"Chris Hogg" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 03 Jan 2014 14:40:49 +0000, Peter Wilkinson
wrote:

We moved here to the far west of Cornwall a couple of years ago and are
just just starting to get the garden in some sort of shape. The mild
winters are nice: last year's frosts were a bit of a exception, but the
wind is a challenge.

Pendeen is restarting its gardening club to form a focus for gardening
activities in this area. Get in touch if you are interested.

Regards
Peter

http://www.pendeengardeningclub.co.uk

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Er....yes, me. Pendeen's a bit far away though. We're on the Lizard.

It's mild, but not so mild that you can grow anything. It's not as
mild as on the Isles of Scilly only 30 miles away, for example. I
tried a lot of South African stuff when we first came here, proteas
etc., and lost almost all of it (but not quite all; I still have one
protea!). Don't go by average temperatures, but go by the lowest for
several years. You can lose an awful lot in one night of frost even if
it's the only frost in the year (BTDTGTTS!).

Let me know if you find a satisfactory method of staking things. We've
been in the area for twelve years now, overlooking the sea and very
exposed to SW salt gales (like...as I type, it's absolutely roaring
outside!), and lose shrubs regularly, staked or not. Most of my shrubs
are double staked or triple staked in a triangle, but stakes break,
pull out of the ground, ties break etc. Two shrubs gone in the last
fortnight. Camellias cope quite well IME. I have lots! I grow what
survives, by trial and error, and there's plenty of error!

Look out for 'Seaside Gardening', by Christine Kelway, Collingridge
1962. Long out of print, but s/h copies available through the Advanced
Book Exchange, for example http://tinyurl.com/plpmn6q. Failing that,
she's also done another: 'Gardening on the coast'
http://tinyurl.com/o5prpax, although I've not read that one.

Trevena Cross nursery, on the way to Helston, is good for plants.
http://www.trevenacross.co.uk/
Also Cross Common nursery, in Lizard Town.
http://www.crosscommonnursery.co.uk/

Good luck!

--

Chris

Gardening in West Cornwall overlooking the sea.
Mild, but very exposed to salt gales

If you can get hold of a copy "Shrubs for Milder Counties" by W Arnold
Foster which tells how they managed to create the garden at Eagles Nest on
the top of Zennor Moor. is full of ideas on plant choices creating wind
breaks (and staking !) A visit to Long Cross Victorian garden on the north
coast may also yield some ideas


--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
Holders of National Collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cvs
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk