The old original Catalpa bungei ‘Duclouxii Group’, as we are now supposed to call Catalpa duclouxii, is flowering away better than I have ever seen it but the flowers are nowhere near as good or heavily marked as our other younger plant, which fell over, or the one I admire at Ventnor above their Tropical House.

Despite the relatively mild and storm free weather Maackia chinensis has collapsed and split in half.

Chionanthus virginicus will now get much more light and should start performing rather better. It was planted 33 years ago and has hardly flowered or grown much.

Idesia polycarpa in full flower.

Still plenty of final tail end flowers on Berberis wilsoniae. Very late for this to still be in flower.

Still a few decent flowers on Magnolia ‘Genie’ as we near July.

This was once, 35 years ago, the stump of a Pinus radiata. Seedlings from Rhododendron ‘Polar Bear’ grew up around it and look at it today.

2023 – CHW

Magnolia/ Manglietia kwangtungensis/ moto with its buds swelling and splitting.

Magnolia virginiana ‘Northern Belle’ has its first couple of buds two years on from planting.

Acer sikkimense (WJC 13674) with wonderful secondary new growth.

This is labelled Magnolia crassifolia (MWJ 13163) which does not appear to exist in the reference book so some cock up here somewhere? First flowering with 6 or so flowers of which only one still on the tree (+ 1 bud). Again much like M. insignis although the leaves are a bit different.

Tilia kiusiana about to flower.

Cornus kousa ‘Milky Way’ nearly over.

I was very rude last year about Hydrangea serrata ‘Crug Cobalt’. Now I take it all back. Nice thing and well worth Asia propagating.

Only one of the four Hydrangea ‘Runaway Bride’ planted in 2021 has survived. Too dry a spot for them but a fantastic hydrangea none the less.

The Camellia x williamsii ‘Mary Jobson’ is shooting well after its haircut despite the drought.

2022 – CHW

A visit to the Isle of Wight Grain Storage Ltd near Cowes. The farmer owned cooperative company handles circa 20,000 tonnes of wheat/oats/barley/rape grown on the island and has just invested £2.5m in new grain drying and milling equipment. The two biodigesters on the island which need feed (grass / whole crop) sourced locally have greatly reduced the amount of arable crops grown in recent years. The new milling allows poultry, beef, diary and pig farmers to purchase processed animal feeds made on the island rather than importing from the mainland. Vessels capable of loading 3,000 tonnes of grain can moor up and be loaded beside the storage facility.

Storage tanks old and new.

The new grain drier.

This machine dry cools the grain tanks without the need to continuously blow air through the grain.

Grain loaded on vessels from the adjacent gravel works jetty.

The new milling equipment and the end products.

Solar panels were providing 50% of the electricity needed to run the site today.

Sir William Caws stands below an ancient crane in Cowes on the site of a former ship building factory where he worked as a boy in the late 1950s. Jumping into the water from the top of the crane (at high tide) at the end of a day’s work was apparently normal. A tall story indeed!

2021 – CHW
A bit of a magnolia hunt today.The pink form of Rhododendron ‘Polar Bear’ just showing.

Manglietia insignis just out and perfect today but loads of bud to come.

Magnolia sapaensis nearly out. Note the little leaflets at the tip of most (but not all) buds which is an unusual (unique?) characteristic of this species.

Pterostyrax hispida at its absolute best. I normally fail to spot this.

High up one of the younger Magnolia dealbatas is out. The others not quite.

Clethra fabri (FMWJ 13037) with spectacular foliage at Donkey Shoe.

Rhododendron fortunei subsp. discolor in the main quarry full out.

The best of the surviving forms of Rhododendron ‘Royal Flush’ on Burns Bank. Definitely one for Asia to propagate!

The last flowering before death I expect of the original Styrax japonicus on Burns Bank.

Tail end flowers on the playhouse wisteria or perhaps secondary ones?

2020 – CHW
A nice wet weekend and a dampish week in prospect so all good in the garden.The pink form of Magnolia delavayi with the largest and best flower I have ever seen on it before. The layman might find this very similar in shape, colour, and the dropping down of the three outer tepals, to Magnolia (Manglietia) insignis which we saw last week. Tom Hudson collected this originally and, not knowing any better, we planted it in a poorish spot opposite the dog kennels below Kitchen Garden where it has grown well but flowered sparsely.

