JEARRARD'S HERBAL
Thats enough introduction - on with the plants!
To navigate this site use the links above or the detailed links at the bottom of this page.
... out in the garden.
12th April 2026
Prunus 'Kanzan' .
Strong winds at the start of the week found me lying in bed at night listening to the howling and hoping the garden was alright.
Storm Goretti in January stole any sense of complacency as the wind blows. Fortunately it was just wind in bed,
nothing unusual happened.
As the summer develops I am sure that I will appreciate the extra light in the garden that storm damage has brought.
The first sign of that came in the flowering of Prunus 'Kanzan'. I had half-a-dozen of them in a grove in the middle of the garden
but they had slowly been enveloped by evergreens. I thought that the last two cherries had finally died, but Goretti cleared the conifers from the area
and left me with a single cherry tree. This is the first time that I have seen flowers in a few years. They are distant, wind buffeted and surrounded
by the debris of fallen conifers, but they have charm.
12th April 2026
Asarum maximum 'Silver Panda' .
In the juggling of plants and space that inevitably goes on in greenhouses, my last few Asarum have been struggling.
There has been a shortage of bench space so I have a couple of plants in large tubs on the ground.
Unfortunately the greenhouse has slowly become more shaded and space on the ground has become darker.
Last year I moved 'Silver Panda' up onto the staging again and it has responded with renewed growth and a return to flowering.
I keep it in the greenhouse because it doesn't seem to prosper in our cool summers. I'm going to try it again outdoors,
it would certainly appreciate a greater root-run, but it needs a warm shady spot to grow well. In the meantime it
is lovely enough the merit space in the greenhouse.
12th April 2026
Erythronium 'Joanna' .
Camellias in the garden have reached a spectacular peak with tissue-paper pink flowers scattered through the boughs and tissue-paper pink
petals scattered on the ground. It is a scene with its own peculiar aesthetic, some mornings I like it, some mornings I find it slightly repulsive.
I think it depends on the balance between pink and brown. Cold nights emphasise the brown but light winds scatter pink petals generously.
The Erythronium have reached a similar crescendo but respond differently to the wind. They are at their best on a still morning, still touched by dew
and with some soft sunshine illuminating them at an angle. Strong winds make the clumps lop-sided and shrivel the petals.
Erythronium 'Joanna' is much more subtle than its yellow-and-pink colour combination might suggest.
The flowers are mostly creamy, bleary-eyed with yellow as they open and slipping into the fatigue of pink as they age, looking bright and fragile
in the meantime.
12th April 2026
Calanthe No.1 .
The process of moving things around until they seem happy is never ending. When I first started to grow Calanthe
in the greenhouse they responded with enthusiasm and I started to take their vigour for granted. It is always difficult
to spot the moment when things start to slow and suffer. By the time I realised that the Calanthe were suffering
it was already too late to save some of them. I repotted the collection and started to move them around the place looking for a location
that suited them. It has taken a decade and I have had to throw some misconceptions out of the window. I have seen some plants prospering
like cabbages in the open ground at Kew but it hasn't worked here.
Last spring I found a warm, moist corner in the greenhouse for them and I have had two good flowering seasons. Perhaps I have cracked it,
perhaps I have just been deceived by the delusions of gardening. The orchids will make their opinion known.
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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