2024 – CHW
Magnolia ‘Yellow Lantern’ just opening and Acacia cultriformis just going over.
A hail storm which Geraint Richards and I just miss.
Then the rainbow.
Rhododendron hyperythrum ‘Omo’ received an AM in 1976. This is a Taiwanese species.
Lindera angustifolia against a blue sky.
Magnolia ‘Hot Pants’ just coming out.
A really good young Magnolia nitida.
Then the discovery of the day/ week – Halleria lucida from South Africa with loads of flowers and berries. The berries have yet to go black when ripe. I have once seen this shrub in flower before but it was late last summer. Very tender, rare in the UK, and attractive.
A good young Rhododendron calophytum.
Another rainbow over The Park.
Myrtus lechleriana scenting the air above Orchid House Nursery. (This is now properly Myrtus luma after the latest name change).
Another Staphylea holocarpa var. rosea which may well be cuttable for the show.
2023 – CHW
The first pair of swallows are building their nest above the dog kennels in the Back Yard and were first spotted here on 23rd March which is extremely early. No sign of any house martins yet.
Preparing the multiple Michelia species and hybrids exhibit for the Cornwall Garden Society Spring Show at Wadebridge this weekend has alerted me to two possible misnaming’s here and at Burncoose.
What we have named and labelled as Michelia foveolata has obviously been wrong all along as Tom Hudson and others said years ago. It is in fact Michelia platypetala or, more correctly, now Michelia cavalerei var. platypetala.
I strongly suspect from the description and pictures in the ‘Magnolias of China’ book that the Burncoose Michelia macclurei tree may well actually be Michelia cavalerei. The undersides of the leaves of cavalerei are blush-white while those of macclurei apparently have reddish hairs or indumentum on the underside of its leaves. Neither species is said to have leaf stipules. I cannot be certain from the rather poor ‘Magnolias of China’ pictures but, if the descriptions are correct, then Burncoose grows M. cavalerei.
In any event Michelia platypetala (M. cavalerei var. platypetala) is quite different from Michelia cavalerei as far as its leaf form and flowers are concerned. I am sure there is still a great deal for taxonomists to sort out in the naming of Michelia species and the Chinese are only part way there with classifying all their rare indigenous species correctly.
With their strong flower scent Michelias are notoriously promiscuous in gardens and cross fertilisation of species is highly likely.
Amid the gloom a few flowers high up on our Michelia cavalerei which is the same plant as grows (rather better) at Burncoose. I had not made the connection before now. Had we really never noticed this plant in flower as it is hidden away behind a Schefflera and 2 other Michelias? We do however now know that it probably isn’t Michelia macclurei.
Acer mandshuricum in full leaf already as usual.
A young Michelia cavalerei var. platypetala (from Raf Lenaerts 2017) in flower again this year for the second time.
Michelia floribunda var. tonkinensis (WWJ 11982) with a few flowers high up. Not as many flowers as last year.
2022 – CHW
More scented rhododendrons rush on into flower although April is still two days away.
Magnolia ‘Joli Pompom’ full out now.
Magnolia ‘Phelan Bright’ with its huge near white flowers.
The huge white Rhododendron arboreum above the Playhouse are at their best even though it may be their swansong.
These two young Camellia reticulata ‘Captain Rawes’ both have dieback. Despite the firm staking they have been blown about in the wind and the roots have been damaged. Traditionally reticulata camellias were grown on a wall for a reason.
First colour on Magnolia ‘Yellow Lantern’. The plant has had several branches snapped off in the late autumn winds over the years and has always reshot vigorously but the shape of the tree is a bit of a mess!
Prunus ‘Shirotae’ just coming out.
Dad’s unnamed hybrid at Red Linney is late into flower but not really nameworthy.
Magnolia ‘Felix Jury’ and Magnolia ‘Atlas’ on the drive.
Magnolia ‘Caerhays Surprise’ and Magnolia ‘Serene’ also on the drive.
Magnolia x loebneri ‘Mag’s Pirouette’ and Magnolia ‘Anne Leitner’ above the Hovel.
