2026 – CHW
Some newer magnolia hybrids.
Magnolia ‘Vulcan’ x M. ‘Black Tulip’ – excellent but, again, no name.
Magnolia ‘Romance’ – quite nice. Will probably improve with age.
Magnolia ‘Venus’ (M. ‘Black Tulip x M. ‘Pickard’s Ruby’). Too close to ‘Pickard’s Ruby’ to be worth its place? Not sure this really is the true M. ‘Venus’?
Magnolia ‘Flaming Heart’ – I see how it has got its name. A bit different. Again will improve I expect when older and less weather bashed.
Magnolia ‘Black Tulip’ x M. ‘Darjeeling’ – no name and not bad.
Magnolia ‘Pink Pyramid’ – first flowering on a small 3-4 years on from planting acquisition. Too early to judge this German hybrid with us.
Quercus engleriana has been nearly dead for a year or two. Finally it has blown over. Replacement in Tin Garden.
The last of the giant firs starts to get cut up but the crown remains to deal with.
Magnolia campbellii ‘Darjeeling’.
Ron Scamp’s Narcissus ‘Mr. Julian’ outside the front door. Named in Dad’s lifetime.
2025 – CHW
What I think is Camellia japonica ‘Anemoniflora’.
Camellia japonica ‘Althaeiflora’.
Camellia x williamsii ‘Ballet Queen Variegated’.
Rhododendron ‘Blood Red’.
Magnolia ‘Pink Perfection’ is nice enough but not as described in the Magnolia register where it is said to be a x loebneri form. Another naming puzzle.
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Camellia japonica ‘Bob’s Tinsie’ which is a smaller flower than ‘Anemoniflora’.
A good clear up of the fallen branch on Magnolia salicifolia.
2024 – CHW
Four sets of new thing to try from cuttings from Roy Lancaster.
Four sets of new thing to try from cuttings from Roy Lancaster.
A very fine magnolia ‘Lanarth’ on Bryan and Sally-Jane Coode’s garden near Grampound.
A further look at our younger newer magnolias.
Magnolia ’April Melody’ flowering for the very first time here in Area 27.
Magnolia ‘Cassiopeia’ likewise.
Prunus x persica ‘Spring Glow’ just opening.
Magnolia ‘Brombeer’ now properly open.
Magnolia’ Romance’ nearly open.
Magnolia ‘ Vulcan’s Forge’ now fully out.
Magnolia ‘Black Tulip’ x M. ‘Darjeeling’ – no name as yet that I can find.
Magnolia cylindrica ‘Bjuv’ raised by Philippe de Spoelberg from cuttings in Karl Flink’s garden in Bjuv, Sweden, is making a great show now in Kennel Close.
2023 – CHW
High pressure over the UK so the fine weather continues but cold at night.The very first Magnolia sprengeri ‘Diva’ seedling which my father called Mr Gordon (Trudgeon) covered in pure ‘Diva’ flowers today in Tin Garden. The habit of the plant isn’t quite true but the flowers are.
High pressure over the UK so the fine weather continues but cold at night.The very first Magnolia sprengeri ‘Diva’ seedling which my father called Mr Gordon (Trudgeon) covered in pure ‘Diva’ flowers today in Tin Garden. The habit of the plant isn’t quite true but the flowers are.
Prunus ‘Felix Jury’ nearly out. Very dark pink flowers and an exceptional cherry which I first saw at the Savill Gardens years ago. Three plants in a clump in Tin Garden. Wonderful bark as well.
The unnamed seeding hybrid near George’s Hut is normally earlier into flower than this year. A cross between M. sargentiana var. robusta and M. sprengeri ‘Diva’. Often frosted or blown away, it is quite splendid today in the sun.
First flowers I have seen (and rather later than usual this year as well) on Rhododendron ‘Red Admiral’. High up on the plant.
Bought in as a true Magnolia campbellii ‘Alba’ this one has far too much pink in the flower (which is also out far too early in the year) to be anywhere near true to name. Below Slip Rail and just above the NZ ‘Lanarth’. The label has split so I cannot yet see where it came from but I can guess!
Acacia cultriformis now perfectly out by the former playhouse.
2022 – CHW
Due to lack of time from the impending Rosemoor show and the garden weekend here Jaimie and I had a plant placing out session at 8.30am on Sunday morning. Thirty or more of the rarest plants needing special thought about their positioning. As ever we are running out of space and still have a couple more days of planting out to go as well as a day on rhododendrons from the Rookery Nursery bed and elsewhere. Old Park planting all completed and wired last week as well as Kennel Close magnolias and Crataegus. Lots of stuff still to go out in the Isla Rose Plantation and above the greenhouse. Tender oddments and summer flowering shrubs for the drive / White Stiles.
