…brother’s things and thought we might like to keep and put on display his medals. There was also an album of photographs from 1981 showing the Queen Mother’s visit here…

…rare agricultural weed introduced from America in the 16th century. My guess is it actually grew from the bird seed on the bird table which was here until my mother…

…Group’ – replacements for the rust diseased plants of old which do not look too healthy either. Rhododendron ‘Cinnabarinum Group’ 2016 – CHW Mother always raved about a daffodil called…

…outside the Dining Room windows. Now an expanding clump. Narcissus ‘Tête-à-tête’ Narcissus ‘Tête-à-tête’ Lizzie’s ‘Honesty’ (Lunaria rediviva) from her mother’s garden in Cheshire has not died down for the winter….

…of Pam and her daughter on the lawn here. Pam had worked in the castle for many years since my mother’s time. I saw her here last at the 2019…

…out old family paperwork and this amusing 1972 invoice for my mother’s automatic triumph dolomite car has emerged. £1,500 for a car 50 or so years on makes you think…

…fly tipping fly tipping In 1981 the Queen Mother planted this magnolia seedling by Georges Hut. A Magnolia mollicomata x Magnolia sargentiana robusta seedling with more trace of the former…

…little. The.jardins-du-monde.be site has a picture of a yellowish azalea with this name but the colours are nothing like the orange tones of our plants. The Queen Mother’s 1984 planted…

…Rhododendron moupinense. Never seen this before. Rhododendron moupinense 2021 – CHW Sunny and still again.The Queen Mother’s 1981 planted Magnolia sargentiana var. robusta seedling. Magnolia sargentiana var. robusta seedling Camellia…

…lambs enjoying the sun having escaped from their mother under a gate. In 2001 it was they who were gated or killed (often unnecessarily) by a horrid disease. Today it…

…a Daphne bholua outside the front door early this morning. No wonder they are such hopeless mothers laying randomly like this rather than in a proper nest. egg in a…

…the original I remember. My mother adored the colour; Dad less so when she threatened to get wallpaper made in this sort of hue! Rhododendron niveum Rhododendron niveum Rhododendron niveum…

…Mouse’ Magnolia ‘Mighty Mouse’ Magnolia ‘Mighty Mouse’ Lizzie’s ‘Honesty’ (Lunaria annua) from her mother’s garden. It can be an annual or a biennial. Lizzie’s ‘Honesty’ (Lunaria annua) 2024 – CHW…

…of Rhododendron sutchuenense dotted about with varying colours so I guess that one is a survivor too. Charles 2019 – CHW The heatwave continues and the scented Rhododendrons smother the…

…£1m pub, ‘The Fox’, in Chipping Norton. Lizzie’s mum, Alice, aged nearly 92 is coming with Elke, her nurse, who also looked after my mother.Last night I saw three pigeons…

…the main walled garden. potting shed potting shed Viola hederacea – Australian violet in a greenhouse. Viola hederacea Viola hederacea ‘Mother-in-Laws Tongue’ – Sansevieria trifasciata in flower. Sansevieria trifasciata Impatiens…

…went to a nursery in brittany (Arven) and he has a few mother plants at the back. We’ve seen different species, all from seeds collected in China, some from the…

…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 –…

…today. Chestnuts late. Beech as Truro. Magnolias have been good. New plantings beginning to show their value. 1967 – FJW The Queen Mother visited the garden in pouring rain. 1949…

…‘Summer Snowflake’ and Rhododendron niveum. What a colour contrast! My mother always said Rh. niveum was suitable only as lavatory wallpaper but I never agreed. Gorgeous colour – gorgeous Chinese…