Spring lambs in White Stiles. Foxes have threatened and been dealt with.
2021 – CHW
A trip to Forty Acres but every magnolia frosted and just a few coming now with little colour. Old Park is much the same story.Magnolia x loebneri ‘Champaign’ flowering for the first time in Old Park. An odd name but quite pretty. A US loebneri hybrid which is an improvement on the pinks and well worth growing.
A trip to Forty Acres but every magnolia frosted and just a few coming now with little colour. Old Park is much the same story.Magnolia x loebneri ‘Champaign’ flowering for the first time in Old Park. An odd name but quite pretty. A US loebneri hybrid which is an improvement on the pinks and well worth growing.
Wild collected Rhododendron racemosum in Old Park flowering especially well.
New gates and a nice bit of hedging for the new laundry in the farmyard.
Which is not far at all from completion after only about five weeks.
Then to Penvergate to see how that was looking.
A rather battered couple of flowers on Magnolia ‘Sibylle’.
The ancient Magnolia soulangeana at the end of Penvergate are still a good show.
Some of Dad’s hybrids are also performing well.
2020 – CHW
It is normally a job which I undertake reluctantly on holiday in the Isle of Wight but I am now, in enforced isolation, tackling the final batch of 120 to 150 care articles for every genus or species/variety of plant which Burncoose Nurseries offers. In all I have written around 520 of these already over the last five years interspersed with visits to Isle of Wight gardens to get pictures of as many of them as possible growing in gardens. Ventnor Botanic Garden has been perfect for this. Each care article is 200 to 300 words but many are much longer when covering larger plant groups like acers, magnolias or camellias.The point is to make the Burncoose website a genuine destination not just for people who want to buy plants but, more importantly, for those who want knowledge and advice about how to grow them. As an example of how this can work 3,000 people read the acer care article each month and even obscure plants receive 20 to 40 care article views in the spring. I guess half our 1.5 million visitors are now using us as a reference point for information.As ever, in today’s digital age, where attention spans are minimal, pictures become essential. The website already has four or five pictures of each plant we sell in bud, flower, bark, autumn colour, in a pot as you would get it, etc. What the care articles bring to the party now are, where possible, a growing set of pictures of the trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants actually growing and performing in a variety of different gardens. Over the last springs and summers the Burncoose team have visited many RHS, National Trust and other private gardens seeking new pictures of plants ‘doing things’ rather than them just sitting in the nursery.Each new care article therefore has a selection of pictures which are very different from the ‘selling’ pictures alongside individual plants. This has all taken a huge amount of time and effort. Karol now has a gigantic plant database with pictures of all manner of different plants. Those we do not currently stock we may well do one day. The time and effort required by Julie at Forgecom, our longstanding website designers and managers, to put all this information onto the website should not be underestimated either.I feat that, between us, we will have made some mistakes. Perhaps even some unwitting ‘howlers’ which will no doubt be spotted along the way. The care articles try to represent our personal experiences with plants in what I hope is a down to earth manner. Not too much botany or fancy Latin but this cannot always be avoided.If you search this diary for a particular plant you should get a picture or two but the data in the diary is small compared to the plant database behind the website itself.Sadly I am left now with writing about the plants I do not know well myself or the larger plant genus that are so varied that it is difficult to work out quite how to make the care articles simple or consistent. Previously, with plants which I knew well, I could bash out 10 articles a day and still have a pub lunch. With this lot five a day (and no pub lunch) is rather more of a struggle.Then the even bigger ‘excitement’ of starting to proof the 2021 mail order catalogue three months early.Inevitably I get bored with Abies and Alnus which are remarkably dull categories to write about and so to look at some plants yet again!This is the third of our large Daphniphyllum to be dying. One two years ago and two on the way out now. One left. All a long way from each other. The last two seemed to have major rot at the base but this is not obvious here. Do they have short lives where they over flower or are they just susceptible to honey fungus? One branch looks ok while most of the tree is joining the dodo.