Another of our surviving Rhododendron royalii hybrids on the drive out later than the others with a pinkish hue. A cutting from the old plant on Burns Bank?

Achillea millefolium (yarrow) and Malva sylvestris (common mallow) growing together below the coastguards’ hut where Serena will soon be married. A pity to strim these all off for the sake of ‘tidiness’!

Calystegia soldanella (sea bindweed) growing on the field hedge (which is near sand) opposite the car park. The flowers have closed as it is overcast. It is not that different from Convolvulus arvensis (bindweed) but this one only grows on sand dunes as here. (The white flowered hedge bindweed, Calystegia sepium, much hated by all gardeners, is a different species again.)

Subsequently Colin French (Flora of Cornwall) got in touch to point out I got this wrong. Here is his email and the correct photos:

From: cnf
Sent: 09 August 2020 10:15
To: Charles Williams PA
Subject: RE: Survey work
Dear Charles,
On 30th June Diary entry the Calystegia soldanella photos are of Field Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis). C. Soldanella has small round succulent leaves as in the photo below:
Best wishes,
Colin

Maggie Semmens in ‘Grandma’s Castle’ as the sign says at the lower lodge. We both agree that we need a haircut!

Hydrangea seemanii covering the back arch. Less flowers than last year but they seem larger.

2019 – CHW
Arrived at Hampton Court yesterday at lunchtime. The temperature was 33-36°C. An untouched can of lemonade exploded in Michael’s van in the heat. We felt similarly pulverised but made a very good start on the stand. Sally Hayward was in situ doing not just our labels but the labels for all the other Plant Heritage exhibitors. What would we have done without her willing and very capable help! Our stand is located next to the National Collection of Rubus stand. Podocarpus and Rubus must be two of the dullest stands the public have ever seen but perhaps more horticulturally interesting with more unusual plant species and hybrids than in previous Plant Heritage exhibitions? The National Collection of Ginkgos on the other side of us was superb and got the media attention it deserved.

2018 – CHW
A few exceptional new plants to us at Burncoose which are now on their way to the Hampton Court flower show for the stand and for sales there.A lovely white Watsonia arderneri which we bought from France.

Even more lovely is the delicate pink Watsonia ‘Tresco dwarf pink’. Not dwarf at all in habit but the flowers are perhaps small by watsonia standards. Both these two survived ‘The Beast’ in early March on the nursery. Conservatory plants but only just in Cornwall.

Astilbe ‘Chocolate Fascination’ is new to us this year and our first sight of the pale pinkish flower spikes above the dark blackish leaves.

Paeonia tenuifolia is setting ripe seed quickly after flowering in May. Paeonies do this rapidly.

Rosa pomifera has hips days after flowering too.

2017 – CHW
I now know why I have not been able to operate the focus properly on the new camera. It should do it automatically. Karol assumed I was not as thick as I have now been shown to be!The Tropaeolum speciosum has come up through the Lady Clare camellia and is flowering at about 5ft from the ground. Rather a good set of pictures if I say so myself!

This young Aesculus wangii had a couple of small branches broken off in a recent gale but has quickly put on attractive new growth shoots.

The oldest Magnolia sieboldii with the smallest flowers still has a few showing. Elsewhere the seeds are swelling quickly. As you can see I got the settings wrong again.

Rhododendron arizelum is not setting any seed this year. I could easily remove the old flower heads and seeds by hand with no effort. Noticeable however is how much more quickly the new growth has come where there were not flower heads.

Seeds pods forming after the flowers on Decaisnea fargesii. By autumn these will turn a pinkish-blue.

I had this billed as Cornus florida ‘Red Giant’. It has been out for a while but is in shade so the bracts could be darker in full sun.

Prunus ‘Collingwood Ingram’ has very attractive secondary new growth. It was raised in Belgium in 1979 and this plant was a gift from Mr Vernon of Bluebell Nurseries.

Salix fargesii is forming a good rounded shrub in full sun.