2020 – CHW
A glorious Mothering Sunday amid the National Gloom. We remain open.

Jaimie has planted a group of Rhododendron ‘Ginnie Gee’ below Donkey Shoe. A heavily mulched surround.

Gardeners are now sending each other pictures to cheer themselves up. Here are some from Carolyn Townsend which were planted around six to eight years ago; and Simon Trudgeon sends a picture of his, possibly, ‘Mathotiana Rubra’ growing in Bristol.

Vikki in the (now) takeaway tearooms.

Magnolia ‘Venus’ at the sales point.

Sarah taking contactless payments in gloves from the very occasional visitor.

Daffodils in a pot under the arch. My mother used to call these ‘Pink Howards’ but I have no idea quite why as far as the Howard bit is concerned.

Tom responds to today’s visit here as follows:
Sent: 23 March 2020 18:17
To: Charles Williams PA
Subject: Visit.Hi Charlie,
Great that Jo and I were able to come along on Sunday, the net is closing fast now and we will all be looking at our own gardens for a while.
There is plenty to see, what a treat we are lucky.Just a few things that I had noted….That tender oak I think may be Q. fleuryi. [Correct]I think that the Kew Schima may be remotiserrata but it will be interesting to see it in flower. [Labelled excelsa]I will definitely get that Eisenhut book, the most up to date with the named selections and their parentage.Interesting to see The Rookery where the old oaks are and the Emmenopterys trees.
I quite like the feel of the darkness under the evergreens, quite like being in that type of Fagaceous forest in Asia.
We were surprised to see Emmenopterys trees in Vietnam recently, it will be interesting to see whether they will flower earlier or at all when compared to the original Wilson material.So much new planting in new areas has changed the feel of many areas and will set the garden up for at least a couple of generations.Many thanks, all the best,
Tom

2019 – CHW
A tour with a journalist from ‘The Tatler’. Not normally a publication noted for its horticultural content!

Vaccinum urceolatum still retains some reddish autumn colour in the Rockery although it is an evergreen shrub of some rarity.

The dwarf Rhododendron canadense just coming into flower.

This (and other) forsythia had flowers in November. Perhaps some forsythias flower twice a year but I had thought the late autumn flowers were a sign of a mild winter and a premature spring.

Primroses galore on the bank outside the front door. This is why we mow the grass here late and infrequently in the summer with the cutter bar set high.

Tom Hudson has keyed out this previously unknown evergreen Symplocos as Symplocos lucida. It is very fine this year with plenty of unusual and fairly unpalatable scent. It is becoming a large tree with a dark black trunk.

Rhododendron ‘Martha Wright’ just out and early.

Self-sown Pododcarpus salignus seedlings growing away beside the nine mature male and female trees planted in the 1920s. Some of these seedlings have in previous years been sent back to the Chilean forestry department as this conifer is now endangered in the wild.

First flowers on Rhododendron ‘Mrs Lionel de Rothschild’ – again very early indeed.

New sign on the door of the Tin Garden shed.

2018 – CHW
A horrid funeral in Mount Hawke of a 20 year old. A hundred boy racers wearing woolly hats may just have got to grips with the reality of their ‘sport’!

First flowers showing on Magnolia dawsoniana and no frost damage.

Part of yesterday’s planting all staked and wired.

A huge Rhododendron ‘Cornish Red’ now full out and untarnished.

Rhododendron praecox just showing colour and thankfully rather late this year.

A few decent flowers on a Magnolia sprengeri ‘Diva’ seedling by Four in Hand.

A fine display of daffodils and primroses outside the front arch.

2017 – CHW (photos to follow)Passed by Parliament Square at 2.20 some 10 minutes before the terrorist atrocity en route to Vincent Square and a police lockdown.

Showed Cephalotaxus fortunei at the 275th Garden Society dinner at Whites. Pollen everywhere! Home on the overnight sleeper – new carriages.

2016 – CHW 
A 24 hour trip to London for The Garden Society dinner (64 attendees) and back on the night train. Not the greatest display of plants I have seen but some nice things – Abies pindro, Lindera umbellata, Viburnum furcatum, Michelia platypetala.I took two forms of what we now call Michelia doltsopa and explained the puzzle between this and Michelia floribunda which ‘the experts’ say we do not have and Michelia manipurense which we may now have. Also Michelia ‘Touch of Pink’ and Michelia ‘Silver Cloud’ as well. It made them all laugh and we had a very jolly dinner in what is now known as the ‘naughty corner’ with Jim Gardiner (who retires from the RHS in October), my brother and Thomas Methuen-Campbell.