7th May

FJW 1955-2007

CHW 2015-

JCW 1897-1939

CW 1940-1955

2025 – CHW

No rain forecast for this week which is worrying. We missed what we were promised last week.

Brassaiopsis dumicola (KWJ 12217) with 2 new flowers.

Brassaiopsis mitis is still flowerless.

Roy Lancaster put up a small Chelsea stand years ago to show what was and wasn’t Enkianthus cernuus rubens. Just because its red it does not make it cernuus rubens as he demonstrated. This plant was bought as and is labelled as E. cernuus rubens in Kennel Close buts its incorrectly named. Nearly Enkianthus campanulatus ‘Hollandia’, but the flower shape is not quite right. The true E. cernuus has anthers and stamens which protrude below the bottom of the bell flower. The only species to do this and as photographed yesterday.

A newish clump of Azalea ‘Firework’ in Kennel Close.

Magnolia ‘Tranquillity’ which is so very similar to several others including M. ‘Honey Flower’ which we saw yesterday. A very slight pink flush at the base of the opening flower which fades to near white.

Paulownia kawakamii is not going to flower profusely this year. Just a few early flowers for now.

Magnolia ‘Coral Lake’ is not a plentiful flowerer.

Azalea ‘Fireball’ is another good new clump.

Azalea ‘Berryrose’ – ditto.

The double flowered but sterile Aesculus hippocastanum ‘Baumannii’ is excellent value.

Aesculus x bushii is not full out but I am suspicious as to whether it is correctly named. Perhaps the flower will vary more when fully open. Perhaps it is A. pavia which is one of the parents of A. x bushii?

As ever a totally new (to us) plant can really surprise when first seen. This is a superb variety which Burncoose needs to stock – Viburnum plicatum ‘Opening Day’. It came from Hedgehog Plants.

2024 – CHW
Not a single person to be seen in the garden on a glorious day with the scent of rhododendrons everywhere. Is woodland gardening now considered too colonial or unwoke to be of interest? In an early year like this there will not be much to see in a fortnight when the Chelsea Flower Show is then all over the BBC for a week and prompts people to think about their gardens.Acer pseudoplatanus ‘Brilliantissimum’ now in leaf below the tower.

Buddleja colvilei shooting from the base after being flattened by a fir branch. The two rhododendrons beside it are not looking so promising on the reshooting front.

The view below the 4-in-Hand and the Trewarthenick rhododendron hybrids performing well as usual.

First flowers on Rehderodendron macrocarpum beyond the Fernery.

A decent white flowered Rhododendron yunnanense to remember for cuttings below Hovel Cart Road.

Rhododendron’Mi Amor’ just out by George’s Hut. I forgot this yesterday on the ‘smellies’ tour.

Rhododendron ‘Moonstone’; a darker Exbury form than the one created here which I will photograph shortly.

Delighted to see Rhododendron rothschildii planted in 2010 finally performing. Beside it are Rhododendron eximiums which are very similar! (All bought in plants from Glendoick).

Our young replacement Schefflera macrophylla has started off well. Should we stake it to avoid another disaster? I think not!

I have again been too late to see Magnolia ‘Raven’ properly. Dwarf habit.

Magnolia ‘Flamingo’ still performing in Kennel Close.

Magnolia ‘Silk Road’ is another victim of cold or hail or wind while we were away. I doubt this plant will reshoot as all the new growth in like this.

Magnolia ‘First Love’ is new to us and certainly an unusual mix of colours (Area 27).

Magnolia ‘Illini Gold’ has been recommended as a very good yellow and indeed it is. Not pure yellow though. First time performer here (Area 27).

Crataegus chlorosarca flowering here for the first time and a very attractive species in flower it indeed is.

Rhododendron loderi ‘Pink Coral’ extends our range of named loderi forms.

As does Rhododendron ‘Helen’ which is, today, nearly over. So far all these new loderi plants are settling in well.

2023 – CHW
No coronation hangover and a gentle trip to look at new things. Another new plant to us and definitely one for Asia to propagate and Burncoose to sell is Olearia floribunda. Quite a show at a young age. It looks like a tree heather and comes from Tasmania. Growing now in the heat of the Isle Rose Plantation.

Carpinus betulus ‘Rockhampton Red’. It’s the autumn leaves which go red.

Malus ‘Comtesse de Paris’ is one of my favourites which I first saw on a stable wall at Llanover garden in Momouthshire.

