Amlwch’ just opening. This is H. glabrata x H. sexstylosa. It is the glabrata parentage which encourages this early flowering well before most of the other Hoheria species.
Hoheria ‘Glory of Amlwch’
Hoheria ‘Glory of Amlwch’

2023 – CHW

The annual trek to Busy Bees Garden Centre which was looking fairly well sold out with not much good stock left and rather a lot of tatty leftovers.

Leucanthemum ‘Real Deal’ – similar to ones which Burncoose stocks but not at all bad.

Leucanthemum ‘Real Deal’
Leucanthemum ‘Real Deal’
Leucanthemum ‘Real Deal’
Leucanthemum ‘Real Deal’
Leucanthemum ‘Real Snowball’.
Leucanthemum ‘Real Snowball’
Leucanthemum ‘Real Snowball’
Leucanthemum ‘Real Snowball’
Leucanthemum ‘Real Snowball’
Verbascum ‘Dark Eyes’ has a squat habit.
Viburnum ‘Dark Eyes’
Verbascum ‘Dark Eyes’
Viburnum ‘Dark Eyes’
Verbascum ‘Dark Eyes’
Verbena ‘Santos Purple’ and Leucanthemum ‘Real Snowball’.
Verbena ‘Santos Purple’ and Leucanthemum ‘Real Snowball’
Verbena ‘Santos Purple’ and Leucanthemum ‘Real Snowball’
Verbena ‘Santos Purple’ and Leucanthemum ‘Real Deal’.
Verbena ‘Santos Purple’ and Leucanthemum ‘Real Deal’
Verbena ‘Santos Purple’ and Leucanthemum ‘Real Deal’
Salvia ‘Fairy Queen’ not bad at all.
Salvia ‘Fairy Queen’
Salvia ‘Fairy Queen’
Hydrangea ‘Red Baron’ – another new name for what looks very like ‘King George’ to me.
Hydrangea ‘Red Baron’
Hydrangea ‘Red Baron’
Salvia ‘Purple and Bloom’ would be well worth Burncoose stocking.
Salvia ‘Purple and Bloom’
Salvia ‘Purple and Bloom’
Salvia ‘Purple and Bloom’
Salvia ‘Purple and Bloom’
Salvia ‘Big Blue’ not bad either.
Salvia ‘Big Blue’
Salvia ‘Big Blue’
Salvia ‘Big Blue’
Salvia ‘Big Blue’

2022 – CHW

The hydrangea season is getting into full swing and the drive here is now full of colour although not that many varieties are full out as yet. Thank goodness we had heavy rain Sunday before last as they would otherwise be drooping in this heatwave.

Hydrangea ‘Ayesha’ can be blue or pink. Reliable flowerer.

Hydrangea ‘Ayesha’
Hydrangea ‘Ayesha’
Hydrangea ‘Love You Kiss’ – silly name but good variety.
Hydrangea ‘Love You Kiss’
Hydrangea ‘Love You Kiss’
Hydrangea ‘Selina’ – not much in the trade now but good.
Hydrangea ‘Selina’
Hydrangea ‘Selina’
Hydrangea ‘Geoffrey Chadbund’ which can be red or purple or a little of both over time.
Hydrangea ‘Geoffrey Chadbund’
Hydrangea ‘Geoffrey Chadbund’
Hydrangea ‘Geoffrey Chadbund’
Hydrangea ‘Geoffrey Chadbund’
Hydrangea ‘Lady Taiko’ – again superseded by newer varieties but that is not necessarily a fair reflection on this good variety.
Hydrangea ‘Lady Taiko’
Hydrangea ‘Lady Taiko’
Hydrangea ‘Taube’ – indisputably one of the best two blue lacecaps (Enziandom the other).
Hydrangea ‘Taube’
Hydrangea ‘Taube’
Hydrangea ‘Taube’
Hydrangea ‘Taube’
Hydrangea ‘Hobella’ a delicate pink now but it changes colour to green in September and is good for drying.
Hydrangea ‘Hobella’
Hydrangea ‘Hobella’
Hydrangea ‘Hobella’
Hydrangea ‘Hobella’
Hydrangea serrata ‘Crug Cobalt’ in a new clump by Four in Hand. I was rude about this last year but it is slowly establishing and improving in a dry spot. Cobalt? Not yet and perhaps not in so much sun as here?
Hydrangea serrata ‘Crug Cobalt’
Hydrangea serrata ‘Crug Cobalt’
Hydrangea serrata ‘Crug Cobalt’
Hydrangea serrata ‘Crug Cobalt’

