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.
24th October 2010
Lysionotus gamosepalus BSWJ7241 .
A very autumnal week - all bright skies and cold nights. Autumn colour should be good this year, but when I checked on some of the small Acer
in pots I found that most of the small twigs had died off in the dry early summer. (Whoops). No colour this year then.
In the conservatory, this Lysionotus has had a couple of flushes of flower already so this burst of autumn
enthusiasm is a bonus.
The plant was collected in the north of Thailand by Crug Farm Plants, and there isn't really much reason to suppose it will be cold hardy,
but it seems to prosper of the worst of the frost is kept off. It would be happier if I put it under the bench for the winter. It would be happier if
I found a larger pot for it. It would be happier if I remembered to water it more frequently, but on balance, it is cheerful enough.
24th October 2010
Dahlia merckii .
I have been rather jaded about species Dahlia for a couple of seasons. Two hard winters in a row have killed a lot, and caused a lot of
general tattiness and feebleness so they have dropped down my list of desirability. So much so that when I was offered some new species recently, I
gave them a distinctly tepid reception. Perhaps things will hot up again for next year, I have certainly seen plants doing well in much colder gardens than mine.
Dahlia merckii has been beyond reproach however (though I was a little peevish when I couldn't get the white flowered form
earlier in the year, but hopefully it didn't show). It has tolerated being abandoned in the herbaceous border while the brambles took over,
and now they have been removed, it has bounced back with an enthusiasm that borders on recklessness. Early in the season I was photographing
the occasional flowers in a stylish and artful way but the last few weeks have seen the performance build to a lilac crescendo that requires
neither art nor artifice to portray. Stand in front of it with a camera. Push the button.
24th October 2010
Nerine bowdenii 'Marnie Rogerson'.
There are a whole range of these pale pink forms of Nerine bowdenii. You will find a great deal more variation in the cultivar names
than you will find in the cultivars. They all probably descend from pale pink plants collected for Veitch's nursery
some time before 1910. The wild population in South Africa is very poorly known and further variation may exist (or the species may be
on the brink of extinction, very little is known!)
This one is growing well out in the garden. In fact, it is growing much better than it ever did under glass. Unfortunately, it was banished
into the herbaceous border because of the presence of virus, which is infecting a large number of the named clones.
24th October 2010
Dermatobotrys saundersii .
A delightful little shrublet from South Africa. It isn't really a succulent, it is rather dry and woody, but it is very drought tolerant.
I bought it a couple of seasons ago, simply because I had never heard of it. It turns out to be a rare little thing that grows as an epiphyte in the trunks
of trees. I had some vague idea about trying it on a tree fern and kept it in the conservatory for a while, where it sulked.
Once I moved it into a bright greenhouse it cheered up, so I think the tree fern idea is a non-starter. It likes bright light.
I was told that it occasionally produced small scarlet flowers, so I got rather excited when I saw that it had buds, and have been waiting for them to open for weeks.
A very pleasing little thing!
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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