30th May

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CONTRIBUTORS:

FJW 1955-2007

CHW 2015-

JCW 1897-1939

CW 1940-1955

2023 – CHW

To the greenhouses to look at the new acquisitions to plant out in the autumn and new things which Asia has propagated. Lots of treats in store and everything looking in very good order.

Maurice Foster’s gift of Hydrangea ‘Princess Diana’ hardly out yet. Odd leaves.

Malus trilobata with a tremendous flower and a very distinct leaf. Excellent species which I have never seen before and pride of place in the Kitchen Garden shortly.

Viburnum orientale in flower.

Prinsepia sinensis with a rather distinct leaf formation. We have one other species of Prinsepia.

Viburnum cassinoides is another good addition to the growing Viburnum collection – must be 40+ species now.

Maytenus magellanica is the second species of Maytenus here. Larger leaves!

Celtis tetrandra heralds the start of the new Celtis collection which I am concentrating on increasing. 3 new species to date. Interesting bark already.

Schisandra rubrifolia now visible on the top wall after a clear out of ivy and brambles a well as fuchsia pruning. I had not realised it had survived.

Schisandra rubriflora x S. grandiflora now similarly exposed. Cuttings for Asia here in due course.

Asia has successfully grown Tom Hudson’s (2785) Rhododendron yuefengense from seed and here a flower.

Raf Lennart’s gift of Magnolia figo var crassipes x (M. foveolata x M. laevifolia) with its first flower. Orange velvet on the new growth.

Magnolia opipara (also a gift from Raf this year) Formerly Michelia opipara from Yunnan. I have never even heard of this species.

Colutea arborescens from seed from Ventnor Botanics.

Boronia heterophylla not quite fully out yet. A useful stockplant to supply Burncoose.

Asia’s successful propagation of Camellia kissii from cuttings (ex Tregrehan).

Also Camellia parvilimba from RMC Group seed which arrived in Feb 2019.

Salix hylematica with its first red seed head or is it a flower? No trace of this species in Hilliers or IDS online. A tiny weeping species by the look of it. Let’s propagate.

2022 – CHW

Jaimie photographs a number of house martins taking mud for their nests from Porthluney carpark. Quite a long way to carry it back to under the castle battlements.

Magnolia globosa just into flower with one flower open. They go over speedily but over a few weeks.

One plant of Rhododendron excellens still in tight bud while its neighbour is nearly over.

Each week still brings another new magnolia flowering for the first time. This is the rather unremarkable Magnolia acuminata ‘Sleeping Beauty’. An erect tree and already 20ft tall before it performed – if you can call it that? The name sums it up.

Still decent flowers on Rhododendron ‘Moonstone’ a long while after I first photographed this clump.

Tom Hudson’s Meliosma species – unknown from N. Vietnam (TH 5092) with its unusual new growth. The old (evergreen) leaves have dropped but it looks healthy.

Magnolia wilsonii (ex DJHC 98369) now full out. We saw this last week.

Cercis canadensis ‘Flame’ has been out for several weeks but only on one branch unlike last year’s efforts which were rather better.

2021 – CHW
A warm and dry bank holiday weekend. An annoying brief power cut has upset the incubators, computers and camera systems.Only a very few plants of the Crinodendron hookerianum hedge as it once was remain. Even the replacements largely failed as the site is too cold and overshadowed today.

Tristaniopsis laurina into new growth one year on from planting. The one put out at Burncoose was squashed by a tree and the nursery plants shed a lot of leaf in the cold in tunnels this spring.

Further confirmation that the flowers of Halesia macgregorii are quite small and less standout than other species.

Interesting new growth on Nyssa leptophylla.

The double flowered and ancient Azalea ‘Narcissiflorum’ just out.

Syringa josikaea just showing too.

Mixed colours of aquilegia outside the old village school.

Azalea ‘Whitethroat’ full out on the drive.

Rhododendron (Azalea) kiusianum has very few flowers this year.

Jaimie has discovered that a (French) partridge has laid a clutch of 13 eggs near the greenhouses. The same pair roosted together in the shelter of the side door earlier in the spring cold and gales, I suspect, much to the dogs’ annoyance. Odd for them to be nesting in a woodland context but, not altogether stupid, if they are to have any chance of raising a successful brood. A one in a hundred chance sadly.

2020 – CHW
A visit to Burncoose reveals the drive now cleared of the fallen Turkey oak. Still a burn up of the twigs to complete.

It narrowly missed a large Magnolia sieboldii on the other side of the drive but skimmed an Azalea ‘Amoena’.

