19th November

FJ Williams Profile Picture
FJW 1955-2007
CH Williams Profile Picture
CHW 2015-
JC Williams Profile Picture
JCW 1897-1939
C Williams Profile Picture
CW 1940-1955


2023 – CHW

Another Storm Ciaran fallen acer tree which had gone unnoticed up until now. There was existing rot at the base of the tree so it was vulnerable. This was a 1991 planted tree and another very short lived acer.

fallen acer tree
fallen acer tree
fallen acer tree
fallen acer tree
Flowers on Camellia yunnanensis grown from RMCG seed (17099). A rounded bud and a large flower with 5 white petals. Our camellia species collection is growing nicely.
Camellia yunnanensis grown from RMCG seed (17099)
Camellia yunnanensis grown from RMCG seed (17099)
Camellia yunnanensis grown from RMCG seed (17099)
Camellia yunnanensis grown from RMCG seed (17099)
All the 3 other forms of Lapageria rosea are already over very early this year. However Lapageria rosea ‘Picotee’ is only now coming out.
All the 3 other forms of Lapageria rosea
All the 3 other forms of Lapageria rosea
Camellia x williamsii ‘Rosemary Williams’ well out into flower today. A good month early as is the norm for all camellias this autumn.
Camellia x williamsii ‘Rosemary Williams’
Camellia x williamsii ‘Rosemary Williams’
Camellia x williamsii ‘Rosemary Williams’
Camellia x williamsii ‘Rosemary Williams’
First flowers out a few days ago on the original pale flowered form of Camellia saluenensis. High up on the plant with some windblown flowers too.
Camellia saluenensis
Camellia saluenensis
Camellia saluenensis
Camellia saluenensis
The last flower on Zantedeschia aethiopica.
Zantedeschia aethiopica
Zantedeschia aethiopica

2022 – CHW
Caerhays Castle, in Cornwall, has won the inaugural Historic Houses Collections Award, sponsored by Dreweatts.
Official Photo - caerhays castle collections award courtenay smale
Caerhays Castle collections award – Courtenay Smale
The award was introduced to honour the creators, owners, curators, researchers, and conservators who preserve, augment, restore and interpret the beautiful and significant objects on show inside historic houses up and down the country, enabling the public to understand and enjoy them and the stories that they tell.
In its inaugural year, the award attracted an overwhelming number of entrants, spanning the full range of historic house contents – from furniture to fabrics, timepieces to Titians. It was the remarkable mineral collection recently discovered at Caerhays Castle in Cornwall, however, that stood out to the judges.
The Williams Caerhays Mineral collection is the product of generations of collecting by the Williams family, predominantly in the Gwennap parish of Cornwall. They were well established as highly successful mining managers by the early 1700s, living at Burncoose House, and subsequently at Scorrier House. John Williams senior (1753-1841) and his son, John Williams junior (1777-1849), were largely responsible for creating the superb mineral collections at those two residences in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
In 2008 Charles Williams, the current owner of Caerhays, met Courtenay Smale, a retired mining engineer and former President of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall and the Royal Institution of Cornwall, with a view to re-establishing a mineral display in the empty cabinets. This was aimed at enhancing the visitor experience as part of the House Tour. The painstaking task of reinstating a display and cataloguing was onerous, in that the minerals were secreted throughout the castle’s old kitchen, old vegetable room, wine cellar, smoking room, and slop room. They bore no identification labels or catalogue.However, the Williams family ploughed on and are committed to continuing the already established practice of publicising the mineral collection through exhibitions, lectures, research with learned societies, and articles through such vehicles as international publications and academia.Charles Williams, owner of Caerhays Castle, said: We are very proud of the mineral collection at Caerhays it is world class and completely unique, we would not have been able to achieve this without the help and guidance of the unbelievably knowledgeable Courtenay Smale. Probably 99% of the population have no idea what a mineral looks like, they have no idea it comes from a Cornish copper or tin mine, many of them have no idea of the history of Cornwall…so it sets the Williams family and the collection in context.”Courtenay Smale, author and curator, said: “I was first contacted by Charles Williams back in 2009, and it wasn’t until we started to search throughout the castle that the minerals started to reappear. I spent a considerable amount of time identifying the specimens and cataloguing them.”

