2022 – CHW

First of May today and Rhododendron ‘May Day’ just out on time. Cuckoo in full voice near the top lodge. The scent of rhodos everywhere on a coldish but sunny day with no wind. We need rain in the next week or there will be casualties in the spring planting. It is turning into a good rhododendron year and a very early one here. Much talk of frosts upcountry.

The first of the ancient mixed group of Azalea indicum near the top lodge just into flower.

Wonderful violets in the St Michael Caerhays churchyard where we were for the AGM of the Parochial Church Council (10 of us anyway). The lovely retired vicar is still covid averse but we finally agreed one full service a month with or without him officiating himself rather than Rev. Warner. The indecision has carried on for months and the church was well packed at Easter. The church roof may last another 10 to 20 years.

Rhododendron crassum out already. Chelsea chances – nil!

Rhododendron chapmanii now full out opposite.

Azalea ‘Caerhays Lavender’ with its flowers already obscuring the attractive yellow coloured new growth.

Rhododendron ‘Nancor’ in a similar state to crassum – another Chelsea ‘too soon’.

Rhododendron griersonianum (beside ‘May Day’ but one of May Day’s parents) still in tight bud.

Rhododendron davidsonianum ‘Caerhays Pink’ is a very good form of this variable species.

Merriliopanax alpinus (BSWJ 13939) with its extraordinary new growth – brown undersides to the emerging leaves.

Michelia x foggii ‘Jack Fogg’ now properly out a week from when we last looked.

Rhododendron ‘Beauty of Littleworth’ full out behind Georges Hut. A pre 1884 hybrid (FCC 1904) but still very well worth its place.

Rhododendron ‘Elizabeth’ and Rhododendron ‘Yellow Hammer’.

2021 – CHW
Tom Christian asked what the three slow growing conifers were by the greenhouse and hothead during his recent visit. I could not remember but, on checking, two are record trees of Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Lycopodiodes’. Hillers refer to this as a ‘medium sized bush’ whereas our veterans are 30-40ft tall trees. This tree was introduced from Japan in 1861 by Philipp von Siebold. Here they grow in full sun in hot, dry, and exposed south facing conditions with curious bunches of foliage. Certainly worth Asia propagating as both trees look well past their prime. I remember a fourth one blowing over by the greenhouse in the 1990 hurricane.

I investigated our other tree of Nothofagus dombeyi but it now has no branches below 20ft and no way of photographing the leaves properly. This is the trunk.

The new laundry is now being filled with holiday let furniture and linen. Justine and Ann are moving stuff into the store as Pheas finishes off the shelving ready for laundry on Tuesday.

The record sized clump of Rhododendron loderi ‘King George’ where it is virtually impossible to get a picture of the whole thing in flower without a drone.

Rhododendron floccigerum which is one of my favourite species. This form an excellent colour. We have another old plant of this species to layer this year below Donkey Shoe.

Rhododendron ‘Princess Alice’ at its best above the greenhouse.

Need to work out the names for these two (probably Wilson 50) evergreen azaleas above the greenhouse. The closest I can get for the slightly orangey one is Wilson 45+ ‘Tama no utena’ but it is not exact. Amazing that there still is not a full set of pictures on Google search!

Azalea ‘Melina’ is stunning as a tight clump.

Rhododendron ‘Temple Belle’, a williamsianum hybrid which we obtained as cuttings from just inside the gate of the Chinese garden at Werrington.

Magnolia ‘Hot Flush’ as good as I have ever seen it in flower.

Rhododendron aberconwayi just out.

2020 – CHW
Touching base with other members of the Great Gardens of Cornwall we think it unlikely that any gardens as such will be open much before July. The National Trust and those estate businesses with large parklands may be able to do something sooner and are planning as such.We would normally close the gardens and house on 20th June as we have done since 1992. The reasoning for this is that we are a spring garden with nothing much in flower after that.More importantly, it takes three months for the team to cut the grass (or trash as we call it) over 140 acres. Until this is done the woodland garden looks pretty unkempt. I suppose we could charge very little for a woodland walk but gearing up all the staff, labels etc for a week or two seems scarcely worth the effort and would have minimal impact on the revenues already lost. Once the beach is open again and the cliff walks that is more what families will want. With no tearoom or shop either due to social distancing and continuing restrictions on catering outlets is there any point? Even if ‘woodland walks’ are to be allowed soon.We are left with two years marketing costs for our spring season and only one year of income. So the undistributed garden leaflets and the Great Garden ones can be kept for 2021 to save the large printing and distribution costs. PR and social media stuff is on hold probably to Christmas and the marketing team will probably have to stay on furlough until the end of June while we decide on future revised business plans. The holiday lets and The Vean may eventually grab some summer bookings but our spring house and garden visitors are gone for this year.Guidance from English Heritage says that we should try to catch up with the opening days lost ‘if possible’ under our heritage scheme. It is not ‘possible’ to ask the plants to flower again before next spring so I guess that counts as ‘not possible’! How can you socially distance a house tour of 15 to 20 people anyway?I have just completed the 2021 proof for the next Burncoose Nurseries catalogue. 200+ new plant entries already. Completed two to three months earlier than usual but I had better not write the catalogue introduction until we know where all this ends up.Camellia ‘Mathotiana Alba’ is always one of the last camellias to have a decent show in May.

Quercus mongolica coming into leaf.

Fagus sylvatica ‘Bicolor Sartini’ especially attractive today. I had never seen it before just into leaf.

Crataegus wattiana is a new 2021 addition to the Burncoose catalogue. Large flower clusters. This species is thornless and quick growing.