Magnolia ‘Bishop Michael’ just out in Rogers Quarry. Much later into flower than ‘Bishop Peter’.
First ever buds on Magnolia ernestii (formerly Michelia wilsonii). A new species to us and eagerly awaited. It may be one to savour at the forthcoming garden weekend.
Flowers on a very elderly pure Magnolia mollicomata. A multi stemmed tree.
Rhododendron ‘Choremia’ (Rh. arboreum x Rh. haematodes) towards Tin Garden. John Anderson showed this hybrid in his excellent recent online Plant Heritage lecture on Windsor rhododendrons. I guess it was originally a Tower Court hybrid?
A young Magnolia sprengeri var. Diva ‘Burncoose’ just out.
The colour of Magnolia ‘Shirazz’ is superb.
First flowers in Tin Garden on the young (and as yet unnamed) Magnolia ‘Pickard’s Ruby’ x Magnolia ‘JC Williams’.
More flowers this year on the heavily pruned Magnolia sprengeri var. Diva (seedling) tree in Tin Garden. Definitely a sprengeri var. Diva flower shape.
Prunus campanulatus ‘Felix Jury’ now full out. A very special colour for a cherry. This ought to be much more widely grown.
The first ‘cabbage’ flower out on Magnolia ‘Felix Jury’. The other two plants in the garden are not yet showing colour.
Helwingia chinensis is a suckering, spreading shrub so we have put another beside the existing one. Note how much bigger the leaves are on the plant from the frames.
With the loss of the three huge beech trees at Higher Quarry Nursery the wind is battering the big leaf rhododendrons and they do not like it!
Magnolia ‘Plum Pudding’ now fully out. A small round headed shrub and not a big tree.
A white flowered Bergenia ‘Bressingham White’ by the front door peeping out. The last remnants of what once edged the border here.
2021 – CHW
For the record here are pictures of the 12 new bamboo species planted below the Old Kennels this week. We now have circa 35 species in the collection. If you find this all rather dull please skip on. The name changes which have occurred in recent years and reclassifications into other species makes this all quite a puzzle. It is hard to keep up with what one has always known and understood in the past which now all has to change.Indocalamus latifolius – a spreading species growing to 6ft eventually.
For the record here are pictures of the 12 new bamboo species planted below the Old Kennels this week. We now have circa 35 species in the collection. If you find this all rather dull please skip on. The name changes which have occurred in recent years and reclassifications into other species makes this all quite a puzzle. It is hard to keep up with what one has always known and understood in the past which now all has to change.Indocalamus latifolius – a spreading species growing to 6ft eventually.
Indocalamus tesselatus (Sasa tesselatus) – the largest leaves of all hardy bamboos. Grows to 6ft or so.
Chusquea culeou – ‘Foxtail Bamboo’ – let us hope it does not seed and die like Chusquea gigantea just has.
Fargesia nitida ‘Juizahaigou I’ or syn. ‘Red Panda’ – superb form of this species with reddish canes in spring and autumn.
Borinda scabrida (Fargesia robusta) – persistent white sheaths.
Thamnocalamus crassinodus – zigzags just starting at the base.
Borinda (Fargesia) frigida (syn. frigidorum) – not listed in Hilliers!
Phyllostachys aureosulcata ‘Spectabilis’ – yellow canes with a green band in the groove.
Phyllostachys viridi-glaucescens – green canes fading to dull yellowish green.
Phyllostachys bambusoides ‘Castellonii Inversa’ – green canes with a yellow groove.
Thamnocalamus crassinodus ‘Merlyn’ – small leaved form.
Phyllostachys aurea ‘Koi’ – golden yellow canes striped with bright green in the groove.
Growing high up on this bank, in time, the canes should be clearly visible. The clumps will also break up the wind a bit and help protect and offset all the tree magnolias above them. If they do spread alarmingly, as some will, it will not matter here.
Magnolia ‘Delia Williams’ is now out on the lawn. Much darker in bud than when fully open.
The huge flowers of Camellia reticulata ‘Lasca Beauty’ are just out.
Interesting bark on Vaccinum donaldianum which I had not noticed before.
Magnolia ‘F J Williams’ just out in the Auklandii Garden. No low-down flowers out as yet.
A good show on a youngish Rhododendron sulphureum.
Magnolia campbellii ‘Valentine’s Torch’ with the yellow glow just really on the opening bud. Many more flowers here than ever before and a real show today.
First flower on Magnolia zenii which is later than usual.
Despite having a few battered flowers out two to three weeks ago this (true) Magnolia ‘Lanarth’ is now really quite a show.
Rhododendron ‘Assaye’ just out above Crinodendron Hedge.
