17th January

…first flower this year on Camellia x williamsii ‘Mary Phoebe Taylor’. Perhaps my favourite x williamsii variety? Camellia x williamsii ‘Mary Phoebe Taylor’ 2023 – CHW Cold North wind but…

6th May

…are untouched by the winter and in full flower already Granny’s bonnets – Aquilegia – my father’s favourite wild(ish) flower Euphorbia mellifera is about to come out. It’s a shrub…

1st May

…whole thing in flower without a drone. Rhododendron loderi ‘King George’ Rhododendron loderi ‘King George’ Rhododendron floccigerum which is one of my favourite species. This form an excellent colour. We…

4th May

…absolute favourite species – Rhododendron floccigerum. It is very variable in its forms but this is amazing! 2017 – CHW The first Magnolia sieboldii is full out in a hot…

3rd May

…beside it above Roger’s Quarry. Magnolia (Michelia) ‘Fairy Cream’ full out and Magnolia ‘Fairy White’ Magnolia (Michelia) ‘Fairy Cream’ I think Rhododendron floccigerum is my favourite Rhodo species. It’s the…

23rd May

…explaining how she prefers ‘floppy’ ones rather than the group’s choice of Rhododendron yakushimanum ‘Koichiro Wada’ as their favourite. The president’s eyes say to me: ‘I haven’t really got time…

21st May

…the public. My least favourite week of the year is finally over. Hooray! AND, if anyone else says you must have had such a wonderful time I will throttle them…

30th April

…woodland plants but Cardamine pentaphyllos on the drive was always a favourite of my mother’s. The white form seems to have died out beside the purple on the drive. 1998…

19th May

…here! Lord Sugar Lord Sugar A survivor from my mother’s gardening era is a small bed of Iris siberica ‘Snow Queen’. Iris siberica ‘Snow Queen’ And one of her favourite

18th May

…up. Laburnocytisus ‘Adamii’ Laburnocytisus ‘Adamii’ Laburnocytisus ‘Adamii’ Magnolia x wieseneri and Enkianthus campanulatus ‘Victoria’. Magnolia x wieseneri Enkianthus deflexus remains my favourite species with its huge flowers which are later…