26th May | The Garden Diary

Next Day > < Previous Day

CONTRIBUTORS:

FJW 1955-2007

CHW 2015-

JCW 1897-1939

CW 1940-1955

2024 – CHW

Paulownia kawakamii is still in full flower after Chelsea week but it has gone over quickly even in milder weather.

The bracts on our Cornus ‘Venus’, unlike the ones on the Chelsea show plant, are quickly becoming spotted with red.

Seeds have formed quickly on Acer stachyophyllum (BWJ 8101) planted in 2010 but now multi-stemmed with some dieback from dry summers.

This has to be a Photinia but no label and not in the master plan. Perhaps P. microphylla?

Cornus kousa var. chinensis ‘Xanthocarpa’ very sparsely bracted.

Large flowers and interesting new leaves on Crataegus cuneata which I do not remember flowering here before.

Crataegus ashei has very different and not hawthorn-like leaves.

Carpinus japonicus has very distinct long serrated leaves. Very attractive today but few flower tassels yet on this plant unlike the other nearby.

Magnolia ‘Anilou’ is a good yellow but not terribly floriferous as yet.

Carpinus henryana has equally serrated leaves but they are very different to C. japonicus when they first leaf up fully.

2023 – CHW
We provided some pictures for the attached article about George Forrest by Jo Woolf. It makes interesting reading.

2022 – CHW
We leave Paultons Square at 8am and are home by 12.30 in an easy journey.Jaimie has helped out again today.Our very own Cornus x elwinortonii ‘Venus’ is nowhere near as good as the one on the Chelsea stand.

The first grass cut in Kennel Close well underway leaving the daffodils to die down.

Cornus x rutgersensis ‘Stellar Pink’ just coming.

Deutzia longifolia now full out.

Deutzia calycosa ‘Dali’

Ash trees by Tin Garden not looking well. Ash dieback disease is starting here.

Eucalyptus crenulata out in flower.

Azalea ‘Rosebud’ did not quite make it in time for Chelsea.

The many tepalled Magnolia wilsonii (ex DJHC 98369).

2021 – CHW
Flowers again this year on Trachycarpus wagnerianus despite the trunk half blowing over last winter.

Another exceptional magnolia with blue flowers initially. Magnolia acuminata ‘Seiju’.

Azalea ‘Greenway’ sporting a few white flowers in its midst. Not that many evergreen azaleas seem to do this.

Azalea ‘Purple Triumph’ in the Rockery.

Rhododendron radicans with only a few flowers.

This Daphne bholua ‘Mary Rose’ was moved from a large pot in March and has re-established well with excellent new growth.

Flowers forming on Podocarpus matudae (male).

Magnolia ‘Southern Belle’ full out.

Magnolia acuminata ‘Blue Opal’ flowering for the first time. Two previous plants died.

2020 – CHW

Over the bank holiday weekend many emails about the Plant of the Decade success:‘much more distinguished than a tap on the shoulder from the president even though the BBC failed to acknowledge the democratic vote – typical’‘an accolade for Cornwall, Burncoose and Caerhays’

‘just ordered three!’

‘even my neighbour next door whose plant looks great – so much so that he sent me a photo – then he voted for it too!’

The RHS email (late on Saturday evening) to confirm the award (in case we had not heard yet!) and to permit us to use the RHS Plant of the Decade logo on our websites.

Julie found her birthday on Saturday interrupted by requests to update the websites with the news but it was all changed rather more speedily than the RHS themselves could manage.

For the record and posterity here are a selection of our pictures of Viburnum plicatum f. tomentosum ‘Kilimanjaro Sunrise’.

VIBURNUM plicatum 'Kilimanjaro Sunrise' — VIBURNUM plicatum ‘Kilimanjaro Sunrise’

I wonder if we will ever be told the numbers who voted for each of the 10 Plants of the Year? I wonder too if the RHS will actually make a presentation to us and the breeder at Chelsea 2021 or at some other RHS event? In 2015 we got a plaque and a nice bit of engraved glassware.

