JEARRARD'S HERBAL
Thats enough introduction - on with the plants!
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... out in the garden.
21st November 2010
Hedychium 'Filigree'.
The garden has had a quiet week so it was a surprise to hear on the news that Cornwall had suffered heavy flooding and that road and rail links
had been cut. It passed overhead here in the night and rattled the windows a bit. Fortunately, I'm near the top of the hill
so the closest I've been to flooding so far has been watching water from the storm drains flowing down the street. On one occasion I might
just have managed to scrape down the pavement in a canoe, but I decided not to try.
Meantime the autumn has ground to a halt and there is a sense of expectation that at any moment we might be hit by a serious frost.
There are only a couple of flower heads left on the Hedychium and a few developing flower cones. A couple of months of mild weather
would allow them to develop, but it might not happen!
21st November 2010
Nerine 'Amy Doncaster' .
The Nerine are also coming to an end. So far, not as much seed developing on the hybrids as I had hoped, but I will pollinate everything again next week
and see what happens. Either way it won't be a catastrophe - I have too many pots of developing seedlings already, but it's always nice to have something new coming on.
This is a hybrid between N.sarniensis and (presumably) N.bowdeni. Unlike most other hybrids of that parentage it retains the look, and to
some extent the colour of N.sarniensis. I'm not expecting it to be fertile, but I will pollinate it anyway and see what happens.
21st November 2010
Schlumbergera 'Gold Charm'.
Autumn in the garden, but winter seems to have reached the greenhouse. The first flowers in the Schlumbergera have opened.
For the moment this is going to be a 'winter' cactus, because I'm not ready to use the 'C' word yet. This seems to be the strongest growing of the winter cactus hybrids.
It isn't the best colour of the yellow hybrids, though it improves if it is kept warm, but it is the most reliable.
During last winter many of the older plants lost branches to botrytis, so I am pleased they have recovered well enough to flower. Most of the smaller plants are coming
into the house this year just to be on the safe side and 'Gold Charm' might come with them just to give it a chance to recover from the near freezing temperatures
it usually has to survive. I was given cuttings of a number of new plants in the spring and as they come into flower the process of
identifying them begins. Hopefully there will be some distinctive ones among them.
21st November 2010
Fuchsia excorticata .
A few weeks ago I cut down some large conifers that were sheltering a corner of the garden, and as a result a few of the shrubs underneath
have produced an exuberant flush of growth. I had forgotten I still grew Fuchsia 'Diana Wright' and Graham Hutchins pink fruited form of
Aristotelia fruticosa, both very pleasing.
Fuchsia excorticata has been tucked under their shelter for many years, and in January I usually seek it out to look for the
odd flowers springing directly from the old stems. This year the additional light has meant it is already in flower, looking as good
as I have ever seen it. I could wait until mid-winter before showing it here, but it is also a little more exposed now, so it might be a bit more prone to winter damage.
The first of the Camellia has now opened (and been eaten by a deer) but no sign Narcissus yet in the garden, though they can't be far away.
Next week I must move some of the tender things inside and settle things in for the winter. Hopefully, like the flooding, winter will be over before I realise it has happened.
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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