3rd 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

2023 – CHW

A few interesting things in the nursery today.

Gentiana dahurica in full flower.

Gentiana dahurica
Gentiana dahurica
Gentiana dahurica
Gentiana dahurica
A new addition to the catalogue, Limonium gmelinii ‘Dazzle Rocks’.
Limonium gmelinii ‘Dazzle Rocks’
Limonium gmelinii ‘Dazzle Rocks’
Aesculus parviflora performing well in pots.
Aesculus parviflora
Aesculus parviflora
Euonymus hamiltonianus ‘Coral Charm’ in flower.
Euonymus hamiltonianus ‘Coral Charm’
Euonymus hamiltonianus ‘Coral Charm’
Romneya coulteri and Abutilon ‘John Thompson’ outside the Packing Shed.
Romneya coulteri and Abutilon ‘John Thompson’
Romneya coulteri and Abutilon ‘John Thompson’
Cyclamen hederifolium ‘Album’ full out already.
Cyclamen hederifolium ‘Album’
Cyclamen hederifolium ‘Album’
Cordyline australis ‘Salsa’ and Cordyline indivisa in Roy Key’s garden at The Pound.
Cordyline australis ‘Salsa’ and Cordyline indivisa
Cordyline australis ‘Salsa’ and Cordyline indivisa
Finally, this afternoon, it has started raining properly for the first time in 7 weeks and the forecast for next week is pleasantly wet. Hopefully that is the end of the drought for this summer.

2022 – CHW
Lunch with Clare Francis, the diminutive but famous sailor from the late 1970s. This is the yacht in which she first sailed solo across the Atlantic.
yacht
yacht
Clare’s roof space plays host to nesting swifts and there were a good dozen flittering about outside the house. Too quick for me to get a decent photograph.
outside the house
outside the house
Harvey Browns is a brand-new farm shop and restaurant. I have never seen anything done as well or so overflowing with customers for local food. Butchery/bakery on site and huge restaurant/café with massive kitchen and outdoor seating by a river. Wildflower meadow outside.
Harvey Browns
Harvey Browns
Harvey Browns
Harvey Browns
Harvey Browns
Harvey Browns
Harvey Browns
Harvey Browns
Harvey Browns
Harvey Browns
Harvey Browns
Harvey Browns
Harvey Browns
Harvey Browns
Harvey Browns
Harvey Browns
Harvey Browns
Harvey Browns

2021 – CHW
Our garden in Seaview really is a mess although friends have kindly cut the grass.The jasmine has fallen off the wall and blocked the doorway out into the garden.
jasmine
jasmine
Fuchsia ‘Lady Boothby’ has done well but, as a climber, needs more support.
Fuchsia ‘Lady Boothby’
Fuchsia ‘Lady Boothby’
Fuchsia ‘Lady Boothby’
Fuchsia ‘Lady Boothby’
Phygelius x rectus ‘Devil’s Tears’ is now about 6ft by 6ft and perfectly out in flower. The flowers have flared yellow throats.
Phygelius x rectus ‘Devil’s Tears’
Phygelius x rectus ‘Devil’s Tears’
Phygelius x rectus ‘Devil’s Tears’
Phygelius x rectus ‘Devil’s Tears’
The enormous Pittosporum tenuifolium which gives us privacy has been partially uprooted in a gale and is now leaning a bit but, fortunately, away from the house. Some roots out of the ground but the tree seems fine and still shields us from view. I guess do nothing.
Pittosporum tenuifolium
Pittosporum tenuifolium
Mare’s tail everywhere and out of control.

2020 – CHW

Another one of those wonderful small bits of the history of the estate which appeared earlier in lockdown and certainly merits space in the garden diary. I had forgotten to add it earlier and had actually put it in the estate game book.

