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JEARRARD'S HERBAL

Thats enough introduction - on with the plants!
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... out in the garden.

2nd November 2008

Fascicularia bicolor canaliculata .
The Fascicularia have offered a flash of bright colour. Hidden among the sheaves of grey prickly leaves, the heads of blue flowers bubble up supported by a ring of scarlet bract leaves. It is a very satisfactory colour combination but cold fingers and prickly leaves make for a painful combination and this little poppet is difficult to get close to. It makes thick clumpy mounds of growth , but in the moist air here weeds come up in the gaps and crevices and can be rather trying to remove (sorry, I seem to be moaning rather a lot - I got wet and tired yesterday, my eyes are heavy and if I sneezed the keyboard would be history)!


2nd November 2008

Begonia chitoensis .
This Begonia has been flowering since July, in a quiet and gentle way. It produces large round glossy leaves and seems to be undamaged by the tiresome attacks of cold weather (though it is dormant through the worst of it). The pink flowers are easy to overlook in summer, but they are standing up now with a fragile defiance. These are definitely a last hurrah before winter folds its leaves and packs them in a box of dormancy.
There isn't enough depth in the colour to get me singing and dancing, but it is an admirable attempt.


2nd November 2008

Liquidambar styraciflua .
I keep hoping for a burst of autumn colour to lift the spirits but somehow the remaining leaves seem to have turned grey which wasn't quite the desired effect. I visit my Liquidambar most days, hoping a shaft of sunlight will illuminate the foliage for a moment before they lose the will to cling and throw themselves into the process of mulching. It hasn't happened yet! My little tree is 'Worplesdon', which should be one of the reddest, but in 20 odd years it has never managed much more than political promises , always overtaken by events before they are quite realised.
This tree is not mine! I was in Wisley yesterday being rained on and looking for the colour that the eastern counties can sometimes deliver. Unfortunately, although this year is looking good, yesterday was not.


2nd November 2008

Hedychium 'Ayo' .
A tall pink modern hybrid that is in flower in the greenhouse at the moment, even if it is banging its head on the roof. For the moment I am going to ignore the fact that my plant is rather deeper pink than other pictures that have been published. I'm sure my plant has just been concentrating!
We have had a dull cold week, without a lot of sun, and I have been tiduing up dead growth around trhe place, which is a dank and thankless task, and I am going to find something more interesting to do next week. Unfortunately, even I an forced to admit, the place looks better for it.
I woke this morning with a hankering for scarlet, and I have been pressed to find any. I want reckless, riotous scarlet that will laugh in the face of the oncoming winter. Not much luck so far.


Acorus Alocasia Anemone Arisaema Arum Asarum Aspidistra Begonia Bromeliads Camellia
Carnivorous Cautleya Chirita Chlorophytum Clivia Colocasia Crocosmia Dionaea Drosera Epimedium
Eucomis Fuchsia Galanthus Hedychium Helleborus Hemerocallis Hepatica Hosta Impatiens Iris
Liriope Ophiopogon Pinguicula Polygonatum Ranunculus ficaria Rhodohypoxis Rohdea Roscoea Sansevieria Sarracenia
Scilla Sempervivum Tricyrtis Tulbaghia Utricularia Viola odorata Watsonia

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.
If you want to contact me, the address is infoMONKEYjohnjearrard.co.uk
When typing the address in, please replace MONKEY with the more traditional @ symbol! I apologise for the tiresome performance involved, but I am getting too much spam from automated systems as a result of having an address on the front page.