2021 – CHW
A local tree surgery firm have been round to prune the old leaning Pittosporum tenuifolium tree in our Seaview garden.
Pittosporum tenuifolium
Pittosporum tenuifolium

Very efficient but, I suspect, unusual (and worrying for their normal work ethic) for them to find a client working on holiday with reference books everywhere on a desk.

The pittosporum is thinned but some of its roots have lifted and I expect it will keel over completely in the next real gale (possibly into next door’s garden). We had a beauty last night with flagpoles rattling and lots of rain and noise in ‘sunny’ Seaview. No sign of the ‘yachties’ early on this morning as the boatmen drain the day boats of water but a large dog turd right outside the Sea View Yacht Club.

‘Absolutely perfect’ as I go to the post box admiring the enormous runoff from gardens into the street. It is not only agricultural fields that cause this sort of erosion.

Then to a large seaside garden in Bembridge where we saw some interesting plants.

A fine Wollemia nobilis with male and female flowers about 15ft tall.
Wollemia nobilis
Wollemia nobilis
Spot the rather dark red squirrel if you can!
squirrel
squirrel
The coastal sycamores slip from the bank above the beach into the sea. In the distance you see a superyacht which Abramovich lost in a bet with another Russian oligarch. Value said to be £120m. Some bet!
sycamores
sycamores
A decimated leylandii hedge with Trachelospermum and Hydrangea seemanii being encouraged to climb up the remains. A great idea for dealing with leylandii!
leylandii hedge
leylandii hedge
Echium fastuosum (Echium candicans) covered with attractive seed heads which are nearly as fine as its flowers.
Echium fastuosum
Echium fastuosum

2020 – CHW
Just below the turning onto the main ride in a bare patch of soil where we dug out a dead Rhododendron sinogrande stump I see what I think is Stachys sylvatica or Hedge woundwort. This is a common native perennial which I must confess to not having noticed before. Quite pretty and one which needs to escape the strimmer too.
Stachys sylvatica
Stachys sylvatica
Stachys sylvatica
Stachys sylvatica
Stachys sylvatica
Stachys sylvatica
I had guessed that this was a Stachys or a Lamium species but, as ever, this is a whole new botanical subject. Stachys officinalis or Betony featured in this diary last August in Yorkshire.
Later a visit to Trelissick Farm garden for a little outdoor socialising.
Sedum album or white stonecrop growing profusely around the house and onto the gravelled car parking areas. Is this exactly the same as what I photographed at The Lookout a few days ago? Possibly.
Sedum album
Sedum album
Sedum album
Sedum album
The view towards Caerhays from their front lawn. Three and a half to four miles to the sea.
The view
The view
Mrs Scott emerges from lockdown.
Mrs Scott
Mrs Scott
Chusquea gigantea has flowered, seeded and died here as it has in the Caerhays garden. Chusquea coleou seems to be alright as yet at Burncoose behind the rockery.
Chusquea gigantea
Chusquea gigantea
Back here the first Crinum powellii (pink) is out on the top wall.
Crinum powellii
Crinum powellii

Beside it a very dark form of Dierama pulcherrimum.Most of these long established clumps are the conventional light pink colour.

