JEARRARD'S HERBAL
25th November 2018
Mahonia x media 'Lionel Fortecue' .
It has been an unsettling week. It started ten days ago (which is an unsettling in itself). We had strong winds on Friday 16th and they removed half a dozen sheets of plastic
from the greenhouse roof. Not unexpected and not a major problem though it had left a single large hole. I have been patching the roof for several years (it is old) but there are problems.
The plastic is old and brittle, the timber fixings are old and rotting, the whole process of climbing around up there is a little disturbing. I worried about it all day Saturday
and on Sunday afternoon I stripped off the whole roof. If it rained, at least I wouldn't have to water anything.
A certain amount of nervous dithering followed.
On Tuesday the morning dawned sunny and still. I cancelled the days events, bought a big plastic sheet and spent a slightly irritable day replacing the roof. It isn't perfect, but it is secure.
Already the greenhouse is noticeably warmer, it is clear that the old roof offered more psychological protection than anything else. Since then the rain has fallen and the wind has blown. The
roof is still there and if todays sunshine holds I will get up there this afternoon and finish off.
So I have been in a mood and it hasn't been one for little fluffy poppets. It has been a Mahonia mood.
'Lionel Fortescue' has distinctive upright flower spikes. Right up to the point that the long stems bend over to the ground. Then it has distinctive horizontal flower spikes.
25th November 2018
Massonia pustulata purple leaf .
The mood didn't last too long. Once I realised that the roof sheet was secure and the greenhouse warming up I felt more relaxed about the process. Is there enough slope on it now? I don't care.
Will it shed internal condensation all over the place. I don't care. Are the Pleione too wet after a couple of days outside. I don't care. In fact, I am feeling pretty
calm about everything.
Massonia pustulata waited until I had got over it before flowering. The genus comes from South Africa and has adapted to withstand a long hot summer dormancy. I don't deliberately
treat it harshly but I do tend to forget it is there so it doesn't get watered in summer. As the Nerine start into growth I remember the other winter-growing bulbs and they all get moistened.
The Massonia respond with a pair of massive, knobbly leaves and the large plants grow a little fat doorknob of a bud between them. This is the purple leaved form. If it is grown
hard the leaves can be brownish purple but mine grow in a large tub. They never get too stressed, they rarely turn purple and if they did I would dig them up and check for vine weevil
eating the roots. My plants are self-fertile and I think they are pollinated by flies rather than the gerbils that are said to perform the task in habitat.
I don't think I have gerbils but perhaps they are nocturnal and I haven't noticed them.
25th November 2018
Galanthus corcyrensis .
Under the current taxonomy this has been absorbed into G. reginae-olgae and I'm not disputing that arrangement, just maintaining this stock distinct from
my other forms of the species. This form comes from Corfu and Sicily at the western end of the species distribution and it is significant to me because it flowers in the garden.
Other forms of G. reginae-olgae, though they may be satisfactory in eastern gardens, do not flower for me outside. I get leaves, they even increase slowly, but they don't flower.
G. corcyrensis isn't unduly generous in the flowering department but it does keep trying. There is some uncertainty about this stock. I am convinced that I bought it from Broadleigh
Gardens in the late 1980's but I can't find the records to confirm it. Whatever the origin, it has survived in the woods here for thirty years, mostly flowering rarely dividing.
I am trying to look after it with a bit more care these days, and once I have a spare, mature bulb it will be moved to the greenhouse where I hope it will prosper.
25th November 2018
Camellia 'Show Girl' .
One of the frustrations of replacing the greenhouse roof was having to abandon the tree removal for a while. I have a big pile of conifer branches that I would like to set light to.
However, I think I have cleared enough space to mean that I can fell the next Leyland into a clear space, I don't have to trample all over the daffodils to do it. I can't see any signs
'Rijnveld's Early Sensation' in the meadow yet but there are noses showing on the spring flowering cultivars so I expect they are there. I mowed the grass a fortnight ago
and I'm not going to do it again until June to give them a chance to grow.
The last Leyland to be felled gave Camellia 'Show Girl' a glancing blow as it came down. It was unfortunate but space was very tight and something was bound to get squashed.
In the event the damage wasn't very significant. I have spoiled the shape of the bush slightly but it needed pruning back anyway. I like the plant so much that I am a little too tolerant of its growth.
In the spring it will be cut back to four of five feet. It is less shaded now and the new growth might be more compact.
It is one of my portents of winter. If there are enough buds left it will continue to flower until spring starts to warm the garden.
The sun has come out, the wind has dropped. I must get back on the roof and tidy up the loose ends.