Philip Treguna - Head Gardener Caerhays Castle (1956-1996)

Philip Tregunna started work at Caerhays Castle Gardens aged 14. His first duties included opening the field gate on the way to the Kitchen Garden so that his elders and betters did not have to alight from their bicycles on the way to work and then being tasked to remove weeds from the walls with a nail for days on end.

In 1956 Philip was promoted to being head gardener by my father at the age of 25. The garden staff had by then declined from 60 before the First War to around 10. His predecessor, Charles Michael, had noticed and promoted Philip’s desire to learn the practicalities of how to propagate and hybridise the wealth of Asiatic plant species which had arrived at Caerhays from the Wilson and Forrest expeditions to Southern China between1905 and 1932.

It is very unusual today for head gardeners not to have university degrees or at least several initials after their name. Philip, and his chosen successor as Head Gardener at Caerhays, Jaimie Parsons, give us ample proof that knowledge and learning can pass by word of mouth rather than necessarily in the classroom.

Magnolia
'Caerhays Surprise'

Magnolia
'Caerhays Belle'

Magnolia
'Philip Tregunna'

Philip was to preside over the full maturity of the original Asiatic plants and many of the early hybrids created by J.C. Williams (deceased 1939) and his son Charles Williams (deceased 1955) in the 1960’s and 1970’s. He was however not slow to make his own major contribution.

In only 1959 Philip had the exceptional foresight to cross 2 magnolias which never normally flower within 2 months of each other. His hybrid between Magnolia mollicomata and M. lilliflora ‘Nigra’ first flowered in 1968. In 1973 it was award the (Gold) Cory Cup for the best new woody plant introduction of the year (a national and international award as well as an Award of Merit). As we now know this was christened Magnolia ‘Caerhays Surprise’. A magnolia for the smaller garden, a magnolia, not for places such as Caerhays, but for magnolia enthusiasts with space for only the odd plant not just in the UK but, via New Zealand and Swiss growers, throughout the USA and Europe. How many tens of thousands of these plants will be enjoyed for generations to come? – but it was all the work of one exceptionally talented hybridiser and propagator.

Philip and my father bred and raised scores of other magnolia hybrids in their 40 years together but they were generally dismissive of their achievements and wisely only named and registered a handful of the very best. Philip was the first to flower Magnolia ‘Caerhays Belle’; the original of which can be viewed from the front door at Caerhays. Magnolia ‘Kew Surprise’ was, despite its name, raised at Caerhays where it first flowered in 1967 and subsequently received an FCC. My father (tongue in cheek) told the curator of Kew that it was one of the few good things to come from Kew and it was named accordingly. Magnolia ‘J.C. Williams’ (FCC 2002), a hybrid between M. sargentiana robusta and M. sprengeri ‘Diva’ was perhaps their darkest flowered and currently most popular creation. Of more recent origin is Magnolia ‘F.J. Williams’, named after my father which is a very early flowering reddish purple M. sargentiana robusta x M. mollicomata ‘Lanarth’ hybrid. This first flowered only a few years ago and received Philip’s full commendation in his retirement.

Last but not least is Magnolia ‘Philip Tregunna’ a M. sargentiana robusta and M. campbellii hybrid. This too received an FCC in 1992. It is early flowering with exquisite clear pink upright cup-shaped flowers. Such words, as is often the case when trying to describe magnolia flowers, do it scant justice.

In the field of rhododendrons Philip may be best remembered for the wonderful bright waxy yellow cinnabarinum x concatenans hybrid registered in 1966 and aptly named ‘Caerhays Philip’. Sadly the plants all died out at Caerhays in the 1980’s as both parents were especially prone to mildew and rust attack. This is however a cross which can now be replicated.

Magnolia
'Kew Surprise'

Rhodo.
'Nancor'

Camellia
'George Blandford'

Those of you who can remember back to Chelsea in the 1990’s may recollect the naming of ‘Tinners Blush’ and ‘High Sheriff’ by Seb Coe. These were Philip’s decorum x williamsianum hybrids.

Philip also raised a whole series of hybrids named after farms on the Caerhays estate. ‘Penvose’ (tethropeplum x cinnabarinum), ‘Polgrain’ (same cross), ‘Rescassa’ (decorum x campylocarpum), ‘Treberrick’ (‘Moser’s Maroon’ x griersonianum) are perhaps the best known. Today each of the 8 bedrooms at The Vean is named after one of these hybrids together with a picture of the farmhouse, the plant and its registration/award documents.

Other more difficult and exotic hybrids included the November flowering ‘Winter Intruder’ (delavayi x nobleanum) and range of scented rhododendrons for May. For every successfully named hybrid the garden still has huge clumps of ‘not good enough’.

Turning to camellias it was Philip who helped secure an AM for Camellia x williamsii ‘Caerhays’ (1967) and ‘George Blandford’ (1974), two of the later double x williamsii hybrids. There are many other x williamsii hybrids which have received similar recognition over the years.

I have no doubt that my father’s passion and enthusiasm for gardening emanated directly from Philip’s tuition. My father knew nothing at all about gardening when he inherited Caerhays in 1955 and I too was to grow up with the best possible horticultural grounding although there were many pranks and much naughtiness along the way.

Perhaps the most astonishing thing about Philip’s career as a gardener and horticulturalist was that his many brothers, sisters and huge family were flabbergasted to hear of his achievements, his role in the RHS and his frequent conducted tours of the gardeners with the Queen Mother, Prince Charles and even Margaret Thatcher. Philip, in his own quiet and unassuming manner, had not deemed it necessary to tell them!

The wake was adorned with pictures of many of Philip’s gardening friends:- Harold and John Hillier, Frank Knight, Roy Lancaster, John Bond, Jim Gardiner – to mention just a few.

Loyalty and continuity, unfashionable thought it may be today, is what a Cornish garden like Caerhays must have to prosper, develop and expand while welcoming the public. Philip was and achieved all of these things while still finding a great deal of time in retirement to monitor and advise his successor. The many friends of Caerhays Gardens will miss him but his enormous legacy lives on for all to enjoy. Great gardeners really do leave something behind!

Charles Williams
October 2011