Camellia reticulata ‘Emma Gaeta’ (Nuccio’s No.27).

The last of the Camellia sasanqua in the collection to still be in flower – ‘Prudence’.

Pieris japonica ‘Dorothy Wyckoff’ looking remarkably good in the sun.

Cunninghamia konishii which we lost at home in a cold winter. Old cones and male flower tassels clearly visible half way down last years new growth and with new female cones about to form at the tips of the shoots.

Abies delavayi which we now have starting out.

Camellia xylocarpa (TH 2870) looking very fine.

Camellia glabsipetala by the ponds which seems to flower for months.

One very fine form Atherosperma moschata in the southern hemisphere garden.

The Magnolia campbellii on the Bowling Green – Caerhays gift to George & Elizabeth Falmouth, 1963.

Casuarina cunninghamiana growing beside Tregothnan House where underground cables keep the soil warm enough for this Australian She oak or Horsetail tree to survive. A new genus to me with most peculiar foliage.

2024 – CHW
Unfortunately no time to look at the older and newish young magnolias in the centre of 40 Acres Wood but here is Jaimie and Michael’s update. Originally these were all American Gresham and Pickard’s hybrids but we have added more recently.A very decent young Magnolia ‘A.E. Bold’.

Magnolia ‘Eleanor May’ has performed well for many years M. x soulangeana ‘Rustica Rubra’ x M. ‘Lanarth’.

Magnolia ‘Judy Carlson’.

Magnolia ‘Fireglow’, M. cylindrica x M. ‘Sawada’s Pink’ – has not passed the test of time!

Magnolia ‘Candy Cane’ is unfrosted this year.

Magnolia ‘Pickard’s Crystal’ grows rather oddly!

Magnolia ‘Pickard’s Pink Champagne’ is not one I have seen out myself before.

Magnolia ‘Manchu Fan’ also unfrosted. Another pretty near all white Gresham hybrid.

Magnolia ‘Pickard’s Snow Queen’ not very floriferous.

Magnolia ‘Big Dude’ – despite its name this is not actually a huge flower. I fear that this plant might be wrongly named? This cross is M.‘Wada’s Picture’ x M. sprengeri ‘Diva’. I grant you that it could be but the picture is a far lighter colour in the Eisenhut reference book.

Magnolia ‘Delicatissima’ – another Gresham. These are all M. x soulangeana ‘Lennei Alba’ x M. x veitchii ‘Rubra’ hybrids.

Magnolia campbellii var. mollicomata ‘Treve Holman’ – just one bud.

Magnolia ‘Tina Durio’ – Gresham hybrid.

Magnolia ‘Frank Gladney’.

Magnolia ‘Scented Gem’ (bought from Kevin Hughes Plants).

Magnolia ‘Sybille’ in Penvergate.

Magnolia ‘Theodora’ also in Penvergate.

We discover today that a mini tornado has hit the pines below Bond Street. This probably occurred in the strong winds which accompanied the thunderstorms last Thursday night.

2023 – CHW
The fine, if chilly week continues. No actual frost to hurt the magnolias and lots of new things today to admire in the sun.A young Magnolia ‘Caerhays Splendour’ and Camellia japonica ‘Magnoliifolia’ – one of the 5 ‘Splendours’ on the bank above the front door.

A close up of Magnolia ‘Caerhays Splendour’ which the east wind has blown open slightly early.

Narcissus cyclamineus at its best and multiplying quickly on the top bank.

The 1913 Magnolia campbellii approaches best against a (cold) blue sky.

Camellia ‘Mimosa Jury’ just opening. A fairly recent introduction here and good!

Jaimie’s new hybrid is a hugely better colour in its third year of flowering. More news on this soon.

Magnolia ‘Hawk’ just out.

Magnolia sargentiana ‘Blood Moon’.

Magnolia sargentiana ‘F.J. Williams’ – the original in the Auklandii Garden is more sheltered and only showing colour today.