2021 – CHW
Who could say that our hated and most invasive weed (Japanese knotweed – Fallopia japonica) does not actually have good autumn colour? Here on a hedge at Vose Farm.
Fallopia japonica
Fallopia japonica
Striking colour on a clump of pruned Azalea pontica on the drive.
Azalea pontica
Azalea pontica
Camellia sasanqua ‘Paradise Blush’ by Red Linney nearly full out.
Camellia sasanqua ‘Paradise Blush’
Camellia sasanqua ‘Paradise Blush’
Camellia sasanqua ‘Paradise Blush’
Camellia sasanqua ‘Paradise Blush’
Acer palmatum ‘Chisio’ turning nicely from green to red.
Acer palmatum ‘Chisio’
Acer palmatum ‘Chisio’
Acer palmatum ‘Chisio’
Acer palmatum ‘Chisio’
First few flowers out on Rhododendron nobleanum. Still rather pale as last year.
Rhododendron nobleanum
Rhododendron nobleanum
Acer campestre and Rhododendron schlippenbachii showing off together.
Acer campestre
Acer campestre
The unnamed Camellia x williamsii clump beside the drive is just out high up the bushes. A little later than last year? Need to check.
unnamed Camellia x williamsii
unnamed Camellia x williamsii

2020 – CHW

COVID creeps ever closer to Caerhays and Burncoose but we are actually no longer frightened and merely have the desire to carry on (if we can) regardless of how many children are sent home (unnecessarily) from school or the absurdities of ‘Test and Trace’ and all the three to five day delays in receiving the results. As testing gets better so more people have to isolate. The numbers of positive tests per 100,000 of population is increasing in Cornwall but we are no longer comparing ‘like with like’ as testing improves and increases. Outbreaks in schools/universities/factories distort the overall figures. The government is warming us up for more restrictions and Lockdown 3 in January. Turn off your app!

Survival of our businesses is now even more reliant on the strength and determination of our senior staff. They were brilliant in L1 and, now, the worm is turning whereby we no longer trust the truth of anything from the government propaganda machine. The Welsh, out of lockdown this week, are about as unsocially distanced as it is possible to be as I hear from Abergavenny. Trust and compliance with the rules is breaking down, and no surprises at that. The will to survive and preserve jobs and businesses runs deep but we will have to be terribly careful and have the sort of luck which I had two days ago!

Collected masses of ripe seed from Schefflera macrophylla in Forty Acres. This is not as good a form as the one which blew over recently near Georges Hut and has died but may yet reshoot from the base. The new growth does not have as good a brown velvety indumentum.

Also masses of seed collected from Zanthoxylum simulans also in the main clearing in Forty Acres (but none on the nearby Zanthoxylum piperitum which is much smaller growing). Strongly aromatic peppery smell.

Work at the Hovel progressing well.

2019 – CHW
Another sunny day. Perhaps the weather is on the turn after three very wet weeks? Styrax japonicus ‘Emerald Pagoda’ now leafless but with the seeds still hanging and one branch broken by the weight of the flowers or seeds.

Styrax japonicus ‘Emerald Pagoda’
Styrax japonicus ‘Emerald Pagoda’
Styrax japonicus ‘Emerald Pagoda’
Styrax japonicus ‘Emerald Pagoda’
Styrax japonicus ‘Emerald Pagoda’
Styrax japonicus ‘Emerald Pagoda’
Styrax hookeri below Slip Rail still in full leaf with ripe seeds now much larger than when we have picked them in recent years. More chance with these I think for Asia.
Styrax hookeri
Styrax hookeri
Styrax hookeri
Styrax hookeri
Styrax hookeri
Styrax hookeri
Magnolia (Manglietia) decidua looks evergreen today but will shed its leaves by Christmas. No sign of its first flower buds looking closely today.
Magnolia (Manglietia) decidua
Magnolia (Manglietia) decidua
Magnolia (Manglietia) decidua
Magnolia (Manglietia) decidua
Tilia kiusiana had a better show of yellow colouring last year. Blown away already at the top of the tree and mainly on the ground.
Tilia kiusiana
Tilia kiusiana
Tilia kiusiana
Tilia kiusiana
Magnolia obovata ‘Pink Flush’ with old growth leaves turning brown while the leaves on this year’s new growth remain green. An odd effect.
Magnolia obovata ‘Pink Flush’
Magnolia obovata ‘Pink Flush’
Magnolia obovata ‘Pink Flush’
Magnolia obovata ‘Pink Flush’
Liriodendron chinense just turning but much blown away here too unlike the show it was last year.
Liriodendron chinense
Liriodendron chinense
Liriodendron chinense
Liriodendron chinense

2018 – CHW
A Burncoose visit on a drab day but a quick trip around to see what was looking good.

Euonymus grandiflorus ‘Ruby Wine’ living up to its name with pink seed capsules. The best new autumn colour that I have seen for ages.

Euonymus grandiflorus ‘Ruby Wine’
Euonymus grandiflorus ‘Ruby Wine’
Euonymus grandiflorus ‘Ruby Wine’
Euonymus grandiflorus ‘Ruby Wine’
Euonymus grandiflorus ‘Ruby Wine’
Euonymus grandiflorus ‘Ruby Wine’
Cotoneaster ‘Skogholm’ looking very fine with its berries.
Cotoneaster ‘Skogholm’
Cotoneaster ‘Skogholm’
Gaultheria procumbens with particularly large red berries. Quite a sight!
Gaultheria procumbens
Gaultheria procumbens
Gaultheria procumbens
Gaultheria procumbens
Asterotrichion discolor – a new plant for the catalogue and in full flower. Not in any of my normal reference books. A tenderish shrub by the look of it.
Asterotrichion discolor
Asterotrichion discolor
Asterotrichion discolor
Asterotrichion discolor
Asterotrichion discolor
Asterotrichion discolor
Camellia ‘Desire’ full out in the cash point.
Camellia ‘Desire’
Camellia ‘Desire’
Lapageria rosea var. albiflora in full flower in a pot for planting out at Caerhays. Clare has grown or obtained this somehow but I still owe Tom Hudson a plant of the picotee form which grows on the wall here.
Lapageria rosea var. albiflora
Lapageria rosea var. albiflora
Lapageria rosea var. albiflora
Lapageria rosea var. albiflora

