JEARRARD'S HERBAL
Thats enough introduction - on with the plants!
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... out in the garden.
25th July 2010
Briggsia kurzii BSWJ9342 .
I am feeling a little guilty about this Briggsia. I bought it from Crug Farm Palnts last summer, and it came out of the box in flower. I repotted it,
stood it in the back of the greenhouse and promptly forgot about it. When poking around among the mixed foliage on the bench this sfternon, I found it in flower again.
It is fair to say that I haven't exactly worked hard to achieve this result, but I'm happy enough to enjoy it anyway.
Introduced from the Lachung Valley in Sikkim in 2002 it appears to be cold hardy, although as with most generiads that doesn't mean it will be wind, rain and accident hardy
enough to grow successfully outside.
25th July 2010
Impatiens amphorata .
I was given a small clump of annual Impatiens seedlings early in the year and I pricked them out into pots (expecting them to be devoured by slugs immediately, which is my common experience with
pricked out Impatiens). They have grown astonishingly, and apart from occasionally requiring more water than I have managed to provide, the process has been uneventful.
They arrived accompanied by the comment "probably mostly Impatiens amphorata" which I was happy about, because it's not a species I knew.
As fortune would have it, there are a number of different plants in the group. I think that this one is actually I.amphorata, and now it needs a larger pot so it can seed about the place safely.
I will try to collect seed, but past experience has shown that the most reliable way of keeping the annual species is to plant them among the Hedychium and leave them to get on with it.
This seems quite pretty, but I need to get hold of a piece of the noxiously weedy I.glandulifera to see just how different it really is.
Described as a common plant in the western Himalayas, I may live to regret it's stylish arrival.
25th July 2010
Impatiens amphorata .
A second species that cropped up among the seedlings, I am fairly sure this is I.flemingii, but open to correction. Attractive in the greenhouse, but a bit tall
and loose, I suspect it would be small flowered to the point of triviality if grown outside.
There seem to be one or two other plants in the group. One is almost certainly the same as my stock of I.scabrida. I am down to a single plant this year, so a boost
to the stock is welcome. The next plant is very similar, but has far more flowers in the upper leaf axils and was making a much better show. I still need to
sort out the identification - I know there are a couple of very similar species in the group.
25th July 2010
Hedychium 'Stephen'.
The Hedychium season has started, and in the last week a number have come into flower. 'Stephen' is one of my favourites, the large heads of large flowers make a big show.
It is not as keen as 'Sorung' to reflower later in the season so it will have a couple of good weeks, and then that will be it for the year.
The evergreen Hedychium are still struggling up after a difficult winter and hopefully there will be a decent display later in the year - no sign of flower heads yet
but it is still early in the season.
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