What's flowering in Trebah Garden this June

Visit Cornwall speak with Jonathan from the famous Trebah Gardens in Mawnan Smith, near Falmouth and find out what's looking good in the garden in June.

Trebah Garden

Trebah Garden is a uniquely beautiful, wooded 25 acre sub-tropical ravine garden that descends to its own beach on the beautiful Helford River. It is the wild and magical result of 160 years of inspired and dedicated creation and is a great day out for everyone.

The Water Garden

The Water Garden at Trebah was re-landscaped four years ago. Over the course of a very wet winter, some 60 tons of stone and soil were shifted. Three pools were created, linked by a series of stepped cascades with the desired result of the sound of running water.

By May, the graceful drifts of Candelabra Primulas, including P. helodoxa (yellow), P. japonica ‘Millers Crimson’, P. japonica ‘Postford White’, P. bulleyana (orange), P. pulverulenta (deep pink with creamy-white ‘flour’ on the stems and leaves) and P. beesiana (soft pink) are bursting into life, ready for our June visitors.

The new leaves of Iris pseudacorus ‘Variegata’ are coloured cream, yellow and green and provide striking contrast to surrounding plants. Yellow-speared ‘Skunk Cabbage’ Lysichiton americanus and the elegant, iconic blooms of Arum Lilies, Zantedeschia aethiopica are dotted around the Water Garden. The Arum Lily came to Europe over 400 years ago from South Africa and thrives in the moist conditions.

Davidia involucrata var tree

Our Handkerchief Tree Davidia involucrata var. wilmoriniana is one of the finest specimens in Britain and is currently in full flower. The flowers of the tree are in fact small rounded dark clusters and the beautiful ‘handkerchiefs’ are bracts, which act as protective sheaths for the flowers. To walk beneath the wide-spreading branches, laden with fluttering pure-white bracts, is a memorable experience.

In 1900 Ernest Wilson, the great Victorian plant hunter stumbled across a Davidia in full flower…”when stirred by the slightest the white bracts resemble huge butterflies hovering amongst the trees”. It became his lifetime favourite plant and from the quantity of seed he brought home to England to be distributed by Veitch Nursery of Exeter, some 30,00 seedlings were grown on. We believe our Davidia to date back to these original introductions.

Badger's Walk

Along Badger’s Walk (so named because of its large nocturnal population) there are over 200 deliciously scented deciduous azaleas, Rhododendron luteum. The curved yellow flowers resemble those of Honeysuckle, hence the name Honeysuckle Azalea.

Throughout the Garden, many of the late-flowering Rhododendrons are still showing colour. The Loderi cultivars are large leaf plants, which are soft pink in bud opening into sweetly smelling trusses of pure white flowers. They are often considered to be one of the most beautiful of all the Rhododendron hybrids.

On a closing note, the wild flowers at Trebah growing on the banks beneath our magnificent copper beeches should never be overlooked; English Bluebells, Red Campion, Ramsons (broad leaved garlic), Alkanet (member of the Borage family with blue flowers) and Foxgloves provide a palette of colours that offset the more exotic and sub-tropical plants.