24th July | The Garden Diary

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CONTRIBUTORS:

FJW 1955-2007

CHW 2015-

JCW 1897-1939

CW 1940-1955

2024 – CHW

A visit to the next door garden designed, in 2015, by Arabella Lennox-Boyd.

Massive leaves on Bergenia ciliata alongside Geranium ‘Rozanne’.

Geranium ‘Rozanne’ and Hebe albicans.

The view over the Solent.

An invasive weed literally strangling individual plants in the wild flower meadow.

The wild flower meadow is cut to the ground and reseeded each year.

Eryngium bourgatii ‘Picos Blue’ very fine.

Agapanthus ‘Royal Velvet’ and Achillea ‘Cerise Queen’.

Cynara cardunculus and Verbena bonariensis.

Caryopteris x clandonensis ‘Heavenly Blue’ and Ceratostigma willmottianum.

Agapanthus ‘Africanus Albus’ and Trachelospermum jasminoides.

Ceanothus x delileanus ‘Gloire de Versailles’ is perhaps the best of the deciduous ceanothus?

Catalpa bignonioides full out in flower rather earlier than in Cornwall.

2023 – CHW
Back home to enjoy the aftermath of several inches of rain in our absence. The drought is well and truly over but there are plenty of dead plants to prove how bad it was. Our watering of newly planted areas and nursery beds did save the day with lots of new plants especially the Evergreens and Viburnum. Grass cutting nearly complete in the main garden and Old Park started.

Hydrangea paniculata ‘Polar Bear’ is getting going.

Very first (and earlier than usual) flowers on Eucryphia ‘Nymansay’.

A good show on Catalpa bignonoides.

I was wrong about Hydrangea paniculata ‘Vanille Fraise’ the rain has allowed it to produce a set of flowers. They are still small but already a little over.

We have all missed the flowers on Diplopanax stachycanthus (WWJ 12110) – just a few seed heads left.

Decent new grouth on a big leaf replaces last years chloritic leaves from drought starvation.??

Persea indica (PSWJ2535) has made good growth in its first year after planting.

2022 – CHW
Drooping flowers on Rhododendron ‘Polar Bear’ in Charlie Michael’s Nursery. Intense heat here still but the heatwave is officially over for now.

Gamblea ciliata var. evodiifolia (DJHV 06111) has shot ahead this year and is now 10-13 feet tall.

Cotoneaster cornifolius (Ogisv 93330) with its first berries that we have seen.

Finally Cornus drummondii ‘Sunshiny Drops’ is out in flower. This was suppressed to make it in time for the late May Chelsea Flower Show and the RHS Plant of the Year Competition. Fat chance but was nice enough today.

Zelkova abelicea is growing quickly. Its leaf and branch structure is odd and irregular.

Hoheria sextylosa ‘Stardust’ with only a few flowers.

Eucryphia x hillieri ‘Penwith’ (E. lucida x E. moorei) flowering for the first time in recent memory. It must have grown here once and died.

2021 – CHW
A tour with Martyn Rix and Peter Moor in extreme heat.Another good form of Manglietia insignis with flowers of a ‘normal’ size.

Podocarpus macrophyllus ‘Aureus’ with its splendid new growth in full shade now.

Hoheria glabrata nearly over.

Strong new growth on one of the young Mallotus japonicus with a flowerhead about to appear.

Magnolia ‘Todd’s Fortyniner’ with a secondary flowering. About a dozen flowers. This was out in January as usual.

Martyn kindly brought cuttings of his Deutzia calycosa and we showed Peter the evergreen Clematis uncinata in flower grown from his seed. Peter thinks that growing it up through a Camellia sasanqua will swamp the camellia. It has not yet but I had not realised how scented the flowers are. Far too high up now to smell them so we need to start one again elsewhere.

2020 – CHW
The first time we have seen seedpods on Sophora japonica ‘Sun King’.

Flower clusters in profusion not yet out on Aextoxicon punctatum.

Tilia endochrysea with another fine set of its beautiful (secondary) new growth.

And much slug damage to the leaves as we now discover is normal for this species.

Dacrydium cupressinum trailing in the sunlight. This should be too tender for us but is tucked away here in shelter.

A wild clump or two of Hypericum androseanum which is a native wildflower.

I had to go to the reference books to find out what this multi stemmed 8-10ft tall shrub was. Ptelea nitens. If crushed the leaves are highly aromatic but I did not know this at the time. I will need to go back and check I have this correctly named.

Cercidiphyllum japonicum ‘Glowball’ living up to its name with its secondary new growth.

Carpinus caroliniana from Mexico also with bronzy secondary new growth in profusion.

Fuchsia hatschbachii just out in Tin Garden. It should still be out at Christmas.