A greenhouse area trip.

A newly bought in Styrax hookeri yunnanensis flowering in the frames. I am doubtful as it looks nothing like our home grown Styrax hookeri which has been here since the 1920s.

new species of Maytenus – Maytenus magellanica arrived from Burncoose last week.

Parastyrax sp. Nova (15185) from Crûg was acquired last year. Very expensive indeed but it has made huge growth in a year.

Trevesia or Brassaiopis dumicola (KWJ12217) is possibly the most expensive smallish plant I have ever bought (£175!). Extraordinary and intricate leaves. I did see a Schefflera at Tregrehan with a similar leaf formation but not the nasty prickles on the stem which are like an Aralia or Zanthoxylum.

Zelkova abelicea with its unusual leaf formation. Planted out in the autumn. This is only a large shrub in the wild – Greece or Crete.

Sorbus dunnii from Roundabarrow nurseries – also planted November 2019.

Azalea ‘Fireball’. Wonderful dark new growth.

Still a few flowers on Magnolia ‘Peachy’.

And then a trip to look at newer plants in Kennel Close.

Ailanthus altissima ‘Purple Dragon’ still with purple new growth. Attractive!

Ehretia thrysiflora has purple new growth and leaves unlike any other Ehretia I have seen. I still wonder about this species which we grew from seed. We have however been given other plants under this name which are the same.

Ehretia macrophylla is more easily recognised as an Ehretia by its ‘raspy’ leaf. This was a gift from Windsor – John Anderson a year ago.

Zanthoxylum coreanum with buds coming and some good prickles!

Catalpa sechuanensis also has purple new growth and looks very like Catalpa x erubescens ‘Purpurea’ at present.

Paulownia kawakamii is now full out and flowering properly for the first time. Just the odd flower in previous years.

Sorbus gongashanica in flower.

Magnolia acuminata ‘Seiju’ with better flowers than a week or so ago.

Crataegus schraderiana is still not quite in flower. Attractive leaves.

Cornus ‘Venus’ has now developed a pink tinge.

Magnolia ‘Daybreak’ still has a few late flowers (much like ‘Peachy’).

Acer campbellii var. frangipanense with long flower tassels.

Sorbus wilsoniana with new growth and two flower heads.

More deer nibbling on a young Sorbus.

New growth on Quercus rugosa.

We need rain very badly and continue to water the spring plantings.

2019 – CHW

Time to catch up with the deciduous azaleas which are still out on the drive and elsewhere.

Azalea “Canon’s Double” is making a good show with plenty of flowers.

The double flowered yellow Azalea ‘Narcissiflorum’ is a huge clump overhanging the drive offset either side by forms of Azalea pontica.

Azalea ‘Hotspur Red’ is similar to ‘Royal Command’ but with an orange centre. This group were planted in 1999. Azalea ‘Royal Command’ was over a fortnight ago.

This very late flowering evergreen azalea in full shade below the Hovel has never had a name in my time here. Its leaves suggest an Azalea indica. When you look closely the flowers are more plentiful than with most indica varieties. However they are a good dark red and this is well worth Asia propagating if only to ensure the survival of this elderly clump.

There are about a dozen different very late flowering deciduous azaleas flowering by the Trevanion Holly. This is one of the best of them. The closest that I can come to naming them from the Galle azalea bible is that they are Rhododendron flammeum or Rhododendron bakeri hybrids. In so far as they were called anything my father referred to them as American azalea hybrids. If this (or similar US rhodo species) are the parents then this does make sense.

Rhododendron flammeum or Rhododendron bakeri hybrids

The next test may be to go and examine our (named) Ghent hybrid azaleas which I bought from a small Belgian grower in 2007. They may be small and slow growing but the flowers are spectacular and they ought to be more widely grown (one was over and one still to come out).

