JEARRARD'S HERBAL
Thats enough introduction - on with the plants!
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... out in the garden.
12th April 2009
Serapias lingua .
I don't know where the week has gone, but it has been a good one. The rain fell on Monday, which made a big difference - things had been getting far too dry
and it was slowing down the spring. On Tuesday somebody kindly offered to sort out the level of the new terrace in the garden - it would have taken me weeks to get it right,
and an expert managed it in a couple of hours!
Wednesday and Thursday I was away from home, so the rest of the week has been tied up with watering and potting. Still plenty to do, at this time of the year
seedlings develop faster than I can cope with it (and there is still plenty of seed to sow). Most important are the Hellebores, which must be done soon or they will get stunted.
When I bought this Serapias I was rather frightened of it - hardy orchids have a reputation for being touchy, and I have never tried Serapias before,
so I was groping around in the dark trying to work out what it wanted. As a consequence I was very slow to repot it - I was worried that it woulod be fussy about
new compost and then turn up its toes and be gone. In the end, I put it in a bigger pot and it has romped away, so I should stop being so precious about things!
12th April 2009
Epimedium davidii 'Dwarf Form' .
It has been quite cool, but the sun has shone and the Epimedium have all burst into bloom at once. I have spent an hour or so taking photographs this afternoon
and I will do some more next week. A couple of new things in flower, but this dwarf form of E.davidii was looking as good as any of them.
Collected under the number CPC960079 by Cobblewood Gardens in the USA, it makes a compact plant with large flowers and forms excellent clumps. All of the Epimedium
here are suffering from a shortage of space, and sorting that out has to be the next priority.
12th April 2009
Disporum sessile 'Sunray' .
With flowers bursting out all over the place it may seem a little perverse to show a couple of plants with good foliage, but this one is just wonderful at the moment
(and will probably get another outing when the flowers open). Introduced to the USA from Shikoku, Japan, and now spreading to woodland gardens
around the world. Rather too slow for me to risk outside yet, I have it in a pot and it is slowly increasing. The bright yellow centre of the leaf fades to creamy
white as the season progresses.
12th April 2009
Podophyllum pleianthum .
And this amazing leaf grew from a tiny piece of rhizome I was given in 2005. Rather like the Serapias, I have been rather cautious about how these are potted.
This year I have bitten the bullet and repotted them all, so now I am waiting anxiously for them to appear above the surface. This one has now emerged
and spread this wonderful velvety leaf over the pot.
I am not convinced that it is a form of P.pleianthum, which usually has taller green leaves, but I will wait for it to flower before I offer
any further thoughts on its identity.
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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