The peculiar x Laburnocytisus ‘Adamii’.

A young clump of Azalea ‘Persil’ above Crinodendron Hedge. (1 of 3 dead).

And beside it an even better clump of Azalea ‘Silver Slipper’.

Podocarpus lawrencei ‘Purple King’ may have very dark old leaves but the new growth is delightful.

The peculiar Osteomeles subrotunda is about to flower profusely.

Rhododendron ‘Mrs Lionel de Rothschild’ is not flowering very much this year.

No idea of the name of this ancient clump of deciduous azaleas at the top end of Hovel Cart Road.

2024 – CHW
A Great Gardens meeting at the Minack Theatre near Lands End. With the roadworks on the A30 at Zelah nearly took a 2 hour trip to get there. The Minack are the latest addition to membership of the Great Gardens largely thanks to Claire Batten and Jeff Rowe from Penberth Plants who now manage this outstanding garden above and around the cliffside theatre itself. The garden is open to the public separately from the theatre and there are guided garden tours each day. The Minack hosts a National Collection of Aeoniums growing outside. Another National Collection is in the Wisely glasshouse. Extraordinary South African plants and Proteas which you might only normally see on Tresco.It was a foul day with a westerly gale and we got drenched and seasick trying to climb down the outside seating in the auditorium which is very steep. The meeting room at the very bottom of course.

A wall of Lampranthus.

Drosanthemum candens.

Here is most of the Aeonium collection which survived the snow and endless rain of the winter and spring. Not everything made it.

Aeonium ‘Phoenix Flame’

Aeonium ‘Du-Rozzen’.

Aeonium ‘Velour’.

Aeonium ‘Cornish Tribute’.

Aeonium ‘Pomegranate’.

Aeonium haworthii.

Aeonium ‘Schwarzkopf’.

Aeonium cuneatum.

Aeonium leucoblepharum

.

Aeonium ‘Merry Maiden’.

Aeonium arboreum.

Aeonium ciliatum.

Aeonium sedifolium.

Aeonium tabuliforme.

Aeonium ‘Torchbearer’.

Aeonium ‘Ballerina’.

After the 2 hour meeting the weather had calmed down a bit. Still plenty of salt spray.

Xeronema callistemon (Poor Knights Lily) in full flower outside in May. This is a plant which Burncoose used to stock and I have only ever seen it in flower once before. Here a huge clump with iris like leaves.

Lupinus lepidus is dwarfish growing and flowers in May. I saw it at Bonython but it thrives here.

Huge Leucadendron argenteum used to grow here but was killed in the 2018 Beast. The replacements are thriving all around.

This wonderful clump forming South Africa plant is Moraea huttonii. You could be forgiven for thinking it was an iris!

Polygala fruticosa ‘Africana’.

Erodium ‘Bishop’s Form’.

Melaleuca diosmifolia in full flower.

Crassula coccinea.

Erica cerinthoides – the heath from South African which Burncoose has sold on occasion.

Echium gentianoides was a startling blue.

Thymus citriodorus ‘Archer’s Gold’ covering a seating area. When you sit you get the scent or, today, a wet arse!

Aeonium canariense.

Metrosideros excelsa about to flower in the teeth of the wind.

The garden above the theatre.

2023 – CHW
I was invited as Chairman of the Great Gardens of Cornwall to formally open the new Court Garden at Trebah. A £400k project. The walled garden was once a tennis court and underneath the new gardens are ground heat source pumps supplying energy for the visitor centre. Around 60-70 people attended and Robert Dudley Cooke, Chairman of the Trebah Garden Charitable Trust, kicked the festivities off with a long speech. Mine was shorter and produced a few laughs at the account of a coach load of German tourists walking straight though an Arnhem veterans and US 29th Infantry (who set off from Trebah for D Day and Omaha Beach) outdoor memorial service at the bottom of Trebah garden some years ago. The ribbon cutting with garden shears was a failure and I had to resort to scissors.