Blooms and Bark at The Royal Botanical Gardens, Wakehurst Place

The following images were taken in the gardens at Wakehurst Place on Sunday January 20, 2007.



Of course the snowdrops, daffodils and crocus have been now flowering for weeks.

C. X williamsii 'Mary Christian' X C. reticulata C. 'Leonard Messel Tea is made from the species C. sinensis, a native of China.


















Wollemia nobilis.

Wollemia is a genus of confier in the Arauicaceae family.
W. nobilis is the sole species in the genus Wollemia and was discovered in 1994 in a remote series of narrow, steep-sided sandstone gorges in temperate rainforest wilderness area of the Wollemi National Park in New South Wales, 150km north-west of Sydney, in Australia

In both botanical and popular literature, the tree has been almost universally dubbed the Wollemi Pine, although it is not a true pine (genus Pinus) nor a member of the pine family (Pinaceae), but rather is related to Kauri and Araucaruia in the family Araucariaceae.

This specimen at Wakehurst is one of the few in public cultivation in England and is grown in a cage to protect it from both rodents and theft, until it becomes firmly established. It is located in the Australasia beds in front of the manor at Wakehurst Place.

The public can buy plants from a licensed propagator, they advertise in the RHS journals, the profits from the sale contribute towards conservation efforts.

The actual location of the stand of Wolemi Pine is kept secret for fear of introuducing infection and competative stress into their isolated environment.




Cyclamen coum , we have this species planted on the college grounds courtesy of JEA Perennials.
















Ulex minor, or lesser gorse is considered a bit of a pest where it grows on lean soils. Farmers are often forced to grub this invaisive species on marginal pasture land before it overcomes the grazing, that said however, farmers on the top of the Downs leave clumps of Gorse so that sheep may find shelter from the wind, rain and snow.



















Hakea epiglottis















Stuartia sinensis, a beautiful species that is marginal in Ontario, I have never seen a mature speciemen in the province showing these outstanding bark characteristics.


















Bellis perennis, these are grown as a winter bedding plant, this is a horticultural cultivar (not sure which), but otherwise they can become a lawn weed. This was used in a planter arrangement in the walled garden at Wakehurst Place.











Camelia japonica 'Tricolor'

Viscum album, missletoe, a relative of the North American species, this is a parasitic plant.



















Daphne bhoula 'Jacqueline Postill'

Lonicera 'Winter Beauty'

Daphne bhoula var. glacialis

Hamamelis x intermedia 'Jelena'

Helleborus oreintalis

Erica carnea 'Springwood White'

Daphne bhoula

Hamamelis x intermedia 'Palida'

Hammamelis mollis, again we have this species in the college gardens at Fanshawe.

Helleborus lividus ssp. cosicus

Rhododendron X pulcherrimum X 'Nobleanum'

Camelia sp.

Correa alba 'Andrews'

Viburnum grandiflorum f. grandiflorum which has been flowering since November.

Carn Brea

Carn Brea (Cornish: Karnbre) is a hilltop site near Redruth, Cornwall, which has seen various human settlements over the years. Today Carn Brea medieval castle and a nineteenth century monument to Lord Francis Basset, Lord de Dunstanville stand at the top of the ridge.


Carn Brea had a Neolithic settlement between 3700 and 3400 BC. A two acre inner enclosure was surrounded by a eleven acre outer area. The rampart was made of stone walls with an earth bank and ditch. There were fourteen platforms on which Neolithic long houses would have stood. A population of 100 to 150 people would have lived here then.

The Carn which can be seen from most of the Camborne and Redruth area is a wild place covered in heather and blueberry. When driving down to Cornwall and you see either of these you know your home. The castle today is used as a restaurant, however the drive up to it would take the underside off of most cars if you were not an adept driver. My friend and college cohort Darren and I once ate here years ago and after dinner and drinking went up onto the roof in the fog and pretended we had captured the castle much to the shock of the departing dinner guests, when we called for the boiling oil.


The Castle itself can be traced back to 1379. It is a stone twin towered fortress, built by the Bassett family and is inside the ramparts of the Iron Age hillfort. It was probably built has a hunting lodge, or as a chapel to St Michael (not me). It has been restored and extended over the years, and today has the look of a modern folly, rather than a medieval fort.




















A view to the east towards Redruth from Carn Brea Castle door.





















The granite monument, the Basset Memorial, is 90 feet high, and was built in 1836. It is in memory to Lord Francis Basset, who was one of the major mine owners in the Camborne-Redruth mining district at that time. The memorial stands at the summit of Carn Brea at about 730 feet above sea level. Lord Francis Basset later became Lord de Dunstanville.

Carn Brea now lies partly in the ownership of Kerrier District Council and Carn Brea Parish Council, with some parts in private hands.







Aunt Margaret who grew up in Carnkie Village on the south side of the Carn.














An Araucaria araucana growing at the foot of the Carn. Even though the area appears wild it is quite mild, zone 9.

Hedges abound in Cornwall, according to the famous ecologist David Streeter, one can age a hedge by the number of woody species present: 1 woody species= one hundred years.

Carnkie Village looking north towards Carn Brea.

The harbor at Portreath a couple of miles from Carn Brea.













Hells Mouth.











Along the North Cliffs.

The fog, mist and gales at Gwithian, you can just see the lighthouse in the distance, Frank and Ruth may remember this area when they visitied.

Fish, Tin and Copper

The Cornish have an old song that tells of the three sources of income . Today that has changed and no longer are fish, tin and copper the main income products; its tourism with most of the old mines developed as a hiking trail. All tin and copper mines in Cornwall are now closed, South Crofty being the last which I went down into with my cousins husband about seix years ago. Pictured below are part of the great flat load, an area of immense wealth many years ago where the tin was found in a large flat vein: hence the name the great flat load. It is designated an UNESCO world heritage site and holds the same place in thier hearts as does the tower of London for Londoners which is also a UNESCO site.



















During some of the Christmas break I returned to Cornwall in South West England where I lived until emigrating to Canada with my family in the late seventies. Cornwall is strewn with the remnants of the once great tin and copper mining industry. Wheel Basset at Carnkie, where my mothers side of the family lived was part of the great flat load. Pictured is Wheel Basset, this building housed two 30" cylinder rotative beam engines that drove 96 heads of stamps that crushed the extracted ore. This became part of the great Basset Mine company in 1896 and was worked until it closed in 1918.
























This is the stamping room where extracted ore was crushed, 96 stamps worked here in what was then a very noisy building.


























The South Wheal Frances group of mines are also at Carnkie with the crushed ore being transported from Wheal Basset to Wheal Frances by a small steam train.























The two houses above are named after the Pascoe's who were involved in tin mining. My father worked as a carpenter in the South Crofty Mine for a brief period of time and since Pascoe is a cornish name many distant relatives worked the tin mines of Cornwall. The house on the right is called South Wheal Frances Pascoe's Engine Pumping House, this housed a large steam driven pump that pumped the water from the mines, keeping in mind that many of the shafts were below sea level and in fact reached under the nearby ocean floor. The house on the left is called
South Wheal Frances Pascoe's Engine Winding House and operated the winding gear that ran the lift that took men below ground and brought them back-up again.











Part of Wheal Frances, in the distance through the arches is the first school I attended, now closed: Peace School.


See the Mineral Tramways website for more information:

http://www.cornwall-online.co.uk/mineral-tramways/Welcome.html

A history of the great flat lode:

http://www.shimbo.co.uk/history/gflode.htm

Cornish Mining World Heritage:

http://www.cornish-mining.org.uk/sites/gfl.htm