A wren’s nest in the old dog kennels made from the fibres on the nearby Gunnera stems.

A few deciduous azaleas are still just about in flower.

Azalea ‘Fireball’.

Azalea ‘Narcissiflorum’ is an old favourite and an unusual double yellow that has responded well to being cut back.

Quite close to Azalea ‘Klondyke’ but not quite – another of our unnamed old plants.

Azalea ‘Cannon’s Double’ – planted in 2009 and featured in this year’s Chelsea stand.

Azalea ‘Homebush’ – one of the oldest varieties.

Azalea ‘Hotspur Red’ – performing well.

Rhododendron ‘Tally Ho’ just about full out.

2024 – CHW
Schefflera macrophylla with new growth.

A Calycanthus floridus planted last year is deado!

Aextoxicon punctatum has gorgeous light brown growth.

This rhododendron failed to reshoot after pruning and the digger has just removed the stump and roots.

Rhododendron ‘Royal Flush’ – yellow form hidden away behind the largest Quercus acuta.

A mature Acer with upright flowers that I do not recognise and have not noticed flowering before.

One of the two Rosa roxburghii cut back recently is only reshooting rather sparsely/ timidly.

The Rhododendron ‘Michael’s Pride’ opposite it is, however, looking healthy and well after its haircut.

Michelia doltsopa was leafless after flowering but you would not know that now.

New growth on Rhododendron sinofalconeri. The flowers we saw pre-Chelsea are just now over.

2023 – CHW
A cuckoo squawking all morning. We could do with a days rain! Big wedding yesterday in Beach Meadow.In my absence at Chelsea Jaimie, Michael, and the team have done a fantastic job hard pruning all the hydrangeas on the drive which had started to intrude too far onto the tarmac. The telehandler from the farm quickly moved the large piles of debris blocking the drive and straight onto the fire.

Lonicera setifera nicely out on Burns Bank. Not a great species compared to some others.

Sorbus folgneri ‘Emiel’ outstanding on the drive. On our Chelsea stand but no flowers showing there.

Carpinus betulus with seed heads forming nearby. A good crop.

Rhododendron ‘Fantasia’ at its absolute best.

First flowers that I have seen on Acer sikkimense (WJC 13574) at Donkey Shoe.

Rhododendron excellens (C&H 7180) perfect today as well.

In my absence Paulownia kawakamii has become as splendid as expected although its best show is now nearly over.

2022 – CHW

Beatrice’s christening today.

She and Isla descend the stairs in their finery.

Neil and a rather grumpy Lamorna. Grumpy not because this is not her christening but because she has a cold after her MMR jabs.

Here we are at the font in St Michael’s church with, as ever, the Rev. Warner in attendance. He became vicar at Caerhays in 1973 and christened both my children.

The godparents.

2021 – CHW
A Great Gardens of Cornwall meeting at Tremenheere and then a two hour garden tour with Neil Armstrong. This may be widely known as a sculpture park but it is also a collection of 2,500 species of plants accumulated in only 24 years. The property was sold by the St Aubyns in 1294! Mr Tremenheere was a campaigner for social justice (children in tin mines) and education reform in the mid-19th century. The last owner to bear this name.The collection of tender ferns, palms, bananas and agave etc gives Tresco a run for its money in and above an extremely sheltered south facing Cornish valley overlooking St Michaels Mount. Having not been for some years I was flabbergasted at the development of the garden. It IS a really great garden even without the extraordinary sculptures. An amazing achievement as a garden and, now, as a thriving business. Plant labelling non-existent at present which is a pity but this will come with time and the National Trust are hardly exemplars of this! (Far worse in fact because their ‘wokeness’ involves education only about slavery and colonialism and they have sacked everyone who actually knew anything about plant history and plant naming.)Above the main car park at Tremenheere.

Views of palms, cycads, bananas and the odd magnolia.

Pinus montezuma untouched by frost.

The evergreen Acer oblongifolium with attractive new growth. It struggles here and will not make anything like this.

Schefflera bodinieri – just one of a huge collection of schefflera. Many collected by Neil himself in Taiwan and Vietnam.

Schefflera delavayi already a small tree with ripening racemes of seeds. We can see what to expect from ours but this was growing in full shade by a stream.

Persea bracteata with red new growth – again in full shade.

Fatsia polycarpa at 15-20ft tall. Very variable in leaf form.

Cyathea medullaris growing away quite happily in the only garden in mainland Cornwall apart perhaps from Trebah or Robert Dudley-Cooke’s garden in St Mawes. We saw this in a similar state of wellbeing in SW Ireland.

Telopea speciosa (perhaps Telopea speciossima?) in full flower. It lived for a bit here in the heat of Burns Bank but never flowered.

An unknown banana in flower.

Neil sets fire to his Xanthorrhoea glauca to avoid the stems getting top heavy with old leaves and snapping off in the wind.

Aeonium arboreum (?) in flower. Again too many species on view to be certain of the correct name.

A newly erected sculpture which overloaded the telehandler.

Agave ovalifolia which looked very appealing as a plant to sell.

Neil with his 20 year old Butia odorata avenue.

Magnolia fordiana in bud.

Trachycarpus princeps which I have seen at Ventnor.

A young Rhodoleia championii with rabbit protection. Taiwanese I think.

Magnolia tripetala in flower.

A view over the Butia odorata avenue.

Agathis australis doing well with female flower cones. We have never seen this yet on our tree which is much the same size but not in as hot a spot as this or in well drained ground.

A fine clump of Wachendorfia thyrsiflora in flower by Tremenheere’s lockdown wedding venue site.

The ‘Twilight in Cornwall’ sculpture with the Great Gardens representatives designed by James Turrell in 2015. Basically you look through a hole in the roof in the three phases of twilight which the eye and brain will see. Impressive even in daylight!

Pittosporum dallii which used to grow here. This one in full sun and fully exposed to the wind.

Podocarpus elongatus ‘Blue Chip’ growing (unlike ours) in a windy position.

The long line of Restios overlooks the coastline. We seldom think of South African Restios (grasses) growing in the open in the teeth of the wind. We tend to plant them by water which is completely wrong in nature!

Metrosideros umbellata can take all the wind and salt spray that can be thrown at it but probably not too much frost. We need to try this again here in the garden here.

A ‘brutal’ sculpture which I thought looked like a cattle crush for camels! Fortunately Tregothnan’s representative made a ruder comment.