18th May | The Garden Diary

FJW 1955-2007

CHW 2015-

JCW 1897-1939

CW 1940-1955

2026 – CHW

Superman – aka Mr. Tim Penrose from Bowden Hostas who was picked up and chucked out of the show for producing an anti-RHS pamphlet. I suspect the RHS will see him in court! Quite a dramatic moment amid the celebrities.

Mr & Mrs Tim Smit with the pamphlet.

Our sponsors of many years – Guy & Julia Hands on the Burncoose stand.

Eve and Louisa who designed and created our superb stand.

Eve and Louisa with the team GROW, a Gurnsey based charity who run a garden centre for adults with learning difficulties. They helped with the stand for the last couple (of 6) days it took to erect.

Some spectacular floral art from Helen James Flowers.

The Queen with Raymond Everson.

Our gold medal!

2025 – CHW

We are actually now at Chelsea but you will have to wait until tomorrow to see the Burncoose stand.

The top grafted Sorbus reducta on the drive.

Enkianthus campanulatus ‘Hollandia’ just going over. E. divaricatus still not out. It is always the last species to flower.

Camellia japonica ‘Kitty’ was bred in 1955 in Alabama’s Azalea Glen Nursery. It really is the very last camellia with a good show.

Syringa tomentella just coming out. From Roundabarrow Nurseries.

Euonymus latifolius is shaping up to be a small tree. I could not remember the name of the small tree at Burncoose last week but I think that was the very similar (and rather more common) E. planipes. E. latifolius is a European species and well suited to exposure in the Isla Rose.

Berberis jamesiana flowering its heart out.

My favourite Crataegus – C. laevigata ‘Crimson Cloud’.

Rhododendron orbiculare – a good form but nearly dead.

Euonymus hamiltonianus ‘Popcorn’ about to flower profusely. The small tree has really picked up. It looked to be struggling for several years after planting.

8 cygnets have hatched off this year.

Swallows nesting at the beach café.

A wrens nest in a hole in a dead branch.

Jaimie has found a spectacular out of season fungus growing off the back of a dead Scots Pine. It might be Fuligo septica var. flava – a slime mold.

2024 – CHW
Considerably more progress at the Chelsea stand as you can see in these pictures.

Off to Chelsea tomorrow to catch up with the team. For the second day running I find something stunning and new in flower in the garden here to rival yesterday’s Buddleja speciosissima.

This is very close to Rhododendron virgatum I think on the corner of Burns Bank. I had not thought before about what it might be. It’s a very ancient plant.

Viburnum betulifolium on Sinogrande Walk.

Two Buddleia limatanea (a gift from Peter Moore) are thriving in the heat of Sinogrande Walk. We ought to grow this in numbers as it is a very fine species which makes a good rounded shrub. Another one for Asia’s list!

Yet more evidence of dying rhododendrons from previous droughts.

Rhododendron ‘Bobolink’.

Rhododendron ‘Yellow Petticoats’.

Rhododendron ‘Lemon Meringue’.

Still plenty of decent scented flowers on Michelia ‘Mixed up Miss’.

Deutzia longifolia – White Form in Tin Garden.

Deutzia calycosa ‘Dali’ now full out and very fine today.

Paulownia kawakamii just coming out but, for now, just on the lower branches and not high up.

Eucalyptus gregsoniana was only planted in 2021 but, today, its first rather spectacular white flowers at a young age. A hardy species apparently.

Crataegus laevigata ‘Paul’s Scarlet’ has been staked upright for the fourth time in 6 months.

Magnolia x wieseneri and Enkianthus campanulatus below Slip Rail.

2023 – CHW
5 different species of Eucalyptus to catch up with today in Kennel Close.Eucalyptus crenulata. Wonderful new growth but the old leaves look scruffy. A bushy habit and not yet a tree.

Eucalyptus delegatensis (ex Roundabarrow Nurseries) with a strange blue hue to its large leaves.

Eucalyptus gregsoniana (also Roundabarrow) with a fine set of new growth.

Quercus trojana just coming into leaf. A gift from the 2019 IDS visit here.

The sweetly scented Magnolia ‘Southern Belle’ (planted 2014) is out earlier than usual and with smaller flowers than usual as well. Normally this and the similar M. ‘Summer Solstice’ are out at the same time.

Juglans cinerea just into leaf.

Eucalyptus mannifera var. praecox (2014 planted). The trunk has peeled already but no flowers as yet.

Eucalyptus simonosii with plenty of buds and a wonderful trunk. 2014 planted also and flowering for several years. Lots of sap oozing from the trunk last summer in the drought which had me worried then. Looks fine now.

2022 – CHW

A decent half day of heavy rain.

A young Magnolia wilsonii just out in the Ririei Opening.

Cyclocarya paliuris with its first set of growth after planting. Formerly called Pterocarya paliuris. A medium sized tree with disc winged (rather than two winged) fruit.

Rhododendron ‘Jock’ and Rhododendron ‘Norfolk Candy’.

Embothrium lanceolatum ‘Norquinco’ and Photinia beauvardiana var. notabilis.

Rhododendron orbiculare and Rhododendron loderi.

Podocarpus wangii with its exquisite new growth.

Laburnocytisus ‘Adamii’ – with all the flowers shown close up.

Magnolia x wieseneri and Enkianthus campanulatus ‘Victoria’.

Enkianthus deflexus remains my favourite species with its huge flowers which are later into flower than most other species.

Philadelphus sericanthus just out.

2021 – CHW
Still a good late flower or two on Magnolia ‘Anne Leitner’.

Viburnum sieboldii now in flower. A large erect shrub at 15ft or so.

A young Azalea wadanum ‘Album’ flowering for the first time here. (This is yet another subspecies of R. reticulatum.)

First flower this year on Rhododendron lindleyi.

Michelia ‘Fairy Cream’ looking the best it ever has at 10-12ft.

Enkianthus cernuus recurvus with its flowers as the name implies.

Rhododendron ‘Goldsworth’s Yellow’ (or similar).

Rhododendron griffithianum full out – note the smooth bark.

This tree is Umbellularia californica as we quickly discovered crushing the leaves. Our other plant is a shrub with far more extended leaves although both quickly induce a headache and dizziness when crushed.

Another slightly different flower on Magnolia ‘Honey Liz’.

Rhododendron ‘Lemon Meringue’ just out.

Rhododendron ‘Ruby Hart’ – a wonderful dark red.

A nice dark form of Rhododendron reticulatum. Very different from the old plant in the Rockery. A very variable species colour wise.

Flower on low down branches of Plagianthus regius (Plagianthus betulinus). This smallish tree normally only flowers high up.

View 18th May 1897 – 2020