Fagus sylvatica ‘Black Swan’ good too in the sun.

Salix moupinense (from Tom Hudson / Vietnam) is very different from Salix fargesii despite what the reference books say. I had not seen the catkins before standing upright on the stems.

Quercus x bushii ‘Seattle Trident’ – simply gorgeous new growth.

Magnolia ‘Ossie’s Yellow’ shaping up quite well.

Crataegus schraderiana is another new species which will be in the 2021 Burncoose catalogue. Just buds for now but interesting leaves with an odd silvery hue.

Deutzia x rosea ‘Yuki Cherry Blossom’ just out. Rounded habit so far.

Another small hedge pruning which would not have happened yet without lockdown. Some trimming up of lower branches on young trees nearby too. It is the small bits that make the difference to improving the shape for the future and giving more room for other things to thrive unobstructed.

This was Magnolia sprengeri ‘Copeland Court’ which was caught in early leaf by the 2018 Beast from the East. Starting to reshoot as I had hoped after two major cutbacks last year. I started with a handsaw but the real dieback needed a chainsaw.

Prunus pendula ‘Stellata’ hidden away but rather good today. I had thought it was a malus but it was properly labelled from 25 years ago. Not a plant I remember ever seeing in flower before. It would make a good new plant for the catalogue.

Azalea ‘Caerhays Lavender’ full out. You can hardly see the white new growth now.

Azalea ‘Black Hawk’ looking quite dazzling too.

Fiax baruminia according to the label. Possibly spelt wrong. No idea what it is and not in (even the new) Hillier’s. Very attractive yellow new growth.

2019 – CHW

Another day of garden tours and then off to Exbury.

Fallen flowers under Rhododendron keysii. The plant is 30 years old and has grossly over-flowered. I fear it will now die.

Viburnum prunifolium in full flower. When I photographed this in fruit last autumn I fear I photographed the wrong plant which was actually an Eleutherococcus.

Rhododendron ‘Graziella’ just coming into flower by Georges Hut – now on the Burncoose website.

At last a half decent flower on a young Rhododendron orbiculare. So many of the seedlings we have grown have very poor flowers in comparison to the original Forrest collection.

Then to David Lees’ former nursery near Lymington. The nursery has now closed and houses are being built but the garden is full of surprises.A Wisteria floribunda ‘Rosea’ looking perfect.

A hedging Mahonia in full flower with small leaves. Growing to 6-8ft with a similar spread. One to look up and stock ourselves.

Is this a Syringa species or not? A bushy small shrub with pinnate leaves and light mauve flowers in terminal clusters. Another one to identify.

2018 – CHW
These are an assortment of my father’s rhododendron hybrids. All are nice enough but nothing is outstanding or different enough to merit naming or registering. A lot of effort over 20 years to grow these from seed to flowering sized plants now consigned to obscurity!

This one is however a bit different! Jaimie’s cross of Rhododendron calophytum with Rhododendron ‘Titness Park’. An odd cross perhaps as ‘Titness Park’ is itself a Savill Garden calophytum cross. Rather good as it opens but fading to white. Worth naming?

A robin has nested and laid in one of our many new nest boxes only erected 10 days ago.

Magnolia x brooklynensis ‘Woodsman’ x ‘Pink Surprise’ is rather insipid above Crinodendron Hedge.

Another Magnolia ‘Yuchelia’, later out than the original and nearby.

Magnolia x brooklynensis ‘Black Beauty’ is very fine and black as it opens.

Another new one to us flowering for the first time; Magnolia ‘Ossie’s Yellow’, as yet nothing special.

A clump of the dwarfish Rhododendron tethropeplum which I had forgotten about.

Another two year old clump of Enkianthus serrulatus flowering for the first time.

Enkianthus campanulatus ‘Ruby Glow’ just out. Also a newly planted group and with loads of flower.

Then a big excitement. A new Enkianthus campanulatus variety called ‘Showy Lantern’ out for the first time. A clump of three plants above the greenhouse. Very good!

A daffodil clump still out on the day we say hooray for the start of outdoor sex!

2017 – CHW A day with Gerry and Louisa finalising the detailed Chelsea Flower Show plans and, more importantly, inspecting the plants themselves in the show tunnel. With such an early year in the garden and the rhododendrons full out three weeks earlier than normal it was with some trepidation and pessimism that I entered the main show tunnel.

I needn’t have worried! The show tunnel plants are in startlingly good order; glowing in leaf and with buds in all directions.

A beschorneria has a huge flowering spike which should be perfect in three weeks’ time.

Look at this huge jasmine. Our theme is ‘Plants as Pollinators’ and this is perfect. Only about half out.

Acers aplenty and look at the leaf colours.

The reddish new growth on this huge, rare Eriobotrya deflexa should be perfect too.

The trachelospermums are full of bud but Gerry and Louisa have moved them into the hottest part of the tunnel to bring them on more quickly.

Flowers coming on the actinidias.

This Cardiocrinum giganteum has a huge flowering spike. Can we get it in flower in time? With a warm fortnight perhaps.

The leaves on the Rheum palmatum for the stand are going to be perfect.

So is the tree fern!

The gunneras which have been inside look a bit weak and insipid still.But the huge ones outside do not! The leaves will double in size in the three weeks to show judging.

So it is under control for now but what will the weather bring? We will decide on what needs to go into the coldstore next week to hold it back. A frost could be disastrous but too much hot sun may mean we have to shift plants from the show tunnel outside and into the shade. Lots of work and lots of moving about in the next few days before the final decisions about what exactly goes onto the lorries!