Malus hupehensis without that many flowers this year. It needed restaking and that is probably the reason.

Trochodendron aralioides – Taiwanese Form – in full flower and impressive. Burncoose now stocks this form as well as the commoner one.

Rhododendron makinoi – narrow leaf form in the old Orchid House Nursery bed.

Rhododendron wallichii (EX 20583) which I do not remember flowering before.

Rhodendron smirnowii has flowered before.

Rhodendron orbiculare – at last a young plant with large leave like our original Forrest collected species (now long dead) above the Main Quarry.

2022 – CHW
The echiums have taken over in the Lower Rockery.

Swallows in the Gunroom.

Magnolia ‘Honey Liz’ has an excellent flower out in Kennel Close and more to come. (M. acuminata subsp. cordata ‘Miss Honeybee’ x M. ‘Elizabeth’).

Rhododendron luteiflorum full out.

First flowering of the double flowered Syringa vulgaris ‘Mme Antoine Buchner’ on Hovel Cart Road.

New things in Higher Quarry Nursery bed to go out next spring.

Rhododendron ‘Tibet’ (Rh. ‘Bismark’ x Rh. williamsianum) – five plants.

Rhododendron ‘Bow Jingles’ – three plants.

Rhododendron augustinii ‘Exbury Form’ – extremely large flowers – five plants.

Rhododendron decorum (5882) with unusual pink stripes at the back of each flower in the trusses. A totally different take on Rh. decorum.

Then to Kennel Close to see what is new and interesting.

First flowering of Sorbus yuana Clone 1 (Roundabarrow).

Ailanthus altissima ‘Purple Dragon’ – good name!

Carpinus heterophyllus ‘Quercifolia’ leafing up. Cannot trace this name in reference books?

Magnolia ‘Green Bee’ in bud and flower – just as good today as ‘Lois’?

Newly planted and new here is Viburnum ichangense.

Aesculus pavia ‘Atrosanguinea’ – a superb small growing tree.

First flowers out on Magnolia ‘Southern Belle’.

Impressive new growth on Abies spectabilis.

Populus wilsocarpa ‘Bolonii’ – I assume a cross between P. lasiocarpa (which it resembles) and P. wilsonii.

Magnolia ‘Maxine Merril’ is modest by comparison to other yellows.

Rhododendron kiusianum with the nice darker stripe in its clustered flowers. One to remember to propagate.

Rhododendron ovatum and its gorgeous new growth just out together.

2021 – CHW
A CASTANOPSIS hunt today. These are evergreen trees with (eventually) prickly fruits like those of a sweet chestnut.This 2008 planted tree is labelled Castanopsis chinensis. It is not evergreen as you would expect a Castanopsis to be. However, there is winter dieback again as the new growth struggles to come out 12-18” from the tips of last year’s twigs. The few old leaves on the ground do look like Castanopsis.

Next to it in slightly more wind exposure is Castanopsis sclerophylla (also 2008 planted). Also, leafless but with minimal dieback and its new growth is much further advanced. New Trees says that Castanopsis sclerophylla is better known by its synonym which is Castanopsis chinensis! So, the two plants may well be the same thing. In the US New Trees says C. sclerophylla has tolerated -9°C as an evergreen. Our plants may be rebelling against the cold east winds in February this year? It has been collected in China in broadleaved forests but at low altitudes of 200-1,000m above sea level.

This may explain the position of our two plants. New Trees (published 2009) says no trees in the UK then.

I now need to go and look at our fairly young Castanopsis sieboldii which came from Burncoose (via Sandeman Seeds in France as seedlings) and the nursery has had a few plants for sale since circa 2016/7. This certainly is an evergreen species with us as you can see.

To try to complete the Castanopsis collection here:This is apparently a veteran tree of Castanopsis orthacantha which Forrest collected in Yunnan (F26848 or F24758), so it is stated in New Trees although I have never heard this name before! We used to have Castanopsis cuspidata and Castanopsis concolor as veteran trees. I am never sure if this is cuspidata or another species. Philip Tregunna argued that we once had Castanopsis chrysophylla (today Chrysolepis chrysophylla) as a third species, but I have my doubts as this is a species originating from the USA rather than China.

This Castanopsis concolor was planted in 2001 and has tried unsuccessfully as yet to form prickly seedpods. A rabbit has had a go at the base of the trunk but could not get its teeth through the bark entirely.

View 7th May 1897 – 2020

The Garden Diary

A Cornish garden diary from Caerhays Estate over 100 years

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