JEARRARD'S HERBAL
Thats enough introduction - on with the plants!
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... out in the garden.
15th February 2026
Adonis ramosa .
Definitely a week for enjoying the relative calmness of spring. After the turmoil of recent storms, a few rain showers were easily overlooked.
In-between flashes of bad weather there have been a few bright moments. I have started to clear up storm damage. It is going to take a long
time to complete but is is very satisfying to have made start. I cut the trunk of a fallen alder near to the base and stood back as the upturned root-plate
fell back into the hole it had come from. It isn't flat and the alder is doomed, but the situation is a lot better than it was.
There are plenty more trunks and plenty more root-plates. They won't all fall back into place as conveniently. However, it was an auspicious start
and it had to start somewhere.
In the greenhouse Adonis ramosa has appeared as a sign that spring is on the move. It pushes aside the limestone chips it grows in and thrusts a flower
into the dull light. It acts as a warning that the relative calm of spring is about to vanish.
Driving along the road there are occasional flashes of white as the earliest blackthorns are in flower.
15th February 2026
Camellia cuspidata .
Autumn and winter were gusty, spring has been destructively windy and Camellia cuspidata seems to have coped. I have taken note.
It is one of those plants that sat around in a pot for little too long while I worked out what I was going to do with it.
Eventually I decided that it would be dead if I didn't do something, took it out into the garden and stayed out until I had found somewhere to plant it.
The location was not quite ideal but the point is that space was available. It sits exposed at the northern tip of the garden where the north wind
howls down the valley. In December, storm something-or-other gave half a day of cold, desiccating winds straight onto its fragile flanks.
I was sure that it would defoliate. It's a seedling and its parent grows on a warm wall by the sea in Falmouth. I was sure that the flower buds
would fall.
It is made of sterner stuff, leaves have remained, flowers have opened.
It's a subtle thing, passers-by have not been knocking on the door seeking its identity, but I am astonished.
15th February 2026
Pleione (Glacier Peak x humilis) .
There is a slow moment in the year. It isn't exactly quiet, there are a thousand things that have to be done, but the garden is slow.
If you do a job, it stays done for a few weeks.
In the greenhouse the Pleione had come to a halt. Last season's leaves had browned and fallen. I had cleared them away and the plants were sound asleep.
The whole collection needed repotting. It's a 'busy' task for the slow season. I was late to start but I got it done before the plants started to wake up.
Now the early flower spikes are developing. This is the first flower to open and it is pointing a finger at my failure. I should have finished re-potting
the Disa as well by now, and I am only about half way there. The question is, pot Disa or clear up storm damage?
As I say, this is the slow season but it can be quite busy.
This hybrid has recently been named Pleione Humble Peak. I will correct the name on the site when I get a moment.
15th February 2026
Pieris japonica 'Dorothy Wyckoff'
Winter in this garden is hard to define. Autumn drags on through December and Spring is clearly underway by January. Trapped between them is a thin
dark line called winter, like a smear of Marmite in an economical sandwich. It suits me well. I like Marmite
but I'm not so keen on winter. The variegated form of Hoya carnosa suddenly turned black in the week.
I think it had just had enough.
It is a pity because the temperature is rising slowly. The greenhouse thinks about warming when the pale sunshine hits it. Good times were on the way
for the sad, depressed Hoya.
In the garden the first Pieris have already felt the distant song of sunshine. Buds on the earliest forms of P. japonica swelled into flower
during the week. It is clear that the spring flowering shrubs have started and they will continue until autumn, crushing the Marmite of summer into a thin smear
as they go.
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