2022 – CHW

Deutzia pulchra just coming out.

The more unusual pink form of Rhododendron (Azalea) viscosum – swamp honey-suckle – in Old Park. One of the clump is a pure white form. This species hides its flowers a bit as you can see here.

Probably Deutzia paniculata (BSWJ 8592) planted in 2014. Label lost.

Probably Buddleia nivea var. yunnanensis just going over. Planted in 2018 and already needing a hard pruning back which it got in 2021.

Flower buds well formed on Asimina triloba alongside the leaf petioles. An odd shape which I had not taken in before.

2021 – CHW
A tedious day getting to grips with the proofing of the 2022 Burncoose Nurseries mail order catalogue. It normally takes about eight days in all. Meanwhile the G7 are having dinner at the Eden Project. Quite a long drive with the roads clogged so I assume helicopters but have heard nothing yet tonight? Another day of sea mist and drizzle.Our landscape team finally finished working at 6.30pm on Wednesday at the Carbis Bay Hotel. A project which they started in January! Boris and Carrie arrived just before that. Working in a maximum security site with machine guns, snipers and hundreds of troops/police was a good experience which they enjoyed. The bay ringed with military vessels and at least one carrier visible offshore. A once in a lifetime event putting Cornwall on the map – assuming nothing goes wrong in the next three days!Two granite gateposts destined for the gateway to the new graveyard extension at St Michaels church. Not yet consecrated by the bishop who has been asked.

Schefflera rhododendrifolia with its new growth three years on from planting.

2020 – CHW
Annoyingly an old Rhododendron decorum has blown over near Donkey Shoe in the northerly winds last Saturday.

Ligustrum confusum flowering prolifically.

Rhododendron lepidostylum was a gift from Peter & Pat Bucknell in 2011. Flowering much later than our old plants in the Rockery and on Burns Bank.

A huge gall on a camellia. Quite a few of these about.

Jaimie was moving a woodpile yesterday by the shop to reveal a stoat’s den. The wood was only piled up in March so the stoat has not wasted much time. Pheasant feathers and rabbit fur as you can see but no youngsters. Probably the stoat which I have been seeing by the front door.

The wild flower book has been located.Lotus corniculatus or ‘bacon and eggs’ is coming up in the lawn exactly where the giant mushroom circle grew last September. It grows to 35cm as you can see but not when mown!

Malva sylvestris or common mallow growing profusely on the bank opposite the front door. Removing the stingy nettle clump has allowed it to expand in a very dry area. You often see this in motorway verges.

Too much zooming and meetings (thankfully) for any more today.

2019 – CHW
This may well be Cornus kousa ‘Madame Butterfly’ on Hovel Cart Road. A spectacular show today with variably curled bracts. The planting records give no clue.

A pure white evergreen azalea flowering today by Georges Hut. The leaves do not look like it has Azalea indica parentage.

The buds on Magnolia aff. floribunda var. tonkinensis are still not out in flower. Its Crug collection number is DJHV 06105. What is it actually going to be? There is a picture of this in flower on Page 11 of the June edition of ‘The Plantsman’. I cannot see these buds opening to look anything like this picture but we will see.
This is what Tom Hudson wrote to me:
M. floribunda is all over SE Asia, Yunnan, Nth Vietnam, Laos, Burma, etc.
M. floribunda var. tonkinensis was named for the south eastern part of the range in Vietnam but I cant find out who published this combination.
Growing plants from both locations I cant tell the difference so in the meantime I have binned the var tonkinensis and call them all floribunda.
To add to the confusion Chevalier published Michelia tonkinensis from Vietnam but that has proved to be a synonym of M. balansae.
Even more chaos as Dandy published Michelia floribunda var tonkingensis which has since been sunk into floribunda!!
Your Magnolia DJHV 06105 is in the Crug catalogue as Magnolia foveolata. (Sect. Michelia) which it isnt.
From your images it is definitely Sect. Manglietia as you suspected with those large terminal flower buds opening early summer.
Will be fun to see what pops out.
i have a few Mangliets going to fire up for the 1st time in the next few weeks, they all got a bit overexcited and steamed up from last summer.

Magnolia sieboldii sinensis x virginiana nicely out with 30 to 40 buds and flowers today. Worth a proper name I think.

Our third plant of Magnolia dealbata is going to flower for the first time very shortly. The second, older plant was featured last week. About eight flowers to come. The effects (again) of last year’s dry summer which this Mexican species enjoyed.

Staphylea colchica has formed its bladders quickly in the hot weather. I do not remember ever seeing them like this in early June.

Pterostyrax hispida (one of two quite close to each other) is just coming out. Both are decent sized trees but, as you can see, they always try and shoot from the base. A Styrax habit. The bark is interesting too.

A first bud on the tender Magnolia tamaulipana. We have lost two of these to cold before so this should be an exciting moment.

2018 – CHW
A catch up on the rhododendrons still out as the season ends. Starting above the old Orchid House Nursery bed.An Alan Clarke collection of what I assume is Rhododendron maddenii with the most enormous scented flowers. Definitely one for Asia to concentrate on with cuttings soon. Possibly worth a name in its own right.

Is this our Rhododendron ‘Treberrick’? I think not as ‘Treberrick’ is a ‘Mosers Maroon’ x griersonianum cross which is next door and much darker but now over. From the same seed pan though.

Euonymus hamiltonanus ‘Popcorn’ is in flower. We await the seeds to test the veracity/stupidity of the name.

Neolitsea sericea with its drooping bronze-brown velvety new growth. Stunning today.

A more conventionally sized Rhododendron maddenii in flower below Donkey Shoe. Less scent. The trusses seem very tight and do not open out much.

Rhododendron auriculatum just coming out by Georges Hut. One of the parents of Rhododendron ‘Polar Bear’.

This Paulownia kawakamii has sadly split in half in the gales. If you grow 30ft in 10 years this is the risk you run. Very few light blue flowers like last year.

Magnolia globosa with a good show of flowers at last after a few years of just a couple. A hint of pink in the inner tepals as they first open out.

2017 – CHW
Sadly I have missed the first flowering of Styrax shiranus on Burns Bank. The one by Charlie Michaels Nursery is struggling in full sun and little growth.

Tail end flowers on Rhododendron ‘Tortoiseshell Orange’ above the greenhouse.

Lithocarpus lepidocarpus has very typical lithocarpus new growth but is still struggling to get away after 10 years or so in too exposed a position.

A wild orchid has popped up by my parents’ golden wedding plaque. We see very few of these at Caerhays. I assume it lay dormant for decades when this area was covered in beech trees.

A youngish clump of Rhododendron ‘Polar Bear’ out early but the leaves are not looking that happy in the wind in an exposed position.

Our crosses on Magnolia ‘Yuchelia’ remain intact – or the paper bags do anyway.

This clump of rhododendrons was grown from seed supplied by Major Howell (perhaps via an RHS seed list). None are very inspiring or in a good place. However this unnamed one is very late into flower and has an odd green flash in the white trumpets. I have not seen this one before and it is different!

This is our largest surviving Styrax hookeri in the Rookery. The flowers have mainly shed onto the ground. You can see how large the flowers are on the ground with their pronounced yellow anthers.

This elderly clump of Rhododendron ‘Polar Bear’ in the Rookery usually goes unnoticed by visitors. Strangely the odd lower flower is full out while most of the tree is still in tight bud. Wind blow again I expect from last Monday’s storm.