Monday 4th.

Garden open yesterday and 52 people came (Summer Club 10 children)

Remarkably, the sun shone all day and made such a difference from the showers of the past week. Colour everywhere still. Went to Wisley last Tuesday and bought plants I had been looking for. Another Toona sinensis Flamingo ( multi stemmed and looking rather better than the last two I had as grafted standards from Burncoose, both of which died). Anemone Wild Swan - an excellent specimen with the blue back of Anemone rivularis influence. At Chelsea I saw a Hydrangea with very serrated flowers called ‘Koria’ and I bought one at Wisley together with another chocolate brown H. aspera called Koki. This is supposedly a stronger grower than H. aspera Hot Chocolate I planted last year.

Another interesting Cephalotaxus was C. harringtonia ‘Korean Gold’ a smaller grower than the type.

Friday 22nd.

Stuart came and took down the fallen Robinia by Pan.,; luckily missed the 30 year old Lagerostrobus but rather smashed in half the Lomatia myricoides next to it. It will regrow soon enough.

Saturday 23rd.

I removed the grass from the Asters near the Drimys opposite the log bed, which took some doing. I made a log border and dug over, planting 5 Anemone ‘Wild Swam’ - gorgeous blue backed white petals, and three Hydrangea paniculata ‘Silver Dollar’. I think it looks really good.

Thursday 28th.

Stuart came back to fell the Paulownia fargesii by the sphinxes which was almost dead. It was planted in 1989, so maybe it is not very long lasting. He raised the crown of the sweet chestnut in the Magnolia wood, which has grown alarmingly this summer, as have most things. Two seedling trees on the boundary behind the small temple now grown enormous and crowding out the oak between them were felled, and I took a couple of lower rings from the Deodar. There is more to be done further along the boundary.

                            Sweet chestnut with crown lifted

Sunday 31st.

Taking advantage of the sunshine, some friends came over for a garden wander followed by tea. Two plants were of note; the first was Blepharocalyx cruikshankii (syn. Temu divaricatum ‘Heaven Scent’) which was in full flower and scenting the garden around to quite a distance.

     

          Blepharocalyx cruikshankii (syn, Temu divaricatum) Heaven Scent

The second plant is my Mandevilla laxa which I grew from seed, and which is flowering for the first time.  Unfortunately it is at the top of the wall above the Walled Garden gate so too far to smell the perfume. It is also competing with the smell from the builders‘ Portaloo opposite! 

                        Mandevilla laxa (syn. M. suaveolens)

Unfortunately, my precious Anopterus glandulosus from Tasmania was looking rather sad. Initially I thought it had got very dry, and gave it a lot of water. One branch looks as though it’s dying. I hope the rest perks up; I would be very sad to lose it.