I attach an email from Graham Webb about his great uncle and grandfather with the two photographs and my reply relating to Keepers Cottage and White Stiles Cottage (as we call them today) at The Hovel (a coal hovel from when coal was transported by sea and kept well away from any other habitation because it often self-ignited). Click here for photo 1 and photo 2

From: Graham Webb
Sent: 05 May 2020 12:19
To: Caerhays Enquiries
Subject: Tom Michael photos
Good morning,
The article in the Daily Telegraph (4 May( about Charles Williams and Caerhays has coincided with my revisiting our family history, and I have recently found two photos of Tommy Michael, who I believe was a keeper on the estate.
Tom is the older man on the left of the photograph. My great uncle, he was married to May Moore (a laundry maid?) whose sister Jesse married my grandfather William, the younger man on the right. The other photograph is of Tom with me, in about 1952-1953.
My father was William’s son, and spoke fondly of visits to Caerhays as a young man in the late 30s.
I hope you find these interesting. I may unearth more as I continue my work!
Regards
Graham Webb

From: Charles Williams PA
Sent: 06 May 2020 15:26
To: Graham Webb
Subject: RE: Tom MIchael photos
Dear Graham
Thank you very much for sending the photographs to us. The one in which you feature was taken down at White Stiles Cottage and in the background you can very clearly see, what was, the keeper’s house which was occupied from about 1955 by Gilbert Anning. The door on the left of the picture goes into his dog kennels which, amusingly, today is our central computer hub.
The second picture was taken from Lower Hellens and shows the building on the right which we are about to convert into two houses but which was a piggery until the mid-1960s. I am puzzled by the hay rick, or stooks of corn, on the left as I do not think that particular field has been ploughed in living memory. Today there is an old tin shed a bit back from the hay rick. How things have changed in 70 years! Please do let us know if you find anything more of this nature as we are planning a “Caerhays through the Ages” exhibition at some point.
Kind regards
Charles

As this is a day of past records I enclose another wonderful email from Sally Hayward who very kindly has spent part of lockdown transcribing old handwritten garden records of plants and seeds gifted to us here and gifts which we also made to other gardening friends during Philip Tregunna’s tenure as head gardener 1956 to 1996.

From: Sally Hayward
Sent: 28 June 2020 11:56
To: Charles Williams PA
Subject: Transcription of Philip Tregunna’s listing of Plant Gifts 1957-1995
Dear Charles
I hope that you and all at Caerhays are keeping well and safe.
How amazing to realise that a year ago we were all beavering away at Hampton Court! It has been really strange not having any RHS events this year. I have been in total isolation since lockdown began, but quite content, enjoying my garden and the opportunity to really concentrate on research. My family ‘bubble’ being some 300 miles away seems unreachable for the time being, but we are in constant touch.
I have now been able to complete the transcription of Philip Tregunna’s Plant Gifts list, a really interesting and enjoyable project. Thank you so much for entrusting it to me. I split the work into two listings – the plants gifts sent out from Caerhays and then the gifts received. Both lists made really interesting reading and are certainly a snapshot of the horticultural ‘movers and shakers’ of the time! I followed up on the plants received at Caerhays, by, where possible, cross-matching them to my previous work on Philip’s and your father’s planting records to identify where and when they were planted out. I hope that this will be of use and interest to you. There are many plants that do not appear in the planting records. Is there another planting list or were plants held back for propagation do you think?
I found it particularly interesting that 32 Camellia sasanqua cultivars, many names that were new to me, arrived during 1959/60 from ‘Edinburgh’, presumably the RBGE, and ‘America’. It is such a pity that the actual American source is not identified. There are no records of these being planted at Caerhays within the files that you have shared with me. I believe that Caroline Bell has been in touch with you regarding the historic planting of sasanquas at Caerhays as part of her research. Would you be happy for me to share the list of these 32 cultivars with Caroline as I know that she is interested in what plants were available at this time?
Thanks again for giving me the opportunity to work on these files.
Best wishes
Sally

I have quite a bit of work to do to catch up with and think about what is still alive and well in the garden today from the list and what has failed/died/vanished. Continuity of such records is very important for plant identification and the garden archive going forward but I have to confess that my own gifts to others are not properly recorded. Asia is, however, meticulous about everything which we have been given (or bought) which arrives in the greenhouses so the records continue.

2019 – CHW
A visit to Southern England Farms owned by Greville Richards. 120 people in the packing and processing plant and 450 eastern Europeans working the rigs in the fields. 7,500 acres of vegetable crops in Cornwall mainly on rented ground from Land’s End to Port Eliot.

