2026 – CHW (images to follow)
Acer pseudoplatanus ‘’Brilliantissimum’ with flowers and pinkish new growth. This small growing tree was planted by my mother in the memory of Dr. Hugh Colson.
Deciduous azaleas in Old Park.
Neolitsea sericea (BSWJ 12789) at the end of Old Park.
Magnolia ‘Coral Lake’ – very late flowering.
Magnolia ‘Fairy Pink’ nearly over but still a good show.
A huge clump of Rhododendron loderi at the end of Old Park.
Magnolia acuminata ‘Philo Blue’ not quite out yet.
An unknown Betula at the end of Old Park with very distinct catkins.
Laburnum anagyroides ‘Yellow Rocket’ now in full flowering mode. A conical tree against a blue sky. Below White Styles.
Viburnum sargentii (BSWJ869) in flower – Elder-like.
Pinkish buds and flowers on Cotoneaster wilsonii.
Flowers out on Photinia beauverdiana var. notabilis below White Styles.
Rhododendron prunifolium by the 4-in-Hand.
2025 – CHW
A visit to Tresillian House and Garden.
The walled garden.
No idea what this is?
Red currants.
Clematis montana with just a hint of pink.
Clematis montana var. rubens growing in a pillar.
Forget-me-not in huge swathes.
Self-explanatory.
Cydonia oblonga.
2024 – CHW
To Ethy for an afternoon garden party in memory of Andrew Leslie who died at Christmas and had a family only funeral. A glorious day and plenty of time to have a good look at the garden. A great show for 20 years of work but it needs more external (laurel etc.) shelter belts.
Magnolia ‘Gold Star’ still in full flower at the entrance to Ethy Garden in partial shade.
To Ethy for an afternoon garden party in memory of Andrew Leslie who died at Christmas and had a family only funeral. A glorious day and plenty of time to have a good look at the garden. A great show for 20 years of work but it needs more external (laurel etc.) shelter belts.
Magnolia ‘Gold Star’ still in full flower at the entrance to Ethy Garden in partial shade.
Magnolia ‘Martha Joan Leslie’ was registered and named by Andrew after his (I think) granddaughter 14 years ago. I helped with the forms and the plant was then 10-12 feet tall. Andrew subsequently gave me a grafted plant but I need to ask Asia where this is planted? Anyway, today, ‘Martha Joan Leslie’ is a large tree and in full flower in early May. Impressive and a great legacy. I forgot the parentage of the deliberate cross which Andrew made.
An unnamed good red rhododendron – perhaps ‘Halfdan Lem’?
Exbucklandia populnea growing to 12-15 feet with no shelter at all. Incredible? We have lost it in shelter 3 times.
Rhododendron sinogrande (CWC 6336) – a good and unusual form.
New leaves on Carpinus polyneura.
Corokia buddleioides in flower and also in full exposure. 6-8 feet tall.
Buddleja salviifolia nicely out as ours is today below the tower on the lawn.
Even more incredible is Firmiana simplex at 15-20 feet again with no shelter to speak of. No leaves as yet. Ours is still 2-3 feet tall after a decade.
The pond at Ethy.
Athrotaxis laxifolia as labelled but there is debate as to whether this is in fact a naturally occurring hybrid between A. cupressoides and A. selaginoides. All 3 of these peculiar conifers originate from Tasmania.
Not quite Rhododendron ‘May Day’ (Werrington bred)?
A fine specimen of Orixa japonica but the flowers were over.
Magnolia x brooklynensis ‘Woodsman’ which has died at Caerhays and, more recently, at Burncoose.
We saw Helwingia chinensis as a fully deciduous 4-5 foot tall rounded shrub at Rowallane a week ago. Here it is a much taller evergreen shrub of 6-8 feet.
Betula ‘Grayswood’ only takes us so far with its true identity?
Prunus rufa with its lovely black striped bark is a rarity.
Ethy House facing south.
I now wonder if I was completely wrong about Ethy needing more wind protection!
2023 – CHW
To Anthony House for a Great Gardens meeting. Sir Richard Carew-Pole and Tremayne CP both present.
A freestanding but gnarled and ancient Wisteria sinensis over a pool.
Another free standing Wisteria not yet out.
Acer palmatum ‘Little Princess’.
A good bit of National Trust labelling. The label is actually a Magnolia stellata.
A wonderful Acer griseum with its bark nearly all peeled away.
Two features at the entrance to the National Trust bit of the garden.
Heavily pruned yew hedges after the recent filming here of ‘Alice in Wonderland’.
The base of the gigantic Ginkgo biloba.
Paeonia lutea var. ludlowii nicely in bud.
Perhaps Paeonia obovata var. alba?
Azara dentata looking very fine against a wall.
Olearia cheesemanii full out.
Female flowers on Holboellia coriacea.
2022 – CHW
Off to Old Park where I had noticed something new in flower for the first time. It turned out to be Lonicera involucrata with actually only the bracts showing as yet and not the yellow flowers.
We just felled the dead Malus hupehensis by the garden entrance which came as a seedling from Werrington. I was delighted to see two others flowering away above the top path in Old Park and another below the camellia piece which I had long forgotten. We need to collect and grow the fruits of this rare species. Short lived perhaps but one at Burncoose is still doing well. One for the new malus collection surely! Covered in flowers.
Magnolia ‘Champaign’ flowering for the first time here (it is spelt correctly!). A Magnolia x loebneri variety selected by Joe McDaniel of Illinois University. Another for the collection.
The three Fairy Michelias all just out together in a row.
Michelia ‘Fairy Blush’ – just out.
Michelia ‘Fairy Cream’ – full out and dropping.
Michelia ‘Fairy White’ – just a very few tail end flowers.
The full extent of the area for new planting in Old Park is now revealed.
A young Magnolia x brooklynensis ‘Titan’ with its first two flowers.
Cornus florida ‘Pluribracteata’ is flowering properly for the first time below the drive and above Bond Street. This was planted perhaps 35 years ago and has grown slowly and seldom flowered at all. The label is long lost and if I had featured it before I may have called it florida ‘Alba Plena’. It clearly has six or eight bracts in each flower and not just four. I have not seen this variety offered in the nursery trade for decades but it is (eventually) well worth growing.
Magnolia fraseri var. pyramidata is out already. This species which grew here in three long dead specimens used to flower in the mid/late summer. These were M. fraseri var. fraseri presumably?
New growth on Abies firma.
2021 – CHW
Another Magnolia ‘Woodsman’ x ‘Patriot’ above the greenhouse which I had forgotten. Just as blue as the other in bud.
Araucaria angustifolia was planted out in early March but the recent frost has done for it which, I suppose, is not unexpected. Araucaria bidwillii is untouched.
A young new clump of Enkianthus serrulatus flowering nicely.
Halesia macgregorii in flower. Fairly insignificant flowers which is a bit of a surprise for a Halesia. Perhaps they will develop?
First flowers on Rhododendron formosum which is (this year) later than most of the other ‘smellies’.
Rhododendron crassum just out in places with huge flowers.
Stachyurus salicifolius looking very fine.
Attractive new growth on a young Osmanthus yunnanensis.