It is normally a job which I undertake reluctantly on holiday in the Isle of Wight but I am now, in enforced isolation, tackling the final batch of 120 to 150 care articles for every genus or species/variety of plant which Burncoose Nurseries offers. In all I have written around 520 of these already over the last five years interspersed with visits to Isle of Wight gardens to get pictures of as many of them as possible growing in gardens. Ventnor Botanic Garden has been perfect for this. Each care article is 200 to 300 words but many are much longer when covering larger plant groups like acers, magnolias or camellias.The point is to make the Burncoose website a genuine destination not just for people who want to buy plants but, more importantly, for those who want knowledge and advice about how to grow them. As an example of how this can work 3,000 people read the acer care article each month and even obscure plants receive 20 to 40 care article views in the spring. I guess half our 1.5 million visitors are now using us as a reference point for information.As ever, in today’s digital age, where attention spans are minimal, pictures become essential. The website already has four or five pictures of each plant we sell in bud, flower, bark, autumn colour, in a pot as you would get it, etc. What the care articles bring to the party now are, where possible, a growing set of pictures of the trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants actually growing and performing in a variety of different gardens. Over the last springs and summers the Burncoose team have visited many RHS, National Trust and other private gardens seeking new pictures of plants ‘doing things’ rather than them just sitting in the nursery.Each new care article therefore has a selection of pictures which are very different from the ‘selling’ pictures alongside individual plants. This has all taken a huge amount of time and effort. Karol now has a gigantic plant database with pictures of all manner of different plants. Those we do not currently stock we may well do one day. The time and effort required by Julie at Forgecom, our longstanding website designers and managers, to put all this information onto the website should not be underestimated either.I feat that, between us, we will have made some mistakes. Perhaps even some unwitting ‘howlers’ which will no doubt be spotted along the way. The care articles try to represent our personal experiences with plants in what I hope is a down to earth manner. Not too much botany or fancy Latin but this cannot always be avoided.If you search this diary for a particular plant you should get a picture or two but the data in the diary is small compared to the plant database behind the website itself.Sadly I am left now with writing about the plants I do not know well myself or the larger plant genus that are so varied that it is difficult to work out quite how to make the care articles simple or consistent. Previously, with plants which I knew well, I could bash out 10 articles a day and still have a pub lunch. With this lot five a day (and no pub lunch) is rather more of a struggle.Then the even bigger ‘excitement’ of starting to proof the 2021 mail order catalogue three months early.Inevitably I get bored with Abies and Alnus which are remarkably dull categories to write about and so to look at some plants yet again!This is the third of our large Daphniphyllum to be dying. One two years ago and two on the way out now. One left. All a long way from each other. The last two seemed to have major rot at the base but this is not obvious here. Do they have short lives where they over flower or are they just susceptible to honey fungus? One branch looks ok while most of the tree is joining the dodo.
A more sheltered Magnolia ‘Margaret Helen’ is just coming out. The plant is developing suckering growth. It is the same cross as ‘Caerhays Surprise’ but done in New Zealand which explains the suckering.
Camellia x williamsii ‘Mary Phoebe Taylor’ still excellent on the drive.
Rhododendron kiyosumense on the drive is going over. Next to it a much darker forms is about to come out.
First flowers on Azalea amoena.
Stachyurus praecox still not quite full out.
The juvenile growth on Xanthocyparisus vietnamensis is already being overtaken by the quantity of mature growth. The juvenile growth propagates easily from cuttings.
Little winter’s wind damage on the tender Ternstroemia gymnanthera. Just a bit of reddish blotching on the tips of last year’s new growth.
Magnolia ‘Asian Artistry’. This is Magnolia denudata x Magnolia sprengeri ‘Diva’ which I do not entirely believe and no picture in Eisenhut’s book. A bit bigger flower perhaps than the supposed ‘A. Kalleberg’ yesterday but not much different. Another rogue I fear.
One last flower left on a young Magnolia ‘Caerhays Belle’ by Tin Garden. The old plant long over and the other young ones had their last flowers destroyed in hailstorms two weeks ago.
A troika of tiny flowered Camellia ‘Coral Bright’, ‘Fairy Blush’ and ‘Fairy Wand’.
