The newish unnamed magnolia nearby (photographed last Sunday) is now full out and, despite being in the teeth of Wednesday’s northerly gales, there are still some good flowers. It is nice but my confirmed view is that it is not worth naming and registering as I had suspected previously. It may of course improve with age and it has been partly blown open early.

Evergreen Azalea ‘Shin-sekai’ with its white ‘hose-in-hose’ flowers is out very early by Red Linney. The last survivor of a once large clump.

The last few flowers on Rhododendron ‘Winter Intruder’ hang on in the sun. It must be nearly two months since I first pictured this group of young plants coming out below the drive.

Azalea ‘Greenway’ has a few rogue flowers out two months early. I saw this too on a plant near Trewithen House in early February and at Burncoose.

Magnolia ‘Pickards Garnet’ (possibly ‘Pickards Ruby’) has taken a heavy wind battering. The inside of the tepals will be white when fully open as are the tips now.

Magnolia denudata ‘Forrests Pink’ has also been more or less blasted away. Interesting to remember that we saw secondary (and darker) flowers on the same tree only last October.

The Meliosma flexuosa up Hovel Cart Road has still got most of last year’s leaves on the small tree. Bizarre! So we will not easily see the wonderful orange downing on the new leaf buds as they open soon which are one of the best features of this new and rare tree which we have yet to see flower.

The tangled mess that was the Higher Quarry Nursery bed can now be inspected in safety. The huge beech tree has pulverised everything including the rare Lyonia ovalifolia in the middle of the nursery. I guess this may well reshoot if cut back to near the base. That is about all that is left of it anyway. I see that my three Rhododendron calophytum have only been hit by twigs so those at least can now be moved as planned to a newly cleared site for them above the veitchii. It will take four men at least three days to carefully clear this mess and save whatever small rhododendrons that have not been crushed. The nursery bed fence will need to be completely rebuilt and quite where to have the bonfire is not obvious as yet without doing even more damage. We cannot have a fire in the nursery and expect to carry on using it for this purpose since the fire will sterilise the soil for decades. The only positive which comes from this disaster is that the nursery will, in future, have much more daylight and plants will grow better in it.

Above Higher Quarry Nursery and the mess are two rather delicate semi evergreen azaleas: one pink and one mauve. I have now idea of their names so need to consult the planting records again. Planted pre 1997 anyway.

Adjacent I find the first pieris of the year in flower.

Below Donkey Shoe is another storm casualty I mentioned on Wednesday. One of three mature Pieris ‘Charles Michael’ which has already had to be cut up to clear the path for visitors.

Another small Magnolia ‘J C Williams’ has a slightly blasted bud but what a colour. Its colleague was pictured on Sunday but had blown open prematurely and was far too pale and pink. This one is more like it yet no colour on the original tree on the drive.

On the bank at Hovel Cart Road is Lindera cercidifolia (planted 2002) coming nicely into flower and growing well in full sun. According to the reference books this is now Lindera obtusiloba (seen in bud last week). To me its growth habit is quite different to Lindera obtusiloba as are its flowers. Need to check the leaves later on. I suspect there is a good botanical muddle amongst the new lindera species found fairly recently mainly in China and introduced to the UK via the USA and Crug Farm. An interesting and appealing genus of which half are evergreen and half deciduous. Lindera megaphylla has been a survivor here for 100 years as has Lindera communis which now looks sick. ‘New Trees’ again records Lindera communis as ‘new’ when it clearly is not. I lose track of how many times we can prove this. If only the authors had consulted us a bit more before publication of such a valuable reference book! So called experts disagreeing is great fun.

2015 – CHW

My father named two very early flowering Magnolia ‘Lanarth’ seedlings ‘Bishop Peter’ and‘Bishop Michael’ (two bishops of Truro from the 1980s). Peter is darker purple and sometimes the first magnolia to show colour in the garden by Georges Hut; but not this year although it is full out today. There has been much recent debate as to what has happened to the much paler ‘Bishop Michael’ and where he is today? Michael used to be in Rogers Quarry but was cut down 15 years ago to make room for the Magnolia campbellii Alba and a much darker but more true to type and later flowering Magnolia ‘Lanarth’ seedling. However scions must have been sent to Eisenhut in Switzerland for propagation since there are very pale upright growing Lanarth seedlings at Caerhays and Burncoose. At Burncoose the plant is on the edge of the front lawn at 8 to 10 feet. At Caerhays the newer plant, which is undoubtedly also ‘Bishop Michael’ (although just labelled Lanarth), is 10 to 12 feet with 30 plus flowers full out. Both plants are worthy of proper naming and registration with the international Magnolia Society. The original ‘Bishop Peter’, in keeping with its parentage, is slow growing and compact but no more than 15 to 18 feet tall after 50 years. Jim Gardiner wants plants of each for Wisley.