Dierama pulcherrimum
Dierama pulcherrimum
Three Luma apiculata ‘Glanleam Gold’ are providing a (planned) shelter hedge to other more tender plants above the greenhouse. They are now nearly 20ft tall and will soon have to go. A great contrast between the white flowers and the variegated foliage. Most flowers are on the sunnier side as you can see. A great display for July.
Luma apiculata ‘Glanleam Gold’
Luma apiculata ‘Glanleam Gold’
Luma apiculata ‘Glanleam Gold’
Luma apiculata ‘Glanleam Gold’
Luma apiculata ‘Glanleam Gold’
Luma apiculata ‘Glanleam Gold’

2019 – CHW
Another photography visit to Busy Bee Garden Centre in the usual oppressive heat. Pretty ghastly but the show goes on and 100 new plant care articles now written since I got to Seaview.

The view of Ryde church from the centre. As ever huge new housing estates going up in the foreground.

Ryde church
Ryde church
Two forms of Hydrangea paniculata full out:
 ‘Magical Mont Blanc’ which I guess we should stock soon as it is very good
Magical Mont Blanc
Magical Mont Blanc
Magical Mont Blanc
Magical Mont Blanc
 ‘Phantom’ which we do stock but I have never seen it flowering this well in the nursery
Phantom
Phantom
Phantom
Phantom
Our taller growing Monarda varieties always look scruffy in the nursery even as they come into flower. Should we try dwarf growing ones like ‘Balmy Purple’ here?
Monarda 'Balmy Purple'
Monarda ‘Balmy Purple’
An excellent display of Ajuga reptans ‘Burgundy Glow’ fronting Festuca glauca ‘Elijah Blue’.
Ajuga reptans ‘Burgundy Glow’
Ajuga reptans ‘Burgundy Glow’

2018 – CHW
On Sunday we went off to the Royal Isle of Wight County Show where I had been asked to judge the show gardens and deliver a lecture on styrax. A sweltering baking day in 31°C attended by around 10,000 people in two large very dry fields with terrible access to the main road.Bramley Plants (wholesale) have a good selling table with some interesting plants on offer far too cheaply but who would buy a plant on a day like this?
Bramley Plants
Bramley Plants
Verbena rigida again.
Verbena rigida
Verbena rigida
Verbena rigida
Verbena rigida
Verbena bonariensis ‘Lollipop’ had a dwarf habit and very pale pink flower.
Verbena bonariensis ‘Lollipop’
Verbena bonariensis ‘Lollipop’
Salvia eclipse ‘Trelissick Creamy Yellow’ – we used to stock this range of salvias named after Cornish gardens and places.
Salvia eclipse ‘Trelissick Creamy Yellow’
Salvia eclipse ‘Trelissick Creamy Yellow’
This was the ‘best in show’ garden designed for a family and to be wildlife friendly. A great deal of effort here and a circular patio made with some skill in this uneven field.
‘best in show’ garden
‘best in show’ garden
This was the gold medal winner – not exactly child friendly and visibly wilting in the heat.
gold medal winner
gold medal winner
Very hot dogs in the car park.
hot dogs
hot dogs
The lecture hall where it was far too bright for any of the slides to actually show up at all on the screen. A total waste of time but around 20 people turned up – most sheltering from the heat I expect. Despite all the fuss about the ‘new’ lecture tent programme it was not advertised much and the first lecture had zero attendees so I was probably lucky! Took one styrax plant and sold it!
lecture hall
lecture hall

2017 – CHW
Rubus phoenicolasius, the wineberry, is a new plant to me but one which may well have merit in our catalogue if the prickles can be avoided. Rounded leaves and part raspberry, part bramble if you wanted to be critical. However the June flowers are quickly followed by large panicles of swelling fruit. The young pheasants ate them last year but it will not be long before they colour up in this heat and are ready for a photograph or two.
Rubus phoenicolasius
Rubus phoenicolasius
Rubus phoenicolasius
Rubus phoenicolasius
Honey fungus strikes quickly. This young Hydrangea aspera villosa is near an old felled Prunus insignis and the fungus has clearly caught one of the main stems. Wilted today; dead within a week. The rest of the plant is just coming into flower.
Hydrangea aspera villosa
Hydrangea aspera villosa
Hydrangea aspera villosa
Hydrangea aspera villosa

