garden diary
Thursday 1st.
Every time I pass the old Styrax obassia bush by the tennis court I notice how badly it is still doing. We tried various rescue remedies from 10 years ago, but to no avail. I sawed the majority down to above the new shoots and then cut the next door Paeony lutea by half. It had become huge again.
Friday 2nd.
Today I went to Marwood Hill to collect the very large Rhododendron nuttallii - a gift from Richard Robinson who had it in a conservatory in a very large pot. He was moving to Bath and had no room for the four giant Rhodos. Three were gifted to Marwood Hill, and Malcolm kindly agreed to keep mine for me during lockdown etc, as Richard moved house then! Luckily after a bit of pruning, we got it into Robert Morgan’s van. It must be about 7ft tall and quite wide, though I reduced the side branches. Richard bought it from Tom Hudson in 2006 grown from wild seed. It has a collector’s number: CCMM 8077
It has masses of new shoots produced this summer, and I really should put it in the ground, but I think I’ll keep it in the pot over winter by the south wall. It is incredibly heavy!
Rhododendron nuttallii ex Tregrehan sale
Blowing a gale and pouring with rain all morning, wind abating at about 4pm when I went out and chain sawed the large side branch of Magnolia Elizabeth that had stretched out over the path. Good result & more light.
Acer conspicuum ‘Phoenix’ turning buttery; contrast with the blue bench
Saturday 3rd.
More gales and heavy rain (Storm Alex - wind 45 mph) and the large Buddleia farreri with the amazing trunk was blown over. The trunk is still there and a shoot has come up from the bottom,so I will wait and see what happens. It is at least 30 years old. Because of the atrocious weather I will have to wait before cutting it up.
Sunday 4th.
I had originally had my garden open today but I never sent in the form which needs filling for the Covid era NGS. I had a phone call in the morning asking if the garden was open as it said so on the NGS website! I looked and sure enough it was and 16 people had prebought tickets! To my astonishment, two ladies from Exmouth appeared in the horizontal rain and gale!! They managed to spend an hour looking round. They should get a medal.
Monday 5th.
As the weather had a bated a bit in the afternoon, I tackled the buddleia which hadn’t done too much damage. I dragged it up to the top bonfire. The area it is in is looking so much clearer now.
Tuesday 6th.
Speaking of much clearer, I waited until the gale had subsided (yes another one) and the heavy rain, and decided to clear more of the very old Eleagnus umbellata, again 35 years old. The area has much more light now, and Sue and I had mulched it thickly the other week and I edged it with the magnolia stems, so it’s looking good. Planting opportunity. The Hoheria populnea which was covered in Butterflies and bees only a few weeks ago is setting seed with attractive red seeds.
Tuesday 22nd.
I notice that the Autumn/Winter camellias are just beginning and my photo of C. ‘Snow Flurry’ is receiving a lot of ‘likes’ on the RCMG Facebook Group and is being used as a photo to advertise the group.
I also noticed the remarkable twisted trunk of tree like Exochorda wilsonii which I cleaned up to look even more dramatic.
The twisted trunk of Exochorda wilsonii
Camellia sasanqua ‘Snow Flurry’
Sunday 25th.
The Autumn colours are muted and subtle but no less beautiful for all that. Magnolia Wada’s Memory is looking good and it really is a wonderful shape after almost 40 years. Below are photos of Prunus Kojo No Mai which is definitely not a dwarf! and Sorbus ‘Pink Pagoda’ which isn’t (red fruits).
Prunus Kojo-No-Mai above and Sorbus Pink Pagoda below
Also of lovely shape and now good colour is the cut leaf Beech. I have been busy putting up pictures on Instagram and Facebook. Not to mention putting the latest Garden Walk video up on YouTube.
Monday 26th.
We finally chopped up the old apple tree in the wild grass of the walled garden - John Vown - our local N.Devon apple which had blown over and was hanging on by a thread of a root. Vanessa is constructing the pond beside it and it made it easier to landscape if the tree wasn’t there so after chainsawing most of it, we managed to lever up the base of the stump which was half rotten, and take it out.
Wednesday 28th.
Stuart came and did some tree work, two very large branches of the macrocarpa were removed which had stretched over the back of the summer house, and the almost dead Deodar cedar was felled. I must say, it has opened the area up and one can now see the planting. Some small tidying was done including the crossing branch of Pinus patula, the dead top of Sassafras tzumu, and small upper branches of the scarlet oak etc.
The stump of the Deodar cedar revealing the planting behind
Vitis cognetiae in the Long Border colouring nicely
Garden Diary October 2020
Sorbus pseudovilmorinii