Southern England Farms
Southern England Farms
Southern England Farms
Southern England Farms
Courgettes are the main crop today for Tesco and Sainsbury’s but also broccoli, cauliflower and greens. Seven lorries can be loaded at once. Ultra-low temperatures throughout.
crop today for Tesco and Sainsbury’s
crop today for Tesco and Sainsbury’s
crop today for Tesco and Sainsbury’s
crop today for Tesco and Sainsbury’s
crop today for Tesco and Sainsbury’s
crop today for Tesco and Sainsbury’s
crop today for Tesco and Sainsbury’s
crop today for Tesco and Sainsbury’s
Second crop courgettes grown on biodegradable plastic.
Second crop courgettes
Second crop courgettes
Second crop courgettes
Second crop courgettes
First crop courgettes which will continue to flower and form fruit for 10 to 12 weeks providing the crop is regularly picked. All oversized or misshapen courgettes are discarded as they go.
First crop courgettes
First crop courgettes
First crop courgettes
First crop courgettes
Each picking team is 14 or 15 people. When the crop is at its best each picker can earn £1,000 (net of tax) per week.
picking team
picking team

2018 – CHW
Three forms of Magnolia grandiflora with perfect flowers on, at last, a dull day:

‘Symmes Select’

‘Symmes Select’
‘Symmes Select’

‘Russet’

‘Russet’
‘Russet’

‘D D Blanchard’

‘D D Blanchard’
‘D D Blanchard’
All fairly similar but the leaves are not.
In the greenhouse frames berries are already formed and turning colour on Sorbus rosea (SEP 492).
Sorbus rosea
Sorbus rosea
We saw Rhododendron nuttallii in flower a month ago. This is Rhododendron sinonuttallii in a pot by the greenhouse and identical to the one which used to grow in the Burncoose conservatory and flower in July with a very strong and overbearing scent. The flower trusses have fewer individual trumpets here than they used to at Burncoose but, unlike nuttallii, there is much more colour in the flowers themselves. Nuttallii is much nearer a pure white. This plant has survived ‘The Beast’ and is certainly one which should have been high on the list of likely casualties.
Rhododendron sinonuttallii
Rhododendron sinonuttallii
Rhododendron sinonuttallii
Rhododendron sinonuttallii
Sadly we only have one plant of the similar and equally late flowering scented Rhododendron rhabdotum left here and no flowers this summer so no way to compare it to sinonuttallii today.

2017 – CHW
Planted only this year but here are the first flower on Philadelphus mexicanus, a tender species from Mexico and Guatemala. These flowers do not seem to have the purple blotch in the centre which the reference books mention but there is a scent.

Philadelphus mexicanus
Philadelphus mexicanus
Philadelphus mexicanus
Philadelphus mexicanus

The hydrangea Hortensia season is upon us.

The first to be full out is Hydrangea serrata ‘Bluebird’. There are two good clumps on the drive which are a decent blue in our soil.

Hydrangea serrata ‘Bluebird’
Hydrangea serrata ‘Bluebird’
Hydrangea serrata ‘Bluebird’
Hydrangea serrata ‘Bluebird’
Hydrangea serrata ‘Bluebird’
Hydrangea serrata ‘Bluebird’
A fine plant of Quercus x bushii with huge and slightly irregular leaves but each has three distinct lobes at the end. Planted in 2003 it has just had a trim of its lower branches.
Quercus x bushii
Quercus x bushii
Quercus x bushii
Quercus x bushii
The large plant on the drive of Polylepsis australis has suddenly died like its counterpart in the garden we saw three weeks ago. No obvious reason.
Polylepsis australis
Polylepsis australis
Polylepsis australis
Polylepsis australis
Hydrangea involucrata ‘Viridescens’ is full out despite the strimmer badly hurting the main stem in last summer’s grass cut.
Hydrangea involucrata ‘Viridescens’
Hydrangea involucrata ‘Viridescens’
Hydrangea ‘Fireworks Blue’ is just starting to show.
Hydrangea ‘Fireworks Blue’
Hydrangea ‘Fireworks Blue’
Hydrangea ‘Fireworks Blue’
Hydrangea ‘Fireworks Blue’
Beside it Hydrangea ‘Fireworks Pink’ has a couple of flowers out too. The white Fireworks is not yet coloured up.
Hydrangea ‘Fireworks Pink’
Hydrangea ‘Fireworks Pink’
Hydrangea ‘Ayesha’ (a blue rather than pink form initially at least) has a few of its very distinctly shaped and all sterile flowers out.
Hydrangea ‘Ayesha’
Hydrangea ‘Ayesha’
Beside it is the stupidly named but once very novel and fashionable (lacecap) Hydrangea ‘Love you Kiss’. Very like the Hydrangea serrata ‘Kiyosumi’ in my old hydrangea reference book in fact!
Hydrangea ‘Love you Kiss’
Hydrangea ‘Love you Kiss’
Hydrangea ‘Love you Kiss’
Hydrangea ‘Love you Kiss’