2017 – CHW
The granite trough outside the Marketing Office still has a fine display of osteospermum and Euryops chrysanthemoides (the African daisy) in mid/late November!
Euryops chrysanthemoides
Euryops chrysanthemoides
The last of the single pink Camellia sasanquas is full out in the sun outside the back yard.
Camellia sasanquas
Camellia sasanquas
Camellia sasanquas
Camellia sasanquas
Around the corner the first flower on the paler of the two Camellia saluenensis. Seldom have the two been out together!
Camellia saluenensis
Camellia saluenensis
This fuchsia might even be at its best today although now shedding flowers in the wind. Not a named one but hardy and vigorous after 40 years in situ.
fuchsia
fuchsia
fuchsia
fuchsia
Erica arborea in flower at the top of the rubus bank is intertwined with yellowing foliage on the long tendrils of new growth from the nearby wisteria.
Erica arborea
Erica arborea
Erica arborea
Erica arborea
The new shop is getting there but by no means finished yet.
new shop
new shop
new shop
new shop
new shop
new shop
Sarcococca hookeriana ‘Digyna’ with flower tassels not quite yet out beside the new shop. Quite a clump now from what was once, 40 years or so ago, a single plant in the corner of George Blandford’s old vegetable garden which once held pride and place here.
Sarcococca hookeriana ‘Digyna’
Sarcococca hookeriana ‘Digyna’
Sarcococca hookeriana ‘Digyna’
Sarcococca hookeriana ‘Digyna’

2016 – CHW
Enkianthus campanulatus ‘Wallaby’ is turning autumn yellow. A very dwarf growing variety which has yet to flower here. Needs more sun.
Enkianthus campanulatus ‘Wallaby’
Enkianthus campanulatus ‘Wallaby’

Another batch of Camellia sasanqua varieties is full out below the greenhouse. Here we have:‘Winters Toughie’ – a delicate light pink double which opens out flat.

Camellia ‘Winters Toughie’
Camellia ‘Winters Toughie’
Camellia ‘Winters Toughie’
Camellia ‘Winters Toughie’
‘Snow Flurry’ – a delicate initially anemone shaped double white seeming fully double when full out. Large flowers for a sasanqua.
Camellia ‘Snow Flurry’
Camellia ‘Snow Flurry’
Camellia ‘Snow Flurry’
Camellia ‘Snow Flurry’
Camellia ‘Snow Flurry’
Camellia ‘Snow Flurry’
‘Winters Joy’ – a semi-double medium pink.
Camellia ‘Winters Joy’
Camellia ‘Winters Joy’
Camellia ‘Winters Joy’
Camellia ‘Winters Joy’

Quite a nice show overall with four more varieties yet to perform. ‘Polar Ice’ is nearly out and seems very similar to ‘Snow Flurry’ except that it has a more drooping habit.Rubus ichangensis has tiny raspberries which I seem to be a bit too late for sadly. Large trailing trusses of fruit not all of which has yet ripened properly. Quite a nice climber for a wall none the less.

Rubus ichangensis
Rubus ichangensis
Rubus ichangensis
Rubus ichangensis
Rubus ichangensis
Rubus ichangensis

2015 – CHW
Work has started on the Nash arch on Battery Walk. This means we now have the pleasure of a portaloo and cabin in the Cutting. Dad keeps asking what it is doing there but, with Alzheimer’s, the question gets asked many times and the answer always forgotten. Typically, due to Natural England’s tardiness and obsession with ‘jobs for the boys’ rules, work has only now started at precisely the wrong time of the year.

PORTALOO and cabin
PORTALOO and cabin

1973 – FJW
Vase of November Pink in the house.

1932 – JCW
The best Sasanqua year I have seen. About 15 rhodo show bits of flowers of which Lutescens is the best.

1925 – JCW
C sasanqua has been fair, but a hard frost last night will finish them. Lapagerias remain the best as in 1918.

1918 – JCW
The old Sasanqua as good as it has ever been. Lapagerias fair, roses some, R decorum yet has flowers. Mucronulatum has a plant or two well out. Erica codonodes and darleyense show flower and so does Bob’s heath here and at Werrington, it is very nice and white.

1906 – JCW
C sasanqua good, lapagerias good, several daff with jonquil blood are up and a few others. Useful lot of roses now.