2016 – CHW
The wind turbine (our first of these horrors) is finally up but not quite yet generating power for the grid. Amazingly we only had four objections to the planning application and two were not within the legal range of objections (nasty rich landowner is not a valid ‘objection’ although it may well be a valid point of view). It took seven years to get it installed none the less and what a fight to get the connection to the grid. The government changed the rules last autumn so the subsidies available to the companies building these monstrosities have ended. Caerhays will never have another and we were very restricted to start with as they are not permitted in coastal Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) and quite right too. However other estates nearer the A30 and the main power lines have increased their income phenomenally. The owners will survive another generation on the income however they manage things or ‘live it up’ but such is life! Merely jealous!
wind turbine
wind turbine

2015 – CHW
Visited Osborne House, East Cowes, owned by English Heritage.  Rather better kept gardens than many of those controlled by the dead hand of the National Trust but £14.30 to get in!  If you just want the gardens and landscape but not the house this is a bit much.

Walled Garden nicely done.

Walled garden Osborne house
Walled Garden Osborne House
Walled garden Osborne house
Walled Garden Osborne House
Gardens around the house are much as you would have expected for a former royal palace. Not a place of botanical interest although a stunning vista.
Gardens around the house
Gardens around the house
Gardens around the house
Gardens around the house
Gardens around the house
Gardens around the house
Magnolia grandiflora ‘Goliath’
Magnolia grandiflora ‘Goliath’

If you looked hard and walked a long way you could however find a lot of decent woody/woodland plants hidden away: Magnolia grandiflora ‘Goliath’ flowering in a three sided courtyard by the rather ancient loos

An unnamed pernettya/gautheria which was very nice but has no obvious identity in the reference books

unnamed pernettya/gautheria
unnamed pernettya/gautheria
unnamed pernettya/gautheria
unnamed pernettya/gautheria

A Staphylea holocarpa full of Chinese lantern fruit

Staphylea holocarpa with seeds
Staphylea holocarpa with seeds
Staphylea holocarpa with seeds
Staphylea holocarpa with seeds

Bupleurum fruiticosum just coming out. A really good coastal plant.

Bupleurum fruiticosum
Bupleurum fruiticosum
Bupleurum fruiticosum
Bupleurum fruiticosum
Sciadopitys verticellata with cone
Sciadopitys verticellata with cone

First time I have ever see a cone on the rare conifer Sciadopitys verticellata

What I think is Ilex verticellata in flower
Ilex verticellata
Ilex verticellata
Ilex verticellata
Ilex verticellata
Ilex verticellata
Ilex verticellata
self sown Arbutus unedo
self sown Arbutus unedo

All over the place were self sown Arbutus unedo which thrive in these hot, dry coastal conditions

There was even a tiny Caerhays bred Rhododendron ‘Saffron Queen’ but little evidence of any recent plant purchases from Burncoose

Two outstanding Cork Oaks (Q suber) by the house (planted 1847) and four massive Cedrus libani behind them. Cedars and some conifers thrive here.

Cedrus libani
Cedrus libani

1974 – FJW
Dry until 2nd week in June – very wet since that time.

1940 – CW
During June and July I have taken over 2000 seed pods of the old Parviflora Magnolia, over 3500 from the big one, and 2000 off the others – about 1200 of the big Sinensis and 1000 of var Wilsoni. The top of Mag nitida has just died. Good rains lately but very dry June. Various Decorum and Discolor hybrids all very good now and earlier especially in the quarry.

1918 – JCW
Syringa on the Library has been very fine. Fortunei are over. The end of a long (2 months), dry weather, it has killed some rhodo’s – continued to August largest and killed much.

1916 – JCW
G Waterer came for the day. R brunonis at its best. Azaleas over except viscosum. Fortunei open, just at their best but only a few flowers.