JEARRARD'S HERBAL
Thats enough introduction - on with the plants!
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... out in the garden.
24th May 2026
Allium hollandicum 'Purple Sensation' .
The week started cold but the warmth has built to the point that I had to stop working out there yesterday morning to shelter from the heat. Summer has arrived and with it has come a sparkling
of rich colour.
The new herbaceous border is a constant surprise. I do no weeding or management during the summer, so it is filled with plants that will look after themselves.
The border is built on a pile of subsoil revealed when I terraced a small section of the hill. It is mostly stone and the soil that remains is poor.
The whole thing was compressed by the machinery that levelled the ground. It is not a very welcoming growing environment.
Careful plant selection has produced some good results. The Roscoea enjoy the space and Tulipa sylvestris seems to be flourishing.
Allium hollandicum 'Purple Sensation' comes into the category of good ideas that have yet to prove themselves. I had hoped that a vigorous onion would enjoy the sun and the poor soil
and flower and seed freely. It hasn't happened yet, these are the only two flowers this year. The problem isn't the onion, it is the Roe Deer in the garden which eat the buds.
Perhaps they will get bored with onions eventually.
24th May 2026
Iris fulva .
Some plants come into the garden as a result of a cunning plan. Sometimes the cunning plans work, though it is in the nature of cunning plants that sometimes they do not.
Some plants come in to the garden on a moment's impulse and the consequences are much the same. Sometimes the impulse is a triumph, sometimes it is not.
Iris fulva was irresistible when I saw it in flower at Cotswold Garden Flowers a decade ago. In the years that have followed I have struggled to keep it alive.
I am now convinced that it needs frequent feeding. Left to fend for itself it slowly sinks into feeble decrepitude.
Last year, in a bid to rescue my two remaining shoots, I potted and fed them. The result has been a single flower, the first I have seen for many years.
I am hoping that this is because it likes the easy life in the greenhouse where it is warm, wet and well fed.
The species comes from swampy ground in the southern United States and although I would love to have it in the garden I think the greenhouse will have to do.
When I bought it I knew it was too good to leave behind and I was right. This flower was the source of enormous joy when it appeared unexpectedly.
24th May 2026
Paeonia 'Pink Hawaiian Coral' .
The same new herbaceous border that provides a stony home to the struggling Allium has proved more successful with herbaceous peonies.
I had a number of them growing rather weakly in pots and they were all planted out. I shouldn't really grow peonies at all, my garden is damp and shaded,
but I see them in flower and delight renders me (temporarily I hope) moronic. Fortunately the stony soil at the south end of the border seems to suit them.
The presence of soil at the north end of the border is more questionable. I grow a few Crocus up there but I can't put a spade in the ground, or a fork,
or even a crow bar in places.
Having found a home for my unhappy potted peonies I have continued to add. Herbaceous peonies often have long stems with ridiculous flower buds perched on top.
The new herbaceous border is sunny, stony and exposed to a ferocious wind. It is not a perfect arrangement. However the shorter
peonies have done well, and 'Pink Hawaiian Coral' has been particularly good.
24th May 2026
Tulipa sprengeri .
At the top of the garden I have a woodland border where I have naturalised a number of shade tolerant woodland bulbs. It manages to be interesting from the appearance of the first
Colchicum in October until the last wave of bluebells retreats at the end of May. It is true that it looks like an overgrown patch of weeds for four months
but I can live with that, it is a very relaxed and stress-free border. If pushed I might call it good for biodiversity or something.
That was until I saw the wonder of Tulipa sprengeri naturalising under the trees at Savill Gardens. I was overcome with a clever idea.
I was given a pot of seedlings and I had a bulb growing in a tub so they were all planted in the woodland border. They have flowered for several years
but I had the impression that they were declining, despite sowing additional seed every year. Last year I had no flowers and I saw no sign of leaves.
I thought my clever experiment had failed. My garden is too shaded, or too cool. Perhaps the south-western skies are not bright enough.
I am going to try again in the new herbaceous border but I had accepted that the woodland had not worked.
That was until this week when I found two flowers shouting with joy among the fading bluebells. I was shouting with joy as well.
To find particular groups of plants I grow, click on the genus name in the table above. Click on the "Index" box at the top of the page for the full list.
I have a lot of good intentions when it comes to updating this site, and I try to keep a note
about what is going on, if you are interested.
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