JEARRARD'S HERBAL
Thats enough introduction - on with the plants!
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... out in the garden.
22nd November 2009
Anemone obtusiloba 'Sulphurea' .
There is always a week in the middle of autumn when I start to bleat on about spring being almost here, and I'm afraid to say it has arrived!
This Anemone has been quite astonishing, and should really have appeared here long ago. It has been in flower since last spring without a break
and it looks as though it is intending to continue right through the winter.
The species has a wide distribution through the Himalayas and is usually seen in the white and blue flowered forms. The yellow one is said to be more
tolerant of warm dry conditions, and this has done so well that I am going to try some others.
A few years ago I tried to grow the very closely related A.trullifolia in both its blue and white forms, and managed to kill them both
quite rapidly, but they are so wonderful that I am tempted to have another try.
22nd November 2009
Ipheion uniflorum 'Rolf Fiedler' .
The Ipheion are all starting to produce flowers, though there should be a more impressive display in March. The best of them at the moment
is 'Rolf Fiedler'. The flowers are lavender-blue, but much more striking than 'Wisley Blue', which looks quite good outside, but is rather pale
for pot culture. Last year I got some bulbs of 'Jessie', which I remember as a much purer blue but they havent yet flowered together
for comparison.
I keep meaning to try to produce some Ipeion hybrids, but haven't got around to it yet, it seems to me that there is still plenty of
scope for improvement.
22nd November 2009
Narcissus 'Rijnvelds Early Sensation' .
The first of the Narcissus is unquestionably an indicator of the coming spring. I grow a group of them in the meadow to enjoy the flowers in the run
up to the 'C' word (too early to say it yet!) I also planted a large group on the verge outside the house so that I could enjoy them
as I came and went, and last Friday they decided to mow the verges and the whole lot have been beheaded (for the second year running)
so I'm going to give up on that bright idea.
This should continue to flower right through the winter, and by the time the rest of the daffodils catch up with it I will have had more than enough
of them for the year. A lot more trees were cleared from the meadow during the summer so there is more light and more space for the daffodils
and I am hoping for an unbroken sheet of yellow one day.(It won't happen, it flowers in spits and spurts through the winter rather than rising from the ground
in a mighty yellow wave.) By the time it finishes there should be a carpet of snowdrops to replace them, if I have been forgiven for
driving a JCB over the top of them to remove tree stumps when they were dormant!
22nd November 2009
Prunus subhirtella 'Autumnalis' .
Every year I am a bit tempted to grow more cherries, but reality seems to be going in the opposite direction. The trees I have removed from the meadow
were mostly cherries, and there are three more left that might come out next year. The large flowered hybrids are wonderful, but they seem to get canker problems
rather badly here.
Last week there was nothing showing on the bare branches, possibly just a hint of swelling, but little indication of the flowers to come. They have suddenly appeared
out of nowhere, much like the daffodils, but walking past it in the week I suddenly realised that it was bursting with pale pink enthusiasm for the season.
There is something unspeakably charming about these fragmentary promises of the new year. In recent years some of the larger trees have been shaded by some
Leyland Cypress , planted as windbreaks, and much as I love the Leylands, I think a few more of them are going to be removed to enhance the cherry blossom of autumn.
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