JEARRARD'S HERBAL
Thats enough introduction - on with the plants!
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... out in the garden.
6th January 2008
Galanthus 'Moccas' .
The snowdrops are just starting to push up through the ground, especially in the woods. 'Moccas' is the first in flower here (if we disregard the
autumn flowering forms), though there are a couple of others with fat buds. Up in the woods the Violets and Primroses have started and the
leaf litter on the floor is almost wriggling visibly with the new shoots pushing up through it. There will be about five months of excitement
among the trees before it all goes quiet again.
6th January 2008
Ranunculus ficaria Good Purple .
There are plenty of wonderful Celandine leaves around the garden, but the only flowers I have are in pots. 'Cupreus' started to flower several weeks ago
, but this is the first of the typical yellow flowers to open, on a purple leaved seedling. Many years ago I threw out some tubers of
'Brazen Hussey', and they ended up on the compost heap and then scattered around the garden. They went on to produce a couple of colonies
of seedlings, and this was one I pulled out from the mix because it had good purple foliage.
6th January 2008
Helleborus x hybridus .
The wriggling leaf litter has given way to a mass of spikes of Hellebore flowers. One section of the woodland is entirely devoted to my Hellebore mother plants
, that produce all of the good seedlings. I got bored with having them all in pots a couple of years ago , so out they all went, followed by a couple of hundred young seedlings,
all of which seem to be flowering this year for the first time. At the peak of the season I am hoping to have a solid carpet of Hellebores.
Meantime, I have acculmulated a whole new generation of mother plants in pots, all much better than the old plants which have been retired as
breeders (though I sometimes creep up to the woodland in season to get pollen - most of the best doubles have been planted out!)
6th January 2008
Iris lazica .
Spring has had its fingers in the garden pie for a couple of months now, so it is good to be rid of the old year and really get on with it! (Happy New Year, by the way)
. Iris lazica has been sitting around dormant for months now looking rather ragged. The first thing it does when it feels the onset of spring is produce a few flowers.
There won't be very many but they are a welcome sight. The flowers will be followed by new growths and a set of new leaves, so for a couple of months it will look less ragged
, but by mid-summer it will have recovered its hang-dog appearance.
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.
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about what is going on, if you are interested.
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