2025 – CHW
A heatwave is upon us – hopefully briefly.
Azalea ‘Caerhays Lavender’ on the Main Ride.
The first flower high up on Magnolia ‘Summer Solstice’.
Magnolia x foggii ‘Jack Fogg’.
The tree-like Viburnum prunifolium.
Azalea ‘Barthold Lazzer’.
Rhododendron luteiflorum – a dwarf species.
Our plant of Ilex perado subsp azorica (BSWJ 12526) is rather different to the plant seen recently in Roy Lancaster’s garden. Our plant has more spikes on the end of the leaves (and a berry). There is still confusion between Ilex perado and Ilex perado subsp. perado and subsp. azorica. The Ilex perado which I saw in Peter Cox’s garden is rather different in leaf to our large clumps here of what I suspect may be subsp. perado rather than just Ilex perado.
Rhododendron ovatum just coming out with the new growth.
Staphylea holocarpa at Burncoose. Looking at the flower shape I do not think that the Caerhays plant which we saw yesterday is correctly named.
An amazing Rhododendron lindleyi at Burncoose.
Magnolia ‘Judy Zuk’ at Burncoose near the conservatory.
Enkianthus campanulatus ‘Hollandia’ by the lawn at Burncoose.
2024 – CHW
A good display of scented rhododendrons and deciduous azaleas at the nursery entrance.
I had thought that we did not have any decent plants of Rhododendron giganteum but of course we do as they were seedlings grown by Jeremy Peter Hoblyn. What they are is Rhododendron protistum var. giganteum. The confusion in my mind comes from what we called Rh. giganteum in Orchid House Nursery which never looked well but did flower. It was eventually smothered by Berberidopsis corallina and died. When I look back the flower and leaf was that of Rhododendron magnificum. The two are not that much different. I do not think we currently have Rh. magnificum. Here are two of our 5 young plants.
Magnolia laevifolia ‘Summer ‘Solstice’ has flowers which open out flat. This puts it a cut above other named forms.
Rhododendron niveum every bit as good as what we saw in Northern Ireland last week.
Flower buds (usually single) on Illicium merrillianum (KWJ 12113).
New growth on Schefflera delavayi.
This newly planted Daphniphyllum aff. longeracemosum (BSWJ 11788) had lost all its leaves and I feared was dead. It now looks like reshooting.
Bronze new growth on Lithocarpus hancei.
A good young Rhododendron ‘May Day’.
Rhododendron griffithianum now full out.
My favourite Rhododendron floccigerum.
Two more Rhododendron protistum var. giganteum also planted in 2019.
Magnolia laevifolia ‘Fairy Cream’ now at its best.
Magnolia laevifolia ‘Kunming’ flowering for the first time that I have noticed.
Magnolia laevifolia ‘Gail’s Favourite’ – too small as yet to tell if this is any good.
Rhododendron glanduliferum.
Rhododendron ‘Tinkerbird’ – pinkish-red in bud opening white. Nicley scented but a sprawling habit. We have planted this out (from pots) twice at Burncoose but lost the plants to frost. The 3 plants here were grown on in a nursery bed before planting out. Planted 2019.
2023 – CHW
The newly planted Euonymus monbeigii with surprising and vigorous new growth and emerging flowers below it in Kennel Close.
Betula utilis ‘Forest Blush’ with large numbers of enormous catkins for the first time with us.
Fagus sylvatica ‘Bicolour Sartini’ very fine as the new growth emerges. The tree is making headway.
The first of the newly planted Crataegus species to flower. Crataegus induta. Nothing very different!
Magnolia ‘Ula’ is a new German bred, Ian Baldick cross, flowering here for the first time and, as yet, not that startling as you would expect in a first effort 2 years after planting. It is clearly a very late season flowerer and is far better in maturity as the pictures on the Lunaplant website show. Burncoose now stock this and we have no website pictures as yet so those will have to do for now.
Crataegus miuvacis has been in the ground for 6 years and now performing well but I do not remember and decent fruits as yet?
2022 – CHW
Juglans ailanthifolia with a crop of male catkins well behind the new growth which I have not seen before. We did see tiny reddish female flowers one year as I think I remember?
Magnolia ‘Daphne’ now full out but with the leaves much in evidence despite the lack of rain. This plant is in full sun and the leaf much further on than another two in partial shade.
Sorbus hedlundii (KR 1810A – best clone) just coming into leaf.
Still spectacular leaf colours on Tilia endochrysa.
Magnolia x brooklynensis ‘Stellar Acclaim’ in bud, partly and fully out to show the extreme colour changes. Quite good in bud but rather plain (and hardly yellow) when fully open. A lengthy flowering season though.
A very pale form of Rhododendron augustinii by Tin Garden and quite different to the one we looked at a couple of days ago on the drive.
Hairy leaves just emerging on what I believe is the Chinese form of Magnolia globosa.
Rhododendron ‘Hotei’ just out in a big clump by Georges Hut.
Rhododendron ‘Pink Pebble’ flowering better than for years after overhanging branches were removed. A Rh. williamsianum hybrid but not one of ours.
2021 – CHW
Rhododendron ‘Mrs Lionel de Rothschild’. Needs layering or propagating as we used to have a huge clump, and this is all that is left – one plant.
Rhododendron ‘Mrs Lionel de Rothschild’. Needs layering or propagating as we used to have a huge clump, and this is all that is left – one plant.
Down at Burncoose the diseased turkey oak by the tree fern has been tidily felled.
Honey fungus strikes one of these two Rhododendron bureavii. May is when you usually first see the problem of drooping leaves as here.
Staphylea holocarpa – the pure white form at Burncoose. Ours here are all pink or pinkish (Staphylea ‘Innocence’).
Tree surgery complete at The Copper House here around where the proposed new entrance will go in.
The wisteria on the top wall at Caerhays is suddenly out.
A young Rhododendron wallichii covered in flower.
Only one flower this year on Rhododendron smirnowii. Interesting new shoots.
My grandfather’s Rhododendron ‘May Day’ covered in flower.
on the 2nd may blog you mentioned “ULA new german bred hybrid”
ULA is an Ian Baldick cross
’19 Exbury Laurelia serrata is now put in its own genus Laureliopsis philippiana, it looks like a drooping Laurelia sempervirens. Fokiena (Chamaecyparis) hodginsii is indeed rare and needs like its look-alike Calocedrus macrolepis steadily damp soil and shelter from dry wind.
This indeed looks like Diospyros kaki which becomes a tall tree here (Rhine); the cv. Vainiglia (Vanilla), with smaller fruits, is slow growing and can be kept below 4 meters. Needs a long autunm to grow its fruits properly. Ripening of fruits possible inhouse.
’18 Litsea japonica looks clearly different in leaf from Neolitse sericea; this sp. has three paralell veins from the base and tomentose new leaves.
’16 Your Rh. augustinii is quite late in flower; I saw it flowering beginning of April in the Merian-Gardens at Basel, St. Jakob, in different colour-types and hybrids ( Rhodos in special soil there). The view over your flowering tree-garden is always magnificent. Greetings