JEARRARD'S HERBAL
Thats enough introduction - on with the plants!
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... out in the garden.
15th August 2010
Agapanthus 'Flore Pleno' .
An overcast week, and the nights are getting cooler and darker. A lot of the "tropical" plants are coming to perfection
except possibly the Canna, which are still struggling to look established - most of the ones left outside gave up the struggle long ago, but
the newly planted ones are coming along.
The Agapanthus have come to a peak this week. A couple of good dark blue forms are performing well, and I have bought a couple
of new ones in flower. I have also gritted my teeth and thrown out 'Midnight Cascade' which should be astonishingly dark, but is actually dead!
'Flore Pleno' is an old cultivar with large heads of fat flowers. There are a couple of other double flowered forms around (I'm on the lookout for
'White Heaven' at a sensible price) but I think there is some improvement still to come. I have been poking about in the flowers of this one
and I'm not sure it has any of the parts required to found a dynasty of seedlings so I'll have to put some thought into it.
15th August 2010
Schizocarphus nervosus .
Schizocarphus was a name I didn't recognise when I saw it for sale last year, so it came home with me and promptly lost
all its leaves and disappeared. Fortunately, I had discovered it was one of the parts that Scilla has been broken up into, so I
assumed there was a bulb underneath it all somewhere and left it to get on with it.
I was pleased enough to see a feeble leaf emerge in spring but it didn't look strong enough to flower, so this modest offering
is a welcome surprise. The species comes from grassland along the eastern coast of Africa. This one survived last winter, so I assume it originated in the
South African part of the range, and not the tropics. It's not the most striking thing, but a fun little plant.
15th August 2010
Begonia gracilis F&M266 .
I bought two forms of this Begonia from Pan-Global plants a couple of years ago and was warned that they might not be very hardy.
The really spectacular one (F&M377) died during the first winter but this one has survived and spread itself about a bit.
As the season progresses it will form hundreds of tiny bulbils in the leaf axils and they break off all over the place. Currently appearing
in a Furcraea nearby, I will have to ensure it has a pot of its own again before winter.
15th August 2010
Zephyranthes reginae .
I sowed the seed in 2005 and every year I have had a few grassy leaves that I have rather cynically assumed was Habranthus tubispathus
so this pale yellow flower was a delight (and I will overlook the five year wait).
Discovered in 1954 in Eastern Mexico, it wasn't named until 1990. It is described as increasing freely in a pot and I seem to have three bulbs
so perhaps 'increasing freely' means something different to other people. Or perhaps I am getting it wrong, or cold wet Cornwall is less
appealing than Eastern Mexico, and it is sulking.
Well, I spent the afternoon bobbing up and down in the sea and it seems fine to me!
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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