I have a very soft spot for this Korean form of Magnolia cylindrica. The flowers are not pure white like our original old plant. This 30 year old tree is now 20ft and so also taller than the original. A great colour combination.
Magnolia ‘Sundance’ (Magnolia acuminata x Magnolia denudata) just coming out.
Camellia ‘Mimosa Jury’ was good and new to us.
Equally new is Camellia reticulata ‘Debut’ which was not that different to others of that ilk.
Laurelia sempervirens just coming into flower.
Rhododendron ‘Elsie Frye’ is an exceptional ‘smelly’! To be planted out shortly.
We always forget this pure white Magnolia x veitchii tree up by the Rookery Nursery Bed. It may not be as large as the 1913 one by the shop entrance but it is still a huge tree. A few flowers out low down.
2019 – CHW
We have now removed the roots and stones from the newly cleared area around the Tin Garden. Yesterday it all got rotavated to level it all off ready for planting next week. This will be a planting in memory of Dad and will incorporate many of the hybrid magnolias and rhododendrons which he bred over his lifetime. Since he only died in early January I will only be able to make a small start on the planting this spring. It will take a year or so to assemble some of the key plants.
We have now removed the roots and stones from the newly cleared area around the Tin Garden. Yesterday it all got rotavated to level it all off ready for planting next week. This will be a planting in memory of Dad and will incorporate many of the hybrid magnolias and rhododendrons which he bred over his lifetime. Since he only died in early January I will only be able to make a small start on the planting this spring. It will take a year or so to assemble some of the key plants.
The Tin Garden shed has also been cleaned out with a few artefacts from 80 to 100 years ago still intact. We plan to erect benches and information boards here for visitors for next year’s garden open season. Michael’s father has made a wonderful wooden sign for the door but the door needs a few repairs. We saw the plaque last week.
Flowers opening on Magnolia ‘Tikitere’ in Old Park. They have not moved much in a week so I will have to revisit when it is full out.
Prunus ‘Shirofugen’ is perfect today on the drive in the sun. Burncoose won ‘Best in Show’ at the Cornwall Garden Society show with this some years ago. Splendid but a brief flowering. The Matsumae cherry varieties flower for much longer and will soon become far more ‘garden worthy’ than these older Japanese varieties which have become common May flowering street trees in London.
2018 – CHW
Pleasant day for a garden tour. Weather not as bad as forecast. Serena and Peter and nine dogs.Magnolia ‘Mr Julian’ with a few half decent flowers emerging lower down.
Pleasant day for a garden tour. Weather not as bad as forecast. Serena and Peter and nine dogs.Magnolia ‘Mr Julian’ with a few half decent flowers emerging lower down.
A red form of Rhododendron arboreum that has not been this good before.
Camellia x williamsii ‘Mona Jury’ on the Main Ride.
Camellia reticulata ‘Dream Castle’ now full out.
First colour showing on Magnolia ‘Caerhays Surprise’. No frost damage!
Camellia ‘Ivory Chalice’ is a good new white variety from France.
Magnolia kobus ‘Octopus’ is just out too.
Camellia ‘Dream Boat’ is another new (to us) French import.
Camellia reticulata ‘Miss Tulare’ likewise.
Hidden behind other things below Donkey Shoe I find a long forgotten clump of 50ish year old rhodos in what was once a nursery bed. Are they Rhododendron venator or perhaps Rhododendron floccigerum? The indumentum is white-ish at this time of the year so perhaps neither. This will need rather more investigation but one of those discoveries which makes the day.
Rhododendron ‘Assaye’ (Caerhays bred) is just coming out above Crinodendron Hedge. An elderly clump with some good new layers in place.
Magnolia dawsoniana from above. Another decent tree magnolia in this year of misery for magnolias.
2017 – CHW
Another private tour party and quite a long one also.
Magnolia x loebneri ‘Snow Drift’ – very few tepals in this one compared to all the others. Pretty in its own way and worth its place on the drive by the fernery. Nicer than ‘Merrill’?
