Sunday 9th.

At last some dry weather and very warm today (17.5C in shade). Also at last the magnolias are beginning to show colour. The Rosemoor Early Spring show is in 5 days time so I hope there will be magnolias for me to take. I have entered the Rhododendron and Camellia and Ornamental plant competitions for the first time, and I think I will have a spray of R. emasculum to show and C. Bob Hope. There are several shrubs in flower now as well. Drimys winteri is full of flowers.

                                Rhododendron praecox with a deep pink Rh behind

The Wynn-Jones from Crûg are coming to talk on Wednesday at Goodleigh Village Hall and should be bringing some plants for me. They hope to deliver them before the talk, so I am hoping to show them round the garden.

Went over to Bruce Osborne in the afternoon to admire his famous Magnolia campbellii which is flowering its heart out, and seen to perfection against the blue sky as below. The flowering on the magnolias and rhododendrons this year promises to be fantastic.

Thursday 13th.

Sue & Bleddyn dropped off some exciting plants yesterday afternoon, and then we had a lengthy walk around the garden. A couple of their collections have had name changes which I will have to re-label. After tea, they went on to Goodleigh, and in the evening we attended their talk on North Vietnam which was very well attended. It was interesting to see some really lovely shrubs and trees that promise much for the future. This afternoon, I planted Magnolia cathcartii, Illicium simonsii, a little Paris in the new Woodland walk, and will try Luzuriaga against the odds in bark/pine needle composted for three or four years on the edge of the fernery bog garden. I added some tree stumps as well.  I will have to keep it moist. The weather has been cold at night but no frosts and the magnolias  are coming out at last. I will have to pick a lot of stuff tomorrow afternoon/evening to take to the show on Saturday. Tomorrow afternoon, I will be helping to set everything up.

Tuesday 18th.

Last weekend’s Spring Show at Rosemoor was a great success. The Ornamental plants and the Daffodils made it a really high quality flower show. The magnolia entries were fantastic because of the season of no frost - Caerhays of course carried off the prizes.

        

        Caerhays winning group of three vases of Caerhays Belle, Cecil Nice, and Shirazz.

                              

                             Single blooms entries - a good variety of Magnolias

Yesterday managed to plant the replacement Magnolia Raven that Kevin Hughes  gave me and a small Rhodo RF115 collected by Dick Fulcher in Arunachal Pradesh with attractive reddish undersides to the leaves.

Sunday 23rd.

Garden open today and 53 visitors which was really good. Overcast and cold wind but dry. Plant sales went well too. On BBC Radio Devon in the morning which boosted numbers to an extent. Noticed Magnolia maudiae out at the top of the tree and opening towards the lower branches. Will be over by the Rosemoor show on 26th April unlike last year.

Friday 28th.

Vaughan Gallavan paid a visit this morning to look around the garden, and brought a good looking plant of his cross of Margaret Helen X Lanarth, which I planted in the spreading gingko bed. I may in time have to advance the whole bed by a few feet. I also lifted the banana Musa lasiocarpa from the end of the West Lawn to a corner by the big south wall of the walled garden before we move (completed the purchase of Upper Gorwell today). We will take down a portion of the hedge between the two parts of the walled garden at the top end, but not all of it until we have planning permission safely in the bag. Kevin Hughes was due to come this evening but couldn’t make time, so will be at Marwood tomorrow. The Magnolia martinii I got from him when he was at Spinners is coming out now, full of swelling buds.

Saturday 29th.

Spent the day at the Plant Heritage day at Marwood hearing two talks from Kevin Hughes.

Marwood Spring was looking fantastic as are all magnolias so far. Kevin came round the garden  afterwards and saw M.martinii beginning to open its flowers. It was a cutting apparently not a seedling and there is a sister cutting about the same size in Southampton.