Cotoneaster glomeratus still has berries in Kennel Close. The older plants on the drive and younger ones below Slip Rail never had any at all this autumn.

Magnolia ‘Pickard’s Ruby’ x M. ‘J.C. Williams’ – worth registering and naming? (or has it already been?) Asia might check the list.

Magnolia mollicomata ‘Werrington’ very fine!

Magnolia mollicomata ‘Black Tulip’ just showing colour.

2022 – CHW

A cold but still and sunny day. 236 visitors in the garden on 5th March!

I have the pleasure of showing around Marcus & Kate Agius as well, separately, as Richard & Sissy Needham.

The magnolia view through the back yard arch today – a Magnolia campbellii x Magnolia mollicomata seedling.

Rhododendron davidii (from Tom Hudson originally) just going over.

Magnolia ‘Rebecca’s Perfume’ in the Isla Rose Plantation with five flowers this year (planted 2017/8).

Magnolia ‘Betty Jessel’ with a blue sky behind what is becoming a huge upright tree.

Magnolia ‘Betty Jessel’ and Magnolia sargentiana var. robusta (just coming out) in the Ririei Opening.

Flowers out on Eurya japonica in the Rookery which readily self-seeds itself around and about.

A large camellia blew over and has been re-uprighted on Rookery Path but it now needs a good prune to recover. The flowers are small and not opening properly for lack of sustenance from damaged roots.

2021 – CHW
The tree surgeons are felling a few supposedly dead or diseased sweet chestnuts in Old Park and trying (fairly successfully) not to hit any of our new planting. The tree featured here was around 120 years old and had dead branches in its crown as anyone (apart from the Forestry Commission) might expect in an elderly sweet chestnut starting to decay and reach the end of its life. As you can see here there is no rot in the base of the tree which was not “diseased” at all in its crown. Yes, the regrowth from the base did have some Phytophthora ramorum infection, but this regrowth had already been removed a year ago. The original Forestry Commission contention was that dead crowns meant a new notifiable sweet chestnut disease. This was not the case, but we got caught in the fallout and a compulsory felling order. It seems odd that, at a time when every aspect of climate change / carbon neutral government policy wants trees, veteran trees, and more tree planting, the Forestry Commission is destroying veteran trees rather than letting nature take its slow course. A compulsory felling order here but the Forestry Commission still cannot issue a straightforward felling licence application made over a year ago.

Here are pictures sent to me of the original Magnolia ‘Lanarth’ flowering a week or so ago in Lanarth garden near St Keverne on the Lizard. The large plant pictured here is actually a first generation Lanarth seedling on the top bank by the house but the closeups are of other original plants. Exactly the right colour and flower shape for the ‘true’ original ‘Lanarth’. The plant by the Lanarth front door which is (as you would expect) a much smaller tree was only just starting into flower and a bit paler in colour. Of the six or so original plants in the Lanarth garden some were already over. I have seen these showing colour in past years in early January and was a little surprised to see these pictures taken in late February which is a bit later than normal for a mild Lizard winter – but then February was not that mild!

Filming today with (ITV owned) Two Four Productions for a series of Cornish coastal programmes on Channel 5 next year. An estate, a farmer, and a fisherman through the four seasons. Today ‘Spring has Sprung’ and we film the Magnolia campbellii which is looking at its very best in the sunshine between showers. The crew return in a week or two to capture the magnolias generally at their best.

The New Zealand Magnolia ‘Lanarth’ in the distance over the top of a clump of camellias.

One day on for the magnolias through the arch.

The New Zealand ‘Lanarth’ closer to.

Camellia reticulata ‘William Hertrich’ has sprung open today.

We cut two flowers from Magnolia campbellii for the film crew. Just look at the intricate mix of pink veining on the outer side of the tepals.

Magnolia ‘Delia Williams’ on the lawn has opened a lot in three days.

Ivy removed today from the elderly heathers at the Four in Hand.