First flowers out on Magnolia ‘Butterflies’ on the drive. This one has rather stunted growth and yesterday’s rain has led most flowers to pop open.
Magnolia ‘Alixeed’ has a pleasant pink tinge as it opens but this quickly fades. I have planted too big a tree too near the drive and pruning soon.
Magnolia x proctoriana is now a big tree; 25 plus years old. A mass of flower before the leaves emerge this year which is not always the case.
Magnolia stellata ‘Royal Star’ has been damaged by wind. I wonder why stellata forms flower so much later here than the true species?
Magnolia ‘George Henry Kern’ is a lilliflora crossed with stellata. Larger flowers than usual I think.
The label has vanished here since last year but this is the second flowering of Magnolia ‘Rose Marie’ x ‘Black Tulip’.
After all last week’s excitement over the Cephalotaxus fortunei I thought I would have a look at the related species. This is Torreya nuncifera on Hovel Cart Road. A dullish ‘yew-like’ tree perhaps but it has defied earlier deer damage to grow away. No duller than Pseudotaxus chienii seen a few weeks ago anyway.
Nearby is Torreya taxifolia which clearly has sets of flowers which are about to produce pollen. Known as the ‘Stinking Cedar’ I gather but no idea why (yet!)? Very rare in the wild but this plant is doing well. Not exactly a showstopper either.
Magnolia nitida full out with the most marvellous scent. The stripe on the petals is not visible until the flower is fully out. Last year none were low enough down the tree to see properly but a good crop this season all over. Rain prevents more pictures today.
Went to see if the young Quercus rhysophylla ‘Maya’ in the Rookery needs a stake and it does! No sign of the wonderful new growth yet.
2016 – CHW
Rhododendron moupinense by the cashpoint has emerged unexpectedly from an overpowering podocarpus. You cannot say it is flowering early and no earlier than the Rhododendron ‘Golden Oriole var Talavera’ shown on Monday.
Rhododendron moupinense by the cashpoint has emerged unexpectedly from an overpowering podocarpus. You cannot say it is flowering early and no earlier than the Rhododendron ‘Golden Oriole var Talavera’ shown on Monday.
Nearby is an elderly surviving clump of Sarcocca hookeriana var dignya. This is the sole survivor from my pre 1992 planting when the cashpoint and car park area as it is now was a vegetable garden for the house (known as Georges (as in George Blandford who was my childhood mentor) Garden and around which I once had aviaries for 15 plus breeds of ornamental pheasants). Today it looks as though it has always been tarmac with a few plants around it. Times change! The first public opening of the garden was in 1992.
Another plant which is arguably late into flower in this early season is, surprisingly, Forsythia x intermedia ‘Lynwood’ on the bank by the gents’ loo. Of the three plants here only one is ‘Lynwood’ which I planted 40 years or so ago. This is the one pictured. The others have smaller flowers and are not showing at all yet.
You will not often see daffodils, a bluebell and copious primroses all out at the same time. I repeat that bluebells in March are absurd!
Camellia ‘Noblissima’ still has plenty of flower (and the wind has blown down the horrid brown dead old ones) outside the front door. It is now a full three months since I photographed the first flower here and still a good show today. The question so frequently asked by (supposed) gardeners is ‘how long does it flower for?’. They do not need to buy a plastic one here!
The daffodils on the bank have shrunk in quantity over the last 30 to 40 years since I remember them being moved here from the Kitchen Garden. My father blamed the peacocks for spreading the eel worm which has apparently slowly been killing them (‘blind’ bulbs with no flower and yellowing tips to the leaves). In the old days daffodil bulbs were boiled in an urn to kill eel worms once a year before the days of insecticides and one of these urns still survives at Burncoose. Eel worms bore into the bulbs to lay their eggs which then emerge to devour the bulbs from within. Quite how a peacock, which would eat any sort of worm of insect, can be blamed for this I have no idea. The peacocks which existed here for 50 years have now died out or moved away anyway. Nevertheless a particularly fine show from some varieties today and no sign (yet) of yellowing leaves. I suspect weed killer and mowing off the old leaves too quickly are more likely to be the problem than any worms!
