JEARRARD'S HERBAL
Thats enough introduction - on with the plants!
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... out in the garden.
4th October 2009
Begonia gracilis F&M266 .
This took a while to get going in the spring, but once it started it rushed into flower, and has been going ever since. It isn't the sort of thing
I would expect to be hardy, though it was collected at 2400m in Hidalgo, Mexico. This year I kept it in the conservatory, but bulbils that were
scattered around the greenhouse have also started to grow, so it has taked a serious frost (although it would have been completely dry).
In the last few weeks it has started to produce a new crop of bulbils among the flowers and if they spread around it might even become weedy,
at least in the greenhouse.
A second form was introduced at the same time (F&M377) which has much more attractive leaves, heavily marked with dark brown, but it hasn't taken
the winter so well. It started into growth in July, and I don't think it will make it to flowering this year.
4th October 2009
Hedychium 'Tai Pink Princess' .
The Hedychium are having good season. Something about the cold winter seems to have helped them. I grow a number of cultivars
raised by Doyle Smittle from the University of Georgia. The Yellow and cream ones seem to flower without trouble but this is the first of the pink ones
to flower here, and this year every cane has buds on it.
There are a number of other American hybrids that have not yet flowered here - I think they really need more summer heat than I can provide even in the greenhouse.
It will be interesting to see if they perform any better outside. H.gardnerianum seems to perform better outside, where high light levels keep it shorter
and prompt it to flower more freely.
4th October 2009
Nerine 'Fucine' .
It is turning into a spectacular season for the Nerine. They have been slowly growing on me over the last few years and I am getting more and more
interested in them. They are producing ridiculous bright flowers just as the season starts to slip into greyness.
I have two stocks labelled 'Fucine' - this one is probably the real thing, the other looks like N.bowdenii (there are all sorts of misnamed stocks
in circulation at present). It is flowering at the same time as x Amarine 'Wildside' and I can't see any significant difference, which makes me a
little suspect of of the x Amarine (which I have always though has petals that are too narrow to be a hybrid).
4th October 2009
Passiflora alata .
A rather recent acquisition - I saw it in flower, and my weakness for passion flowers temporarily took control - I have owned it for approximately four hours!
I wouldn't normally show a picture of something so new, but the winter is closing in and this may well be the last flower this year. And winter is closing in,
so it might not be with me next spring! My intention is to take some cuttings tomorrow to overwinter in the propagator and see if the plant itself makes it in
the conservatory. On the label, it promises that it is reliably hardy as long as it is protected from frost!
I have been growing a few new tender climbers recently and I can forsee a terrible tangle arising next year unless I suddenly get organised.
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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