2016 – CHW
The Game & Wildlife Trust (GWCT) shoot walk took place at Tregirls Farm above Padstow on Friday. English partridges became extinct on the farm only 10 to 12 years ago whereas, in the rest of Cornwall, it was 30 to 35 years ago. GWCT Cornwall have raised £13k to fund a reintroduction project in August with five cuvvies of grey partridges (£21 per partridge) and a part time game keeper. Tregirls is unique in having an HLS scheme designed around the corn bunting, another very rare bird. The farm has 60 acres of unharvested corn crops and 80 acres of six meter headlands which have been uncut for years. If grey partridges cannot survive in this sort of habitat it will be a surprise.

Here are some pictures of the 90 plus attendees on the shoot walk.

The Game & Wildlife Trust (GWCT) shoot walk
The Game & Wildlife Trust (GWCT) shoot walk
The Game & Wildlife Trust (GWCT) shoot walk
The Game & Wildlife Trust (GWCT) shoot walk
The Game & Wildlife Trust (GWCT) shoot walk
The Game & Wildlife Trust (GWCT) shoot walk
The Game & Wildlife Trust (GWCT) shoot walk
The Game & Wildlife Trust (GWCT) shoot walk

2015 – CHW

Getting on well with the 2016 catalogue proofing and, fortunately, the heatwave has moved on.  The Phygelius in the garden has straggled up to six feet tall and needs a good chop down. One forgets that this sub shrub is capable of achieving this sort of height.

phygelius
Phygelius
phygelius
Phygelius
Crinum powellii
Crinum powellii

The Crinum powellii leaves have been untroubled by slugs but no flowers yet.

Myrtus communis var tarentina
Myrtus communis var tarentina

Alongside is a surprisingly good plant of Myrtus communis var tarentina with its very narrow leaves. This variety flowers in the autumn with pink tinges on its white flowers.

1929 – JCW
Came back from the North, Griersonianum, Eriogynum, Harrows x all very good, Mag parviflora has many flowers, M delavayi none open, the smaller Hypoleuca is good and is far the best flower of that species. Styrax wilsonii very good indeed, some discolors are good.

1921 – JCW
Very dry and hot for many weeks. The Sinograndes are frosted by the sun. Plagianthus lyallii is nice and Escallonia langleyense and some roses. R sunsnis was never so good. R moyesi is nearly over. P coulteri is very good. Some forms of Indica sinsii are to be very good near the Top Lodge.

1920 – JCW
A very nice damp growing season for the rhodo’s, some of the sinograndes have 24-26 inch leaves. Plagianthus lyallii is very nice. The Fortunei’s are nearly over, the Auriculatum hybrids about to open.

1918 – JCW
R brunonis is good. Rhodo’s lack rain very badly.

1916 – JCW
Mitraria fair. R brunosis good. R Mrs J.C Williams is nice yet , and Picatee holds on, Ingersii won’t open for a fortnight, daff seed mostly in.

1911 – JCW
Just home from London and Scotland (six weeks). R brunonis and Crimson Rambler good, not much else though Romneya is opening well. Mitraria good. Daff seed picked, say 2500.

1899 – JCW
Nigra up to 18 ft 3 in. Finished sowing daff seed, except Recurvas, from spores coming ripe.

1897 – JCW
The water lilies very well in flower.

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