JEARRARD'S HERBAL
26th May 2019
Dactylorhiza maculata .
A busy week in the garden that has been hot but not quite summery and a busy day. This is not quite a summary.
One of the delights of the week was the discovery of this Dactylorhiza maculata seedling. It seemed like a fair exchange for the dead Watsonia it had replaced in the pot.
Its name is a little open to question but it seems to agree most closely with D. maculata. The flowers are pale and barely marked but I am prepared to overlook the omission.
The leaves are unspotted which seems like a more serious nomenclatural failing but it's May, that will have to be reason enough.
26th May 2019
Disa Kewensis 'May'
The excitement of the Disa nearly eclipsed the dactylorhiza-delight. The first flower opened at approximately the same time and started the season of serious orchid insanity.
I still have hundreds of seedlings to pot, endless stock plants that need repotting, and the season of new pollination is upon me. It's May, I'm happy.
26th May 2019
Ixia virididflora .
Strange new flowers come thick and fast. I hadn't noticed the thread like flower spikes of Ixia viridiflora until the buds opened. I had been worried that the corms might have died out.
It is easy enough to grow from seed, but I keep forgettiung to collect it at the appropriate season. Must try harder, it is one of those plants that would leave a noticeable space
if it died out (emotional space - the pot barely occupies enough room to sit down in during a giddy springtime spell).
26th May 2019
Utricularia reniformis .
Finally the wonderful flowers of Utricularia reniformis, a Brazilian species that flowers for me very infrequently. I was noting that to a friend with some sadness earlier in the year
when he pointed out that two of my three clones had flower buds developing. I hadn't noticed. I was overjoyed and this week the expectation has come to florition.
On which note, as Zebedee said, "Time for bed!"