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.
21st June 2009
Arisaema candidissimum White flowered .
Dawn of the summer solstice should really have seen me dancing round the meadow with flowers in my hair. Didn't happen. No hair!
Last week the flowers on this Arisaema were tiny twisted things like wrinkly bubbles of used chewing gum sticking out of the ground. This week the warmth
has inflated them. The white flowered form is a recent introduction - the pink one is in flower as well, and I should make sure I pollinate them. Some
fresh seed would be very welcome.
I grow three clones of Arisaema candidissimum , but so far the scented form and the yellow flowered form have eluded me. Always nice
to have something to look for!
In the background I mowed the meadow. It isn't as enchanting as dancing round it in the dawn, but it needed doing. Too much ride-on enthusiasm has left me with a
thick mulch of hay and a backache.
21st June 2009
Cornus 'Norman Haddon' .
Blue skies are the perfect backdrop for this Cornus. It has been spectacular for the last 20 years, but it is now getting rather hemmed in by
the surrounding vegetation. Now the meadow has been mowed I have a couple of months to get in and clear out a few other shrubs and give it some more space.
By october I have to be off the meadow again before the daffodils appear, so it is a short opportunity for maintenance.
The flowers start pale lime green and become softer and creamier as they expand fully. In their latter stages they develop pink tinges and then they are
followed in autumn by large red fruits. I have raised a few seedlings from it, but so far nothing as good as the parent.
21st June 2009
Epiphyllum 'Friendship' .
Down in the greenhouse this Epiphyllum is either sublime or ridiculous, and I'm not quite sure which. The flowers are enormous.
In an attempt to keep up with the times I measured this one at 26cm (but then turned the ruler over to check that it was really 10 inches).
There are a couple of other cultivars in flower at the moment but this is the outstanding one. I wanted it to have a delicious scent that would waft
around the greenhouse (in the same way that Lilium regale is at the moment) but it hasn't. I took a deep breath of something
that I recognised but can't quite put a finger on yet. Unfortunately, I will eventually remember the lavatory cleaning product concerned.
On balance, I think ridiculous.
21st June 2009
Iris ensata 'Queens Tiara' .
I have a mass of buds on the Iris ensata forms but only a few flowers. Dry warm weather over the last week has been welcome, but things are
drying out very fast, and shortly the Iris are going to need watering (and after that, the Hemerocallis and Crocosmia). A nice thunderstorm
would be just the thing!
I am planning to build a flood bed to grow them in but levelling the ground and laying concrete and all the rest of the nonsense will have to wait
until I feel like I am on top of things, and time is flying too fast for that to happen!
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.