Azalea ‘Maja’ – nearly over

Azalea ‘Coccinea Grandiflora’ – raised before 1922

Azalea ‘Corneille’

Azalea ‘Merveille’

Azalea ‘Bartholo Lazzari’ – nearly over – raised in 1869

Azalea ‘Tower Darling’

Azalea ‘Rose de Flandre’

Azalea unnamed and a rogue in a larger group

Trying to look these up in the Galle book on azaleas is a nightmare! I can only confirm four as actually being listed as Ghent hybrids but there are hundreds listed.

This very late flowering clump of deciduous azaleas on Hovel Cart Road is seldom seen. White with an orange flash and pink highlights.

We labelled this one ‘Balzac’ on the Chelsea stand (pretty close from the reference books). It was Jim Trudgeon’s favourite deciduous azalea and responding badly to a cutting back 40 years ago where the cut back plants died. Those left are splendid today in a huge clump.

2018 – CHW
Heavy thundery downpours are doing wonders for the development of the new growth on the rhododendrons and encouraging new growth too on the leafless michelias and other evergreens after the ‘Beast’ had passed through in early March.After much head scratching I now have a book on cotoneaster species. This ancient plant has the odd berry remaining and large white flowers on last year’s stems of new growth. It is Cotoneaster microphyllus I think.

Azalea ‘Orangeade’ (or very close to the one in the Cox reference book anyway) at the bottom of Hovel Cart Road was Jim Trudgeon’s favourite. We have never been 100% certain of any name for this elderly clump which disliked being cut back and rebelled by dying so we have desisted.

Magnolia x wiesneri nicely out below Slip Rail and heavily scented. The plant is in almost full sun unlike the Burncoose plant which is in nearly full shade. Sun is needed for proper budding and flowering to its potential.

As the rain falls off into the Rockery. Then driven home by the thunder – the dogs do not like it.
Rhododendron radicans, one of the most dwarf and trailing species, is a shy flowerer.

Rhododendron ‘Barnaby Sunset’ is Rhododendron flavidum x Rhododendron Lady Roseberry Group. More the former than the latter. Entirely new to us – missed it for several years.

The wonderful Azalea indicum ‘Balsaminaeflorum’ with its covering of double orange flowers. Hopefully we have begun to propagate this ancient novelty now? Ask Asia.

Vaccinum urceolatum in flower – most peculiar flowers which look like seeds.

2017 – CHW
A few extra hours sleep and a morning of Chelsea paperwork before a quick trip around the garden to catch up.

Magnolia rostrata has the odd flower out high up. More to come and some over.

An elderly white Rhododendron decorum is full out but the pink form nearby is still in bud.

A nice young clump of three Rhododendron elliotii.

These are alongside a big laurel clearing undertaken while I have been away at Chelsea. Half a big old clump has been cut down to dig out and the nearby hedge is getting a good trimming. An old insignis trunk within the laurel has caught alight and is burning nicely. Plenty of potash in the air to fertilise the garden which still needs more rain.

Rhododendron ‘Lems Monarch’ which we cut for Chelsea is now full out. The nice red rims to the individual flowers fade as it opens fully.

Rhododendron loderi ‘Venus’ is out beside it but rather a shy flowerer here with flowers hidden away in the bush.

Magnolia ‘Porcelain Dove’ is now full out too.

The magnolia with huge buds in Kennel Close turns out to be Magnolia ‘Summer Solstice’. Label has vanished.

Aesculus woerlitzensis is nicely in flower. I do not think we have seen this out before. It is not in Hillier’s but referred to in passing in New Trees – no description.

Magnolia obovata ‘Pink Flush’ is out but has lost its ‘flush’ during Chelsea week. In bud as we left. Another few buds to come.

Rhododendron ‘Fabia’ (FCC form) is nice but I have seen it much darker in other forms. Distinguished by its large calyx. Three young plants about three to four years from planting.

Rhododendron ‘Yellow Petticoats’ is almost over. Cannot remember the breeding or origin of this one?

We had a cut vase of this Azalea ‘Vuyks Rosy Red’ on the stand at Chelsea which lasted well and opened up during the week.

