Planting I have managed to resume my volunteer days at Mt Edgcumbe on a weekly basis for the past few weeks and have been focussing on planting. The park has a small nursery area where they have been growing on small plants that they obtained a few years ago and last autumn I brought some … Continue reading October reflection
Survivors
I have been up to Mt Edgcumbe only a handful of times since mid March. It just didn’t seem to be the right thing to do, whether or not it would have been legitimate under the lockdown rules. Yesterday I spent the morning up there, wandering round the collection to take stock of how things … Continue reading Survivors
Dynasties
For several weeks I have been putting the records of the Mt. Edgcumbe camellia collection onto the online database system that Plant Heritage use. It has meant I have been revisiting issues that came up when I first became involved with the collection but had set aside because I was getting nowhere. I was putting … Continue reading Dynasties
Identity Crises
One of the wrongly named plants that had been exercising me recently is a bush in the oldest of the European sections that is labelled Duchesse Decazes. There are actually three plants in this section, 5A, with that name and two are currently in flower. One appears to be correct and looks like this. The … Continue reading Identity Crises
Presentation Area.
The Presentation Area was the first part of the collection to be planted and is the last part to receive my attention. It was planted, or at least started, on 7th April 1976, so it will soon be 44 years old. I don't have a definitive list of what was planted initially but the impression … Continue reading Presentation Area.
Notes from the park -31/12/2019
Last day of the year and I thought I'd take advantage of a dry forecast to go and see what was happening. There was plenty to see. Star of the show, as she is every year around this time, is 'Show Girl' in the species section. It is one of three in the collection and … Continue reading Notes from the park -31/12/2019
A new addition.
A few days ago I found myself reading a 1982 article by Dr Clifford Parks about hybrids of Camellia sasanqua. I was looking up the background to C. ‘Snow Flurry’, an Ackerman cross with C. oleifera, one he was to repeat many times. Perhaps the most interesting cross that Parks mentioned was one he made … Continue reading A new addition.
Propagation by cuttings.
Introduction. Almost all the camellia cuttings I have ever taken have been done between late July and late August. In my nursery days the big groups of plants we propagated were camellias, fuchsias and conifers. The Camellias were taken in summer and were rooted by mid winter when they were weaned off and replaced by … Continue reading Propagation by cuttings.
Notes from the park 21/10/2019
I popped up the park this morning with a few plants in the car. One was a large Agave which has become too big to keep lugging into the greenhouse for winter. They're going to plant it in the park; they hardly ever get frost, being right by the sea. Also on board was a … Continue reading Notes from the park 21/10/2019
Sasanqua season 2019 – 2
Is it the right time to go up to the park to see the sasanquas? Well, no, not quite yet. I found eight varieties in flower today but most only just beginning with a handful of blooms. Give it another three or four weeks. Here are the first four, clockwise from top left 'Hugh Evans' … Continue reading Sasanqua season 2019 – 2
Jim's Camellias 