2025 – CHW
Five pied wagtail chicks in a nest in a gutter.
Catalpa bungei f. duclouxii flowering well in the Rookery.
The heavily trimmed Eurya japonica being uprighted in the hope that it will reroot (on one side) and reshoot.
A bad case of Camellia gall which actually causes no real harm.
Enkianthus divaricatus finally out.
The Caesalpinia in Kennel Close has a fine show again this year. Is it C. gilliesii?
Syringa reticulata subsp. pekinensis ‘Yellow Fragrance’ only has one flower.
Deutzia ‘Strawberry Fields’ as good as ever.
2024 – CHW
Grass cutting has started today in the Kitchen Garden where the growth is already considerable. It was only cut once last year and that was probably a mistake.Daphne Scott-Harden sends a range of pictures of her wonderful garden in Northumberland. We supplied many of the plants decades ago and the end result remains as good as ever because it is properly maintained. I have never seen the Iris and Azaleas at their best as we only see the garden in August and September.
Grass cutting has started today in the Kitchen Garden where the growth is already considerable. It was only cut once last year and that was probably a mistake.Daphne Scott-Harden sends a range of pictures of her wonderful garden in Northumberland. We supplied many of the plants decades ago and the end result remains as good as ever because it is properly maintained. I have never seen the Iris and Azaleas at their best as we only see the garden in August and September.
Deutzia ningpoensis looking very fine in Tin Garden. I am on a tour with c.20 Americans.
To my surprise I find Camellia maliflora (mentioned in Lindley 1827) in flower in Kennel Close (top plant in the line nearest the Cornus alternifolia). I have seldom seen this species in flower and, in my mind, I expected a single white which it very clearly isn’t. The original plant was on the bank above the 2 Magnolia veitchii. It may now be dead but there is a big and seemingly flowerless plant half way along Bond Street. One has to say that the double flower does not immediately look like a species and this is still the subject of botanical debate. The flowers shown here are pale tail enders but the moral of the story is that this plant flowers properly in full sun and does very little in full shade. Asia needs to propagate as its really rather a good thing in late May. I wish I had spotted it earlier.
Cornus alternifolia just coming out.
Eucalyptus simonosii covered in flower again this year.
Magnolia x wieseneri below Slip Rail. The Americans enjoy the scent.
A huge Rhododendron decorum at the top of the Hovel Cart Road.
2023 – CHW
The Rare Plant Fair at Tregrehan was a complete sell out with over 1000 people attending in the sunshine and 23°c. Rare plants sold without a word from the customers to people who knew exactly what they were.Couldn’t help stopping on the way out of the show to photograph Cornus kousa ‘Doubloon’.
The Rare Plant Fair at Tregrehan was a complete sell out with over 1000 people attending in the sunshine and 23°c. Rare plants sold without a word from the customers to people who knew exactly what they were.Couldn’t help stopping on the way out of the show to photograph Cornus kousa ‘Doubloon’.
The Burncoose selling tables.
Phytolacca bogotensis (BSWJ 14221).
Thalictrum delavayi var mucronatum – also on the Crug Farm stand.
Anemone rivularis.
Roscoea humeana.
Hydrangea serrata ‘Tiara’ on the Tregrehan stand.
Schefflera sweilliensis has a very different texture to its leaves to S. taiwaniana.
This is S. taiwaniana.
Styrax japonicus ‘June Snow’ on the Burncoose stand.
Styrax japonicus ‘Snow Cone’ which sold immediately.
Lonicera giraldii interesting.
Machilus yunnanensis on the Burncoose stand.
Huodendron tibeticum on the Burncoose stand with flowers.
Azalea viscosum.
2022 – CHW
Nursery day today – warm but welcome rain overnight.
A huge clump of Lupinus ‘Manhattan Lights’.
Rosa ‘Kent’ a new one for the nursery.
Also Rosa ‘Sussex’.
Rosea gallica ‘Variegata’ is something rather special.
The hydrangea beds all spaced and re-potted with flowers appearing. A much better effort than in previous years with Louise in charge.
A new entry for the 2023 catalogue – Paeonia daurica – just into leaf.
Nothing quite matches Meconopsis baileyi (syn. betonicifolia) as a blue flower in the early morning sunlight in the cashpoint.
2021 – CHW
The rare plant fair at Tregrehan with a normal level of attendance by nurseries and the public. Good to meet up with the serious gardening fraternity after so long.The Deutzia purpurascens in the trade stand area.
The rare plant fair at Tregrehan with a normal level of attendance by nurseries and the public. Good to meet up with the serious gardening fraternity after so long.The Deutzia purpurascens in the trade stand area.
Acer carpinifolium as a mature tree by the car park at Tregrehan.
A newly planted Quercus hyplencoides (Mallet Court).
Deutzia longifolia in Nick Lock’s display.
Polygonatum vietnamensis on the Tregrehan display.
A new species of Tibouchina grossa (BSWJ10758) on the Crûg stand with red flowers.
The Burncoose selling tables by 8.30am.
A gift of a seedling Lithocarpus quercifoleia which Tom obtained as seed in Hong Kong.
The attractive but dwarf growing Kniphofia pauciflora which I had not seen elsewhere.
Libertia ‘Taupo Blaze’ in flower. Pure white flowers contrasting with the coloured leaves.
