Lapageria rosea now with a better show of flowers on this very old plant.

Fuchsia and the ancient Camellia sasanqua (white form) out together again!

Forsythia turning yellow then red by the gents loos.

Sorbus hupehensis (now Sorbus pseudohupehensis) with pinkish berries.

Sorbus hedlundii (KR 1810 A – best clone) with large fruits.

Stewartia x henryae glowing nicely as it always has here.

Stewartia monodelpha is even better. A far better show in Kennel Close this year than Stewartia rostrata which is normally the best autumn coloured species.

Just a few fruits this year on Malus prattii which are not quite ripe.

2020 – CHW
Lockdown Number 2 is now in place so back to making videos for the website. Today one about the possibly oldest five Camellia sasanqua in the country with Karol behind the camera. Unbelievably tedious and totally unnecessary in Cornwall where our COVID rate is now 47 per 100,000 of population. Way below that in the north of England where it is at 170 to 250 per 100,000 AND Cornwall has been heaving with visitors since 4th July when the last lockdown formally ended.

Guests in our holiday lets are (surprisingly) allowed to stay on if they wish under the rules rather than being sent home immediately.About 20 staff on furlough again here – marketing department, house staff, Vean staff etc but they can now work one (or more) days a week if we so wish and we can afford to pay them with no Vean or shooting income for a month (at least).

Camellia ‘Takinini’ full out by the Playhouse and an exceptional colour.

Work progressing well on the laurel hedge below Sinogrande Walk.

A few rogue flowers, as usual, on Azalea ‘Kirin’.

Ripe black myrtle berries cover the path. No wonder self-seeding everywhere is so rampant.

Acer palmatum ‘Sango-kaku’ now a true yellow and dropping.

2019 – CHW
One of our two Laburnocytisus adamii has blown out of the ground in last Friday night’s gale. Totally uprooted.

Photinia beuvardiana var. notabilis is now more or less ripe all over the tree. What a show. This is another new entry on the Burncoose website and Asia needs to collect and grow more of this splendid species.

An oak branch has hit our little new row of Camellia x williamsii ‘Les Jury’ taking out at least one of them. Planted last spring.

The gales have stripped the bark off a yew which we pollarded in the Isla Rose Plantation. It died and so did the two roses which we hoped to grow up it in the dry summer.

A fine Acer palmatum dissectum ‘Atropurpureum’ which I planted exactly where a larger old plant died some 30 years ago. My mother cut it down, dried it off and used it as a Christmas decoration all sprayed white. This one will hopefully have decade or two to go like this before it suffers a similar end.

2018 – CHW
A new batch of plants from Stervinou nurseries. Camellias and Polyspora mainly. Most are large enough to plant out immediately.

A large wasps nest appears to have fallen from an old beech tree.

Another fine autumn show from an Acer palmatum dissectum ‘Atropurpureum’.

A clump of three Enkianthus campanulatus ‘Wallaby’ in which two exhibit very different autumn colours. One is bright yellow while the smaller ‘runty’ plant has a reddish hue. Unusual or is one dying?

2017 – CHW
The clump of Rhododendron maddenii at Donkey Shoe had to be cut back as some branches had died off. Several layers moved elsewhere in the process which was unexpected.

Acer kawakamii (caudatifolium) is rotten at its base beside the drive. This fungal infection of the main stems is now a major threat to snake bark maples with several casualties here and at Burncoose.

Last few flowers on Hypericum lancasteri.

Unlike last year, loads of berries on Cotoneaster franchetti.