Magnolia ‘Charles Coates’ full out on the Burncoose drive nearby (Magnolia sieboldii x Magnolia tripetala).

My sister in law and niece line up for a bit of packing duty with Andrew as has been normal throughout lockdown.

An amazingly good Crinodendron hookerianum in Carnon Downs.

Rosa canina full out in the hedgerows by Treberrick. Pink and white forms. Good news that hedges cannot be cut in the summer nowadays except on roads.

I collected Indigofera himachalensis from the nursery today. Another novelty from Roundabarrow nurseries.

And Araucaria angustifolia – a new species to try if it is hardy enough? Araucaria bidwillii has survived but I have lost this species before.

Outstanding in the nursery today were:

Cornus kousa var. chinensis ‘China Girl’

Here are some leaf pictures of Tilia henryana to complete the Tilia leaf species photographs of a week or so ago.

Jaimie came across an 8in long baby grass snake.

These are apparently Mullein moth caterpillars or so Jaimie has identified them.

The widow of David Hunt kindly sends us back his files of tree recording here in 1988-9 which were useful for yesterday’s exploration of Photinia and Ilex species growing here with Tom Hudson. David died recently which we were sadly unaware of. I met David first at Trevarno looking at conifers. Thirty years ago he planned to rewrite Thurston’s 1930s book about trees growing in Cornish gardens and visited Burncoose to look at our monkey puzzles.

2019 – CHW
Pterostyrax corymbosa just coming out on Bond Street.

A huge clump of Rhododendron ‘Sappho’ in Forty Acres. Biggest clump in the UK perhaps? Absolutely perfect today.

2018 – CHW
A few new plants for the 2019 catalogue captured today in the nursery as the post-mortem of Chelsea is recorded in a meeting with plans for next year’s stand.

Rosa pomifera with its bluish green foliage and single pinkish flowers with white centres.

Rosa cantabrigrensis a species with yellow single flowers fading to white. Out early in the season for a rose species?

A new foxglove to Burncoose which may be a bit tender but rather pretty. Rehmannia elata with drooping flowers and trumpets with yellow spotted insides.

Salvia ‘Ost Friesland’ is a good low growing hardy salvia favoured by landscapers for mass plantings.

Fagus orientalis looks an interesting new species. Zigzag shaped new growth and large leaves.

2017 – CHW
After two overcast drizzly days a pleasant walk around the garden with Isla Rose, John and Katie.Schizophragma integrifolium on the top wall is full out over a month early. This plant has taken many years to get going but is now quite a sight. A month early.

The strange semi climbing rhus from Crug Farm which we have never been able to identify conclusively has grown well and is covered in flowers on an old yew trunk.

Rhododendron stamineum is full out in the main quarry. Honeysuckle like and rare. Other younger new clumps are not out yet.

The large buds on what is clearly Magnolia ‘Summer Solstice’ are now open in Kennel Close. Why are the buds and flowers so much larger than on the original?

The Magnolia ‘Daphne’ in Kennel Close is still looking good. The others on the Main Ride are well over.

Crataegus laevigata ‘Pauls Scarlet’ is very fine too but in need (again) of re-staking. I wonder why we never grew this here before?

Aesculus carnea ‘Briottii’ has a few flowers out but nearly over.

Aesculus chinensis is also out high up. There is another plant above the tree fern or so I thought. On closer inspection it is Aesculus wilsonii.

Magnolia x wiesneri is now full out below Kennel Close.

Abies koreana has a particularly fine set of blue cones this year.

Magnolia obovata has a flower at the top of the tree.

Rhododendron ‘Loch Levan’ – a new one to me and quite nice.

Aesculus flava. I am getting into an aesculus muddle and need to regroup and think this all through. Edwina has however helped me out.

2016 – CHW
I thought all of you who missed Chelsea and posterity might perhaps like to see:Pictures of the RHS Rhododendron, Camellia & Magnolia Group’s centenary stand. Pictures of Millais Nurseries’ centenary stand next to ours.

The garden has gone over and nearly finished in the ten days we have been at Chelsea or recovering quietly at home. The transformation in the garden in such a short space of time could not be greater. All of the rhodos featured on our Chelsea stand have gone fully over. Even the deciduous azaleas have flowered and finished in this brief spell – several without me even glimpsing them. The leaf is fully on the trees, young rooks and jackdaws have fledged and new growth is everywhere on the magnolias and rhodos. A few camellias persist notably the mathotianas and ‘Waterlily’. Thankfully Jaimie and Michael have sorted most of the rhododendron layering while we were away.

Rhododendron falconeri is out and nearly over in ten days.

