Ternstroemia aff. luteoflora (FMWJ 13360) has flowered and set seed but I have missed the flowers.

Deads from the earlier drought – Magnolia crassifolia.

Nearby Podocarpus brassii which was a gift from Tom Hudson.

Coprosma grandifolia in flower may not set the world alight but is certainly unusual. I suspect this will propagate easily from cuttings. Originally from Nicholas Locke.

Syringa x diversifolia suddenly in flower. I assume secondary flowers as this would normally be out in May.

2022 – CHW
A stormy night with perhaps half an inch of rain to stabilise the deaths in the garden. Steady, showery rain is much better than a downpour which runs off and does not sink in. No great improvement in many struggling plants as yet but they now have a better chance.

The dogs kill a polecat on their way to bed in the kennels in the inner backyard courtyard. All the fuss about reintroducing pine martens when polecats have done it all on their own. Until last year we never seen a pole cat here in my lifetime. Twice the size of a ferret. No wonder our rabbit population is so low with a brood of these in the garden. Mink have been eradicated for some time here, after many years of the escapees from the mink farm in St Austell. Now we have something even worse!

Susyn Andrews can now identify this ancient clump of Gaultheria hookeri or Vaccinium wardii with these pictures of the seed heads. Gaultheria I suspect. The ancient plant is half dead from the drought.

Acer palmatum ‘Senkaki’ ( ‘Sango-Kaku’ ) turning yellowish even earlier than usual.

A huge leaf blown off Aralia vietnamensis overnight.

Flower buds forming on Peumus boldus earlier than usual.

The original Lindera megaphylla has lost a large branch in the gale.

Plenty of fruit on Cornus kousa ‘Gold Star’.

Last few (large) flowers on a young Eucryphia x nymansensis ‘Nymansay’.

2021 – CHW
Rubus ichangensis just coming into flower. The fruits will be very late!

Seed heads on Magnolia cylindrica – not a common occurrence here.

Autumn tints on Acer henryi.

Most of the acorns have already dropped on Quercus lamellosa. These are still undersized and nowhere near ripe.

Flower tassels already visible on Stachyurus chinensis.

Rhododendron decorum still with flowers high up.

2020 – CHW
Fat rounded seeds on Styrax hookeri. Not many flowers this year but more seed than I expected.

Laburnocytisus adamii fell over last winter but was cut and stood up again. Some recent side shoots which I had nearly given up on.

A final flower on Magnolia virginiana ‘Satellite’. I have said that before!

The smooth grey-white bark on the original Magnolia salicifolia stands out in the early evening light. One branch is rotting on the inside and woodpeckers have been busy.

Another week on and more orange now on Acer palmatum ‘Sango kaku’.

The south facing Podocarpus salignus is quite a sight with its drooping branches.

2019 – CHW
To the new plantings in Tin Garden.An unnamed Styrax species collected by Nick Macer (NJM 11.013) is covered in pendulous seeds in its first year of planting. Worth Asia collecting.

Regrowth after decades of shade under trees sees a fine crop of Verbascum olympicum flowering away. How the seed got here in the first place is anyone’s guess.

Two Paulownia fortunei grown from seed by Asia have grown 4ft in the first year. One had two side shoots which have folded down to ground level and could be layered. Huge leaves!

Quercus hypoxyantha has pinkish secondary new growth and is starting to settle in. Odd shaped crinkly leaves but some are still small after a dry summer.

Salix udensis ‘Golden Sunshine’ one year on from planting and 4ft already. This will be a new entry for the 2020 Burncoose website.

2018 – CHW
The first flush of autumn colour on Cladastris kentuckea.

The Beast damaged Rhododendron stenaulum is shooting away nicely at all levels after its hard pruning and despite the drought which has brown tipped the new leaves. The dunging has clearly helped.

A young Zanthoxylum coreanum with its first fruits which are still green. This is another new Zanthoxylum species to us even if the spelling is incorrect. Cannot find anywhere to check it in the reference books.

I pruned out the three branches on Populus deltoides ‘Purple Tower’ which had reverted to green.

Betula albosinensis ‘China Rose’ had some serious regrowth from below the graft which I also cut out today and you can see piled beside the young tree.

Cedrus brevifolia is making serious new growth after the drought has now ended.

2017 – CHW
Astonishingly good blue new growth on Rhododendron cinnabarinum concatenans Group.

Lindera sericea had appeared to be a rounded bush but suddenly four new growth stems have shot up tall. A new species of lindera to us.

Neolitsea polycarpa is making good growth. The leaf form resembles the lindera below Donkey Shoe. It is certainly hugely different from Neolitsea sericea.

Rehderodendron kwatungense is now growing well. Nice bark too.

Polyspora longicarpa is full of bud for late autumn or early in the New Year. This plant was windblown and nearly dead four or five years ago but has now settled in.

Yet another good Rhododendron ‘Polar Bear’.

Secondary, and very dark, flowers on Magnolia ‘Genie’.

Sadly the last old clump of Rhododendron ‘Charles Michael’ is now dead.