…The new bench in the large greenhouse is complete and already full as the other benches get new insulation. new bench Rhus ‘Tiger Eyes’ with its developing autumn glow. Rhus…

…full of new growth and flowers. Agathosma pulchella Zanthoxylum piperitum with tiny yellowish flowers and dark coloured new growth. Zanthoxylum piperitum Stachyurus salicifolius ‘Fairy Tales’ now fully out in flower….

…before our eyes. Nature at its most barbaric. Magpies of course do this all the time to small birds nests so perhaps poetic justice. Sadly it was hailing at the…

…I need to compare this with D. purpurascens and the rather smaller flowered Deutzia ‘Dark Eyes’ which Burncoose sells. I have not yet begun to sort the newer deutzia species…

…pandemic. We all say goodbye and good luck to each other with very long faces and a tear or two in the eyes.Lockdown is coming nearer for all non-essential businesses….

…or so Acer palmatum varieties Merrilliopanax alpinus has been dormant over winter. Look at its extraordinary new leaves with dark brown upsides initially. Merrilliopanax alpinus Berberidopsis beckleri is the second…

…pink flowers. The third has much larger flowers opening dark pink as you can see. On 22nd July last year I photographed Camellia ‘Kitty’ with a flower. Today it is…

…also been more or less blasted away. Interesting to remember that we saw secondary (and darker) flowers on the same tree only last October. Magnolia denudata ‘Forrests Pink’ The Meliosma…

…yakushimanum ‘Koichiro Wada’ as their favourite. The president’s eyes say to me: ‘I haven’t really got time to introduce her to you, Charlie. Do you really mind?’. I smile and…

…28°C as we hit the second heatwave and real deaths now. Out best blue mophead hydrangeas shrivel before our eyes. blue mophead hydrangeas Clethra tomentosa ‘Cottondale’ now full out and…