A rather nice old red rhodo by the Acer griseum is the best thing at the top of the garden. Looks like an auklandii x thompsonii cross.

Rhododendron ‘Conroy’ is a delight but very tender and we have lost two groups of this at Burncoose. Actually this has to be an incorrect name on our planting plans as ‘Conroy’ is orange. It is a Millais hybrid which came in 2009.

Rhododendron ‘Rabatz’ (also from Millais) is not doing that well but a dark red.

Rhododendron edgeworthii – pink form – one survivor from three planted by Georges Hut. Looks quite like our own hybrid, ‘Berts Own’.

A newish Enkianthus campanulatus ‘Palibini’ is plastered in flower although I am not certain of the naming here below Donkey Shoe. We have several ‘versions’ of this.

Viburnum rhytidophyllum is flowering in full shade by Higher Quarry Nursery. This is better than I have ever seen this dullish species perform before. You could almost like it despite the nasty fragrance.

The ancient huge wisteria by the playhouse is just going over. Hardly out pre Chelsea.

Here is my nephew George Williams with his girlfriend Sophie and the wisteria. Bank holiday fragrance and romance all around! (Rather a silly hat!)

2015 – CHW

The joy of being quiet and having time to think after two happy (part) days at Burncoose celebrating with the staff with a little pink fizz (36 bottles for 24). No London traffic or weekend wedding celebration noise into the evening/night. Total quiet and a start to thinking about our 2016 catalogue. Karol (grumpy) and I photographed 26 plants yesterday as new entries to the 2016 catalogue but that is only the start of it (we will have 200 plus). Now to set in motion the cuttings/seed propagation plans for Asia’s summer here. What a joy to have a full time propagator at Caerhays running the greenhouse and supplying Burncoose with new stuff. An expensive luxury which the garden desperately needs not least to keep the catalogue full of new things. Asia has spent at least six years at Burncoose doing similar work with Louisa (whose brother was a Scottish Labour MP before the election wipeout of Labour in Scotland) but is a bit worried up by the new and exciting challenge. So to lists for seeds and cuttings. We will start enkianthus cuttings and ‘smellie’ rhododendrons in about a fortnight if the weather stays hot to harden the new growth.

So, given plenty of time, my thoughts and research turn to azaleas. The authoritative (and very dull) reference book is written by a Fred C Galle. More pictures and less obscure Japanese names would be great.

How many times is one asked ‘are azaleas all rhododendrons or the other way around?’. I suspect that like many (purporting to be) woodland gardeners I have never understood the reality of the question or the answer. My father gave up on Galle and his handwritten notes in the reference tome are confused and irritated.

The answer is that ALL azaleas (evergreen and deciduous) are the product of hundreds of years of breeding from a relatively few species of deciduous and (even fewer) evergreen Chinese/Japanese rhododendron species. Rhododendron indicum (Japan) has resulted in many series of hybrids (Nakahari/Wilson 50 etc). Rhododendron species (deciduous) from China and USA are responsible for the breeding of all the main strains of the wonderful and hugely confusing deciduous azaleas which I have been picturing in the last week. Ghent azaleas, Knaphill azaleas, Exbury azaleas (plus loads of USA breeding). However they (deciduous) all go back to Rhododendron prinophyllum, Rhododendron mucronulatum, Rhododendron occidentale, Rhododendron mollis, Rhododendron vucosum etc etc.

Why was I so thick? It is an obvious answer when you think about it and entirely logical. Now for more research into Mr Galle’s book and the photographs and weird Japanese names. Happy days! Apologies for no photos today, so take a look at the deciduous or evergreen Azaleas you can buy from Burncoose, or just view the pictures on Caerhays of rhododendrons we have raised and bred.

1959 – FJW
A very dry May. The Azaleas well over.

1909 – JCW
Viburnum plicatum nearly at best, Auklandii’s over, Azaleas very good, Fortunei sweet scented good but passing. C montana rubra over, Dalhousi passing, Bardon over, sweet scented Soulangeana hybrids nice.

1905 – JCW
Viburnum plicatum, later Azaleas coming on, no outside seed picked yet. The Arums have begun to be good and Polystichums are at about their best. Laburnums some open.

1901 – JCW
We are now a few days ahead of last year, being perhaps four or five days later than the above.

1900 – JCW
Most of the Pink Thorn in flower. I have picked H Irving but it is hardly ripe. Edgeworthi and Dalhousi are very good. Eremuri are opening. Carmine pillar good.

1898 – JCW
Pink Thorns coming out well. I have picked most of H Irving and G Spur, some Tenby.

The Garden Diary

A Cornish garden diary from Caerhays Estate over 100 years

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