JEARRARD'S HERBAL
Thats enough introduction - on with the plants!
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... out in the garden.
11th August 2008
Stapelia flavirostris .
The long mellow lazy days of summer seem to have come to an abrupt halt. The rain here has continued, and is
getting colder by the day. People are already grumbling about the 'A' word (autumn) and two people have now mentioned the 'C' word to me (christmas).
This Stapelia is going to hate cool wet weather, but the flower is a spectacular addition to the greenhouse. I haven't managed to check the name yet
, but the bud opened into spectacular yellow beaked tepals, so the name fits!
One advantage of the cool weather is that the flower is more or less unscented, at least to me. A horde of flies have managed to find the flower and are
doing whatever it is they are doing with great vigilance and enthusiasm, but they aren't being offensive about it.
11th August 2008
Habenaria radiata .
I have probably said before that I do not really dance to the merry music of the orchids. Despite my general low level
of attention to them, they have spent the week trying to cheer me up in the face of the zingiberaceous
identity theft that has had me pulling out the metaphorical hair all week (it has to be metaphorical,
little of the genuine article remains).
This one flowered last year and when it died down in the autumn I assumed it would follow the usual
pattern and continue dying until the job was done. Not so. It has emerged again looking stronger
than it did last year - still only one stem, but a stronger one than before. On balance I am happy!
11th August 2008
Hedychium ellipticum .
And while we are on the subject of unfortunate misidentifications, Hedychium ellipticum is a lovely thing (and I think this is it). It would be
churlish to fail to fully appreciate its charms, but the sweet joy of its flowering is slightly soured. It isn't Hedychium longicornutum,
which is what I have been waiting for. I have some seedlings of the real thing, so I will just have to wait for one of them to flower!
11th August 2008
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