2025 – CHW
To Tregothnan for a Great Gardens meeting.
In the estate office car park a wall of Camellia japonica ‘Imbricata’ or perhaps ‘Mathotiana Rosea’?
The meeting table was well decorated with flowers.
Viburnum plicatum very fine in a vase.
An unknown rhododendron.
Three tree paeonies from the collection but no names!
Rhododendron ‘Manglesii’ is supposedly from the Rhododendron Barclayi Group. Since this is Rh. ‘Glory of Penjerrick’ x Rh. thomsonii. I have my doubts. Where the red has vanished to?
An unnamed vase of late flowering camellia.
Just outside Ruan Lanihorne I stop and photograph a Syringa vulgaris which I think may well be ‘Madame Antoine Buchner’. This has pinkish/ red buds but too far out here to be certain of the identification. A huge shrub growing in a hedgerow in the middle of nowhere.
My favourite Icelandic poppies on the drive here.
Vaccinium urceolatum in flower in the Rockery.
2024 – CHW
I still have no name for this spectacular pale yellow deciduous azalea below Donkey Shoe.
I still have no name for this spectacular pale yellow deciduous azalea below Donkey Shoe.
Rhododendron hotei by George’s Hut has few flowers and is suffering from the last 2 years of drought. It may not survive.
Rhododendron loderi ‘King George’ and Acer palmatum ‘Linearilobum’ look good together.
A Tregrehan sourced Deutzia longifolia is just coming out. The bark on last year’s new growth is very attractive. I had not taken this in before and clearly we need to cut this plant back regularly to encourage this regrowth.
Azalea ‘Barthold Lazzer’ is the first of the 9 clumps of old fashioned Ghent azaleas to flower in Kennel Close. An attractive double flower.
Magnolia ‘Southern Belle’ is just out but again lots of damage to the new growth as you can see here. Magnolia ‘Summer Solstice’ is showing colour nearby. Both these magnolias are a fortnight earlier than in most years. We have had this in flower on our Chelsea stands in the recent past.
A young Abies spectabilis with excellent new growth. The cones on this species are quite spectacular. Seen at Tregothnan over the years.
Rhododendron ‘Beauty of Littleworth’ full out by George’s Hut. This is a Rhododendron griffithianum hybrid.
Over the bank holiday weekend a large oak tree has gone down below the Fernery. A big pile of mess but it is not in the garden area and not very visible.
2023 – CHW
Rhododendron ‘Dr. Stocker’ on the Burncoose drive. This has died out here.
Rhododendron ‘Conroy’ and Rhododendron neriiflorum looking good together.
Rhododendron neriiflorum also on the Burncoose drive.
I am unsure of the name of this evergreen azalea. A bit like ‘Gumpo’ but not quite.
Carpinus fangiana flowering properly for the first time here. The flower tassels will get larger with age. A superb plant and perhaps the best of the Carpinus species? Close running with C. rankanensis? The jury is still out.
Rhododendron xanthocodon at Burncoose – a young plant doing well.
Caerhays lost two Wollemi pines in cold spells after planting. The Burncoose one isn’t looking great after roe deer antler rubbing on its trunk but it is still going.
A recently planted Magnolia tamaulipana with similar roe deer damage nearby. It should have had a wire netting surround.
Bluebells amazing at Burncoose as ever on a Friends of Burncoose tour for 25 tonight.
Three or four years on from planting Magnolia ( manglietia ) insignis is growing well.
A young Rhododendron zaleucum which I have not seen flowering before at Burncoose.
Rhododendron williamsianum x Rhododendron callimorphum (never named or registered ) looking splendid on Burncoose drive. A JCW hybrid
Acanthus sennii dead to ground level after the December frost but has revived in the nursery.
2022 – CHW
The rhododendrons are flopping in the heat and going over quickly now. I also see that the two orchids I spotted and photographed opposite the entrance to Gargus Farm have been dug up and pinched. A particularly foolish thing to pinch since they will very probably die.A garden tour with members of the Maple Society.Yet more female flower cones, a second crop, appearing on Araucaria bidwillii. The mature cones are starting to look yellow and appear ripe.
