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.
31st October 2010
Zingiber mioga 'Crug's Zing' .
Well, the clocks have been reset to 'Winter Dreary Time' and the long dark evenings of hammering away at a keyboard have set in, garnished only with
a side salad of gloom and futility and the thought that the worst is yet to come. My, how I love the winter!
All the portents have been there, of course. The snowdrops have started, the Winter Cherries have silly little flowers hidden under the
(surprisingly well coloured) leaves and I had to switch on the heaters in the house. I think I am going to knock a shed down tomorrow. That will cheer me up!
Midst the autumnal decay (which has become slimy underfoot) there are one or two bright sparks. This one is a little slug eaten, but a delightful find. The leafy
stems are now flat on the ground, but the first tiny flower was open when I went out this morning. I have several clones of the hardy Japanese ginger
and they all have pretty primrose flowers. I bought this one on the promise of pinkness, and then have been waiting for a couple of years
as the expectation of disappointing yellowness has grown. I was wrong, all is well, pinkness prevails!
This clone was collected by Crug Farm Plants on the island of Cheju-do off the coast of Korea.
31st October 2010
Hedychium 'Kin Ogi' .
Tony Avent at Plant Delights Nursery was singing the praises of this Hedychium a few years ago, and although it was slow to establish here, it has performed
well for the last couple of years. The colour is a strong peach and it comes rather late in the year, but it does come. I have a few more with flowing heads developing
that are in the hands of the fickle weather gods, messrs Random and Malice. If we are spared excessive cold, then I should have flowers in the greenhouse through
until January, or alternatively another year of November mush!
This was originally distributed as 'Kanogie' (and I still have to change the name on my own web page), and although the original raiser has yet to be traced,
it is clearly one of the older Japanese hybrids and may well succeed in the garden.
31st October 2010
Streptocarpus 'Bristol's Black Bird'.
It is very easy to get distracted at this time of the year by the urge to plant out new stuff, and as a consequence the greenhouse has been rather neglected this week
(and needs to be watered in the morning). The Streptocarpus have been stunning all summer, and now they need to come inside again for the winter,
if sufficient windowsills can be found. A few years ago I killed S.pentherianus by leaving it in the greenhouse because I had been promised it was hardy, so
I don't think it is worth risking any of the modern cultivars, though I am tempted to give it a small trial. Lethargy may play a part!
This is an astonishing black flower and although it looks a little wierd and is difficult to photograph, it does always catch the attention. I recently bought
'Kim', which is a much more elegant single flower in deepest purple but so far I haven't managed to catch the colour in a picture (and it is not as good as this anyway).
31st October 2010
Persicaria campanulata .
We have reached the season where I start scrabbling around to find things worth photographing, and most of the garden is decaying away. Irritatingly, the best
herbaceous plant around at the moment is this weedy Persicaria. I conduct a continual war of attrition against it but it retreats to the out of the way corners
of the garden, and then re-invades the moment I drop my guard.
This seedling is growing in the hedge on the southern boundary and is irritatingly good in flower at the moment. Deep pink flowers in compact heads. The
plant even looks tolerably compact, but I am not foolish enough to think it will stay that way. Next time I have the herbicide out it is toast!
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.
I have a lot of good intentions when it comes to updating this site, and I try to keep a note
about what is going on, if you are interested.
If you want to contact me, the address is infoMONKEYjohnjearrard.co.uk
When typing the address in, please replace MONKEY with the more traditional @ symbol! I apologise for the tiresome performance involved, but I am getting too much
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