The young Magnolia macrophylla planted last year has made excellent new growth of 2ft or more.

Another very late flowering clump of Rhododendron maddenii still just out.

A veritable carpet of old leaves under Quercus acuta.

Loads of small root suckers 10 yards away (at least) from a small Sassafras albidum planted in 1991.

Eucryphia milliganii still the best thing in the garden today.

Secondary growth on Pieris almost as good as in the spring after flowering

Some of the Rhododendron ‘Polar Bear’ are almost over much earlier than usual.

2019 – CHW
One evergreen azalea (out of a clump of three) covered in small azalea galls from the leaf hopper insect.

Taxis baccata ‘Dovastonii Aurea’ with most attractive drooping young yellow new growth.

Manglietia moto (now Magnolia kwangtungensis) with its huge goose or duck egg shaped buds high upon the tree.

Rhododendron ‘Polar Bear’ nicely out over and above Georges Hut.

Six weeks after all the others have finished flowering a young Rhododendron stamineum is full out with especially bold yellow centres to the white flowers.

2018 – CHW
A trip to Tregrehan to study Fagacaea (oaks, lithocarpus, castanopsis and fagus) with Tom and Thomas Methuen-Campbell from Penrice Castle who are both far more expert on oaks than I am.

The full list of what we viewed can be seen if you click here but these were the highlights. Endless oaks are rather dull to most so here are a few flowers!

2017 – CHW
A trip to Eddington’s Nursery outside Nettlestone. Last year everything was new. Now the sample herbaceous border has run riot. Lots of new things to photograph discreetly as this is not hugely popular with the two male owners and partners. I buy a Melianthus major to make amends.Eucomis ‘Sparkling Burgundy’ is just coming out on huge stalks.

Crocosmia ‘Limpopo’ – newish in our catalogue but good.

Echinacea ‘Tomato Soup’ – stunning red.

Agapanthus ‘Inkspots’ – another new name to us. Not that startling.

Helenium ‘Sahins Early Flowerer’ – not bad! No earlier than the others here though.

Sanguisorba ?obtusa ‘Pink Feathers’ – very striking – could not read the full label.

Lespedeza thunbergii – a particularly good form but not the right colour for this species! Here a 4ft x 4ft shrub just coming out.

Salix bockii (alpine willow) – a new species to me. Easily mistaken for a podocarpus with its tiny leaves. Chinese and grows to 8ft.

Agapanthus ‘Lavender Haze’ – nothing startling but nice enough.

Agapanthus ‘Windsor Grey’ – dull white-grey flowers.

Miscanthus sacchariflorus – in full growth but no flower heads.

Agastache ‘Blue Boa’ – might have been blue originally but fading quickly. Taller growing than some.

2016 – CHW
What I think is Hebe carnea is flowering in the garden here with pink flowers fading to white. I could well be wrong! Not much else out after the tidy up though.

The huge Pittosporum tenuifolium looks well for its huge size with little die back from the top. We would be very visible without it.

The Trachelospermum jasminoides which I planted next door is scenting everything but covered in bindweed.

Agapanthus campanulatus ‘Rosewarne’ as good as pictured at Caerhays last week.

Alice’s jasmine (Jasminum officinale affine) has shed many of its flowers but there is still quite a show and a second most lovely scent to enjoy sitting in the garden here (far too hot to risk this for the last two days even if I had not been hard at a raft of paperwork).

2015 – CHW
Hydrangea serrata ‘Tiara’ is a taller growing form of serrata and quite pretty close up if you like tiny blue flowers.

Hydrangea 'Generale Vicomtesse de Vibraye' — Hydrangea
‘Generale Vicomtesse de Vibraye’

Hydrangea ‘General Vicomptesse de Vibraye’ opens light blue in our soil and then fades to rose or light pink as here where both colours of mopheads can be seen at the same time on the same large clump by Four in Hand. Quite a spectacle today even if a very old variety. Planted early 1990s.

1980 – FJW
Last hay in First Corn cut. A late hay season generally but alright at Barton.

1929 – JCW
Plagianthus open, several Mag delavayi open, a good many Parviflora, some Hypoleuca. Eriogynums remain and Decorum x Auriculatum also Ungernii x Auriculatum. Rosa brunonis V.G, the best thing on the place.

1927 – JCW
Only a few Decorum x open, Plagianthus over. We lately had some nice Ungernii x Auriculatum open. Romneyas wet but fair.

1924 – JCW
Plagianthus very good. Buddleias good. Brunonis and American Pillars over. Decorum x Auriculatums very good more serviceable than Auriculatum and not so hard to please, they also hate sun on the young foliage. Romneya not very good yet, too much rain. Rhodo rhabdotum is astonishing.

1917 – JCW
The first cyclamen found open.

1898 – JCW
The first cyclamen in flower.