2016 – CHW

Much excitement after our return home – groggy, exhausted and pissed off that Karol was unwell and unable to drive. Nevertheless 8pm for the BBC extravaganza – much to my surprise it is one of the key features of the one hour presentation and lasts about eight to ten minutes. They showed the bits filmed at Caerhays before the show, Joe and the interviews on the RCMG stand, finally at the end Monty Don with the Rhododendron sinogrande looking splendid and the digging of it at Caerhays and it going onto the lorry. All in all the best TV coverage Caerhays/Burncoose/rhododendrons could have wished for and a model of how to put your hands on real national coverage at an event like Chelsea with a good story. My ankles are unlikely to permit too many forays into the garden for a day or two and anyone who thought I might be sick of the sight of rhodos by now might well be correct.

2015 – CHW
Finally we get to the deciduous azaleas on the drive and a few conclusions are obvious:About a third are already over and a third are still in tight bud today. So I have missed plenty and must await plenty more.Many of the unnamed ones in huge clumps are very old (but still healthy) plants say 80 plus years old? My father had no idea of where they came from or the names despite a decade of research after he retired in our planting archive. Perhaps my great uncle (Charles Williams) bought these?

Azalea ‘Royal Command’ or ‘Golden Flare’

Very few bear any likeness to the relatively few varieties of well known deciduous azaleas available in the trade today. So I need help please from readers of this blog! Some of them are VERY FINE with several mixed colours, some are semi double in flower although this is irregular. It is a pity deciduous azaleas are such buggers to propagate from cuttings.The first one I come to is perhaps similar to what we had on the Chelsea stand as ‘Royal Command’ or ‘Golden Flare’.

Then a couple of newer (10 to 15 years) Millais plants.

Azalea mollis ‘Drim Oosthoek’

Azalea mollis ‘Apple Blossom’Rather pale single flowers and nothing special in comparison to the next huge clump beside the drive which looks pink from a distance but is full of much more intricate colours close up. In Galle’s book perhaps ‘Rère d’Amour’.

A delightful surprise – Exbury must have given Jaimie a plant of Rhododendron quinquefolium ‘Fire Arrows’. It is doing well. Very rare.

A side glance at Enkianthus deflexus now full out and with less of a purple tinge.

Next door is a fine clump of Magnolia sieboldii as on our Chelsea stand. Not all the flowers come out at once.

And on to one I planted which may or may not be a rather large flowered form of Azalea ‘Fireball’. It is in the shade so perhaps this explains the sparse and large flowers. Perhaps it is Glendoick’s ‘Crosswater Red’?

Beside it is rather a nice Cornus florida ‘Milky Way’ which enables one to see why it gets its name albeit only currently half out.

Then we get a yellow and pink deciduous azalea of some merit overhanging the drive.

I now attach a series of deciduous azalea pictures which are either red or orange or both. Some are outstandingly good but not a hint of a name to propagate them with. Can anyone help? Would anyone like to try to propagate these for us?

1990 – FJW
Rain absent again since May 15th. Drought may be the worst in catastrophe list.

1981 – FJW
Jim Trudgeon died.

1920 – JCW
Plenty of roses. The Azaleas are near their best. Zealanicum knocked out on Nov 15th frost. M wilsoni has been the best thing in the place. I found a Magnolia watsoni last night.

1917 – JCW
No roses off the wall excepting R hugnis. The azaleas are very good here, at the Hovel and in the Old Park. Standish’s Devonshire plants are the best rhodo’s we have. Zealanicum would be good but for the frost.

1915 – JCW
As in 1901,1905 and 1907. Azaleas good at their best by the Lomarias.

1907 – JCW
Much as in 1901.

1905 – JCW
Just as in 1901. A good lot of roses open. Meconopsis integrefolia has been out for two days.

1901 – JCW
One of the tree ferns three parts grown. Royali, Edgeworthi, Gibson, Dalhousi and Fortunei all well out. Auklandii nearly over. I have been moving some daffs, and picked nearly all the indoors seed. No sign of a waterlily flower. Eremurus open two kinds.