The rhododendrons are flopping in the heat and going over quickly now. I also see that the two orchids I spotted and photographed opposite the entrance to Gargus Farm have been dug up and pinched. A particularly foolish thing to pinch since they will very probably die.A garden tour with members of the Maple Society.Yet more female flower cones, a second crop, appearing on Araucaria bidwillii. The mature cones are starting to look yellow and appear ripe.
Our Acer carpinifolium is a female form. Highly promiscuous so the seed are unlikely to come true.
Female flowers now evident on Juglans ailanthifolia. The male catkins which we saw a week ago are now dropping having shed their pollen. I was right that the female flower heads are red!
Acer truncatum var. barbinerve with unusual upright seedpods.
Plenty of flower on Acer campestre in Old Park.
A new plant in the nursery which I had never seen – Zabelia triflora. An Abelia-like plant which makes a similarly erect shrub. Very scented say the reference books but I missed this. Introduced from the Himalayas in 1847, AM 1959, but little known today.
Celastrus orbiculatus in flower which I had not noticed before.
Rhododendron ‘Hachmann’s Charmant’
Rhododendron ‘Hackmann’s Metallica’
2021 – CHW
The Primula candelabra clump beside our new rhododendron planting is expanding.
The Primula candelabra clump beside our new rhododendron planting is expanding.
A young Enkianthus deflexus (APA 112 C31 027064) is pictured here. The flowers do not have the purple veining I would expect from this species? Perhaps they are in fact Enkianthus chinensis or perhaps the veining will show up later as the flowers develop?
Magnolia ‘Judy Zuk’ is improving with age. These flowers are far more like the flowers I first saw at Antony Woodland Garden several years ago.
The first of the Rhododendron royalii hybrids out by Georges Hut.
Acer pseudoplatanus ‘Brilliantissimum’ at its very best in leaf.
Litsea glauca with its new growth. The old tree died, and root suckers have grown up as a clump.
Neolitsea aff. polycarpa with rather different coloured new growth (albeit suckering from the base).
Euphorbia stygiana is now 15ft tall as a tree. Attractive flowers.
A very late flower on Magnolia ‘Sweet Sixteen’ after its drought/cold dieback and pruning last year.
Enkianthus campanulatus ‘Vesta’ at its very best.
Enkianthus campanulatus ‘Venus’ beside it. ‘Victoria’ still not out properly.
Enkianthus campanulatus ‘Hollandia’ is also superb. The best one on the Enkianthus path today.
The very last flower this year on the 1897 planted Magnolia stellata (called Magnolia halleana then).
3 thoughts on “11th May”
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There are so many nice Australian plants (also called ‘New Holland plants) which are rarerly to see, partly because they have special exigences for climate and soil (phosphate poor).
The bulb-plant is indeed Veltheimia capensis, we call it mockingly ‘winter-rocket’ as it needs months to get the flower stalk out and in bloom.
I enjoy reading the garden diary as a keen horticulturalist and have found it to be informative on many an occasion. However, it has been ruined in recent times by its use as a conduit for political rant, none of which has anything to do with the garden and some of which will no doubt offend readers who have logged in to read about the garden not your political views. Perhaps you could start a separate diary for politics and keep the garden diary separate? Clearly, like many, you have lost out during this pandemic which is extremely unfortunate for you but sadly universal. I have been to Caerhays several times, bought Magnolias from there and am looking out of my window now at an Oxydendrum bought from Burncoose. However, on principle I will not be reading the diary again, nor purchasing or visiting as I have found some of your comments inappropriate, offensive, misguided and blatantly incorrect. This has not helped your business cause, at least from my end, and I am sure others would agree. Pity.
The photos marked “baptisia?” look like an ornamental oregano, e.g. rotundifolia