22nd March | The Garden Diary

FJW 1955-2007

CHW 2015-

JCW 1897-1939

CW 1940-1955

2026 – CHW

Magnolia ‘Joli Pompom’.

Magnolia ‘Big Dude’.

Osmanthus delavayi.

The start of the pen clearance work in Parnall’s Hill.

Clearance of the storm damaged laying pens.

The plants from Donkey Shoe which were uplifted for the final tree felling, or badly damaged by the earlier debris, were replanted above HQN and by George’s Hut today. Pretty ropey and damaged plants but they have the two usual chances. A wettish summer would help.

A 2021 planted Magnolia ‘Tropicana’ is just out in Tin Garden.

Cercis chingii in bud with the odd flower showing. A new species to Caerhays but not that different really!

A decent young white form of Rhododendron racemosum.

Magnolia ‘Paul Cook’ planted in 2014.

Magnolia cylindrica x Magnolia campbellii ‘Darjeeling’.

The new (and very unexciting) Magnolia ‘Simple Pleasures’ (simple indeed as I have said before).

Acer rubrum ‘Red Sunset’ in full flower. Planted in 2009.

Betula utilis subsp. albosinensis ‘China Ruby’ with male catkins showing up in full pollination but, also, as yet unopened female flowers.

2025 – CHW

Cold east winds have finally put an end to nearly 4 weeks of magnolia heaven. Still plenty more to come but what was full out are now blown away.

20 Canadians staying at The Vean and a 3 hour garden tour. We go first to see the gorgeous Melliodendron xylocarpum.

A large grabber and saw on the end of a swing shovel is tidying up the entrance to Penvergate and cutting back the laurel.

First flowers just out on the original Magnolia cylindrica.

Rhododendron siderophyllum below Slip Rail.

The young Magnolia x veitchii ‘Isca’ by George’s Hut.

Not many flowers on the original Magnolia ‘J. C. Williams’ on the drive this year.

Magnolia ‘Philip’s Surprise’ with a blue sky.

2024 – CHW
The Garden Society Dinner in London and 4 species of Lindera for members to look at:-Lindera triloba has tiny flowers but grows into a sturdy upright multi-stemmed shrub. The autumn colour is better than the flowers.

Lindera sericea is a quicker growing and less woody upright shrub but also multi-stemmed. The flowers are as good as the autumn colour.

Lindera angustifolia is an extraordinarily quick growing tree with gorgeous bark and new growth. The flower clusters are a bit sparse and do not give much of a show. Near evergreen in a mild winter with no frost.

The flowers on Lindera erythrocarpa only open fully with us when the leaves appear so the overall effect is muted. With us this is a medium sized woody tree. Ours dates from around 1990.

All 4 species of Lindera together.

Lindera are dioecious which is irritating as you have no way of knowing if you have a male or female plant if grown from seed. All you can do is plant a group and hope to get berries with males and females present. Propagation from cuttings is difficult. They can root easily but overwinter badly and readily die off.

We tend to think of Lindera as autumn colour plants, and some are indeed spectacular then. However some species do produce a good spring show. About half the species which we grow are evergreen although all the 4 pictured above are deciduous.

2023 – CHW

A pleasantly warm and wet week where I think the water table will have got back to about normal. Frankie has dug out the stumps of a number of old Camellia japonicas in the Rookery to make a good new planting place up from the now flowering well Melliodendron.

18 to dinner on a Daily Telegraph gardening tour of the Great Gardens of Cornwall and 23 for the Magnolia lecture today. Three very wet garden tours during the week.

Lindera megaphylla in flower just before the camera lens misted up.

Illicium philippinense (CWJ 12466) still nicely in flower after 3 weeks.

Magnolia kobus var. borealis towers over Rhododendron macabeanum.

Euonymus wilsonii with flower buds not yet open. A quick growing species.

Phyllostachys nigra and Magnolia kobus var. borealis go well together.

The original Magnolia ‘Kew’s Surprise’ in the sun in the Rookery.

Narcissus ‘Mr Julian’ and primroses aplenty by the front door. Absolutely at their best.

Magnolia ‘Atlas’ x M. ‘Lanarth’. Another of Jaimie’s new hybrids flowering for the first time.

Another casualty from the drought.

2022 – CHW

The strong east wind persists.

First flowers showing on all the clumps of Rhododendron ‘Countess of Haddington’.

Rhododendron irroratum ‘Polka Dot’

We are used to seeing the autumn flowering of Magnolia ‘Yakeo’. The spring version is much better and a totally different colour.

Magnolia ‘Angelica’

First proper flowers on Magnolia ‘Parfum’ but not out yet to test the scent.

This must, I assume, be wrongly labelled as Magnolia ‘Blue Diamond’ but it is not in the Eisenhut reference book.

Magnolia ‘Crystal Chalice’ is growing into a decent tree.

Magnolia kobus ‘White Elegance’ just showing.

Another young Pinus radiata snapped off at 6ft in the east winds.

Magnolia ‘Black Tulip’ x ‘Serene’ is not bad but windblown.

The new growth on Tilia endochrysa is, yet again, breathtaking.

Magnolia ‘Spring Rite’

Magnolia campbellii ‘Princess Margaret’ at its best.

First flowers out on Enkianthus serrulatus.

Leaf now full out on Acer palmatum ‘Orange Dream’.

Magnolia ‘Sayonara’ slightly wind scarred.

Yet another Rhododendron arboreum ‘Tony Shilling’ looking good.

Camellia ‘High Fragrance’ living up to its name.

2021 – CHW
A late afternoon garden tour with Tom Hudson to look at forms of Magnolia sprengeri. We viewed about a dozen including a few hybrids.Daphne bholua ‘Mary Rose’ still full out while all the other varieties are well over. Great value in a garden plant.

Primroses on the bank at their best.

Magnolia ‘Mr Julian’ and Michelia doltsopa under an overcast sky.

Magnolia mollicomata ‘Burncoose Tennis Court’ in the Rookery (another below Slip Rail).

A couple of decent flowers still on Magnolia ‘Lanarth Surprise’.

Podocarps ripening on our Podocarpus matudae for the first time. Tom said that although he often sees these at Tregrehan in the autumn they can occur at any time in the year. Do we have a male P. matudae nearby? Not anymore but one did blow out of the ground nearby two years ago. Possibly fertilisation has occurred with another species?

The usual exchange of plants took place with Tom kindly giving us a Lithocarpus kawakamii (from seed off his plant), two new species of callicarpa, one new Symplocos with a highly scented flower and a new Michelia species.

View 22nd March 1897 – 2020