Rhododendron siderophyllum (second showing but different plant) is very fine outside the front gate. One surviving plant of three which is I fear normal for this type of rhodo.
Just as one of the two specimen monkey puzzles, planted in about 1830 at Burncoose, suddenly dies so we have a nice young one here just starting its new growth. Not yet sure if this is a male of a female. A mature plant which I believe is female is 100 yards away. I planted two here but the strimmer got one after a few years.
2015 – CHW
Ann Swithenbank from the BBC Radio 4 Gardeners Question Time rings me at Burncoose to enquire which magnolias flower for a second time in September/October. She needs to answer a tricky question. Magnolia soulangeana and Magnolia lilliflora nigra and their various hybrids exhibit this characteristic. Magnolia ‘March-till-Frost’, and Magnolia ‘Star Wars’ are perhaps the best examples but the secondary flowers are often a muddy purple and hidden by the leaves. Swithenbank does not offer a fee for this information for which she is being paid so perhaps we may get a mention sometime.
Ann Swithenbank from the BBC Radio 4 Gardeners Question Time rings me at Burncoose to enquire which magnolias flower for a second time in September/October. She needs to answer a tricky question. Magnolia soulangeana and Magnolia lilliflora nigra and their various hybrids exhibit this characteristic. Magnolia ‘March-till-Frost’, and Magnolia ‘Star Wars’ are perhaps the best examples but the secondary flowers are often a muddy purple and hidden by the leaves. Swithenbank does not offer a fee for this information for which she is being paid so perhaps we may get a mention sometime.
2003 – FJW
608 adults come round the garden – fine day – DRY.
1997 – FJW
2000+ around garden after too heavy publicity – DRY.
1994 – FJW
Very wet first quarter.
1986 – FJW
Very late year – pink Campbellii ‘seen’ by Easter public for first time for a long while.
1963 – FJW
David took first solo steps.
1962 – FJW
As expected magnolias poor – Salicifolia, Diva, Robusta, Campbellii and molicomata in that order of success. Reticulatas skinned of leaf. No azaleas out at all.
1945 – CW
Rob came down for the first time and saw the last flowers of Magnolia campbellii – Sargentiana, Robusta, Dawsoniana and Diva. Rho sinograndee at its best. Reds very good and the first of the Arboreum – Auklandii hybrids. Blue Tit, Yellow Hammer, scintillans and Camellia all very good. The Bullatum x Moupinense are very nice.
1933 – JCW
All the Corylopsis are very good indeed. Cherries just starting to open. Hybrid Calophytums are good and so the species. Rho fargesii is very nice.
1930 – JCW
Corylopsis pauciflora is very nice. C williamsii fair.
1920 – JCW
The double cherries are nearly at their best.
1915 – JCW
Bean left. Frost had cut all the stuff, but some Fortuneiis stood it.
1900 – JCW
Jacko just pinched out, none of the above within five days of being open.
1899 – JCW
Several G mundi, G of Leiden. Sir Watkin, Scott (1), Griflamme, all Torch. Plenty of Blackthorn in flower, a few tulips, Jacko open.
to 30. March ’20
wonderfull pictures of Camellia ‘Mary Phoebe Tailor’. By ‘stinking’ botanist just mean that this plants have a easily feasable odour, in case of some Torreyas only when crushing the leaves. Torreya taxifolia is susceptible to Phytophtora torreyae in the hot climate of its North-Florida home, but does much better in cooler sites.
Daphniphyllum does well on quite dry sites, it survived here (Rhine) very dry and hot summers with only some leaves dropping, so i guess it is susceptible to rot in to humid soils.
Regards
Hello, looking to acquire Camellia “Mimosa Jury”….can you assist….thank you, Ken.
Dear Mr Wilson
Sorry for the delay in replying to your enquiry about Camellia ‘Mimosa Jury’. We did have a very few plants in stock, which we imported in the autumn from France, but sadly these have already all been sold from Burncoose Nurseries. We will check and see if we can add some to our spring order from France and let you know if we have any success.
Thank you for your enquiry.
Charles Williams