JEARRARD'S HERBAL
26th September 2021
Colchicum 'Waterlily' .
In my garden at least, the chariot of the sun is hitched to a pair of wild horses. I am impatient for the seasons, yearning for the next thing. It isn't sensible
but gardens are rarely sensible, that isn't the point. Gardens are wild, reckless opportunities to throw caution to the winds and roll about in the resulting joy like a dog on a soft carpet.
Suddenly in the autumn my patience returns for a spell. Just a week or two more of summer might be nice, a moment to pause before the dark nights draw in.
I have been watching the space under the trees at the top of the garden, patting the ground to reassure the sleeping Colchicum. Not just yet, give it a few more days.
I have been hoping that the overgrowth of Red Campion would die back before the flowers appeared but mists and autumn rains have put an end to dormancy, the Colchicum 'Waterlily' are up.
This is just the start but it means that I have to stay on the paths now or risk crushing the slender buds as they push through the soil. I finished clearing the branches overhead
a fortnight ago, next year they will get more light and moisture. Every year I hope for a solid carpet of pink beneath the trees, every year I think it gets closer.
Sunshine and showers through the week have drawn summer to an end. There has been a heavy dew on the grass in the mornings and the weak sunshine has filtered through a fine mist hanging in the air.
The first autumn snowdrop is showing a bud and the impatient yearning for spring has started.
26th September 2021
Hedychium 'Thai Spirit' .
The Hedychium have done well in the garden this year. Spring started with a cool spell and then a very dry April but as soon as the temperatures rose and there was some rain
they burst into growth with enthusiasm. About half of the collection were planted out in the garden and they are looking better than they ever did in the greenhouse. It is very satisfying
and it has the added advantage that I haven't had to water them endlessly. I would like to get the second half of the collection planted out but I have no idea where to put them.
The plan had been to cut down some old Leyland Cypress and use the space for the Hedychium. It might still happen that way if there is time and energy available for felling trees.
Hedychium 'Thai Spirit' is the last of a cluster of orange flowered "H.coccineum" forms to flower. In reality they are probably all forms of H. x moorei, the hybrid between
H. coccineum and H. gardnerianum. They vary slightly but nobody really needs more than one. 'Tara' is the usual choice, if only because it is most easily available.
'C. P. Raffill' is the oldest, raised by Charles Raffill at Kew and given an RHS Award of Merit in 1941. My favourite is 'Thai Spirit', introduced from Thailand by Aloha Tropicals in California.
I assume it was just found in a garden somewhere.
There is something rather random about its introduction that appeals to my chaotic nature. I think it has brighter orange flowers and more glaucous leaves than the other two.
I got my young plant from Aloha Tropicals back in the days when it was still possible to import plants from the States. Looking at their website today I see the picture they are using
is of my plant in my greenhouse. It is a strange, circular world (though perhaps I am behind the curve, that is hardly news).
26th September 2021
Nerine bowdenii 'Albivetta' .
The Hedychium had overwhelmed the Hedychium house. It had been anticipated but I spent a few years in denial. In the first difficult year I went through the greenhouse with string and stakes, tying them all back
so that I could still get in to water. I have been getting tangled up in odd bits of string ever since. They had to be planted out, there was no other realistic option. The second half of the collection will have to follow.
I have control for now but it isn't going to last.
The Nerine were in a similar state and I came to a similar conclusion. The N. bowdenii cultivars were mixed up in the greenhouse with the N. sarniensis cultivars,
it was a mess. True, it was a glorious mess but practicality had to take over. The N. bowdenii all had to go outside. I was worried - am still worried - that I wouldn't be able to keep them free enough of weeds.
That is a problem under consideration. Fortunately the plants seem to have preferred conditions outside. It is wetter in the garden during summer when they are growing than
it was in the Nerine House.
'Albivetta' is one of the earliest of the recent wave of Dutch introductions, the pale flowers have blush pink tips to the buds. It has been outside for a couple of years and is slowly growing stronger.
I have raised a few seedlings from it but I have yet to produce anything better.
26th September 2021
Roscoea purpurea 'Red Emperor'.
Roscoea stumble through the garden like the performance of a clumsy clown. There is a great fanfare in spring as the first R. cautleyoides opens then some time-filling
through summer until the R. purpurea cultivars take to the stage for a grand finale. They have been at it for a couple of months. A slapstick routine would be greeted with
abject applause by now but the Roscoea are still raising a smile.
There are too many red ones. It is sad, but in our excitement to breed them we have raised a legion, a horde of overwhelming scarlet. I have selected a dozen that I really love, but I'm not going to name any.
They will go into the garden in magnificent anonymity. If any of them are still magnificent in a couple of decades the situation can be reconsidered.
'Red Emperor' was raised by Keith Wiley in the first ruby flush of Roscoea breeding. It was selected for the colour and width of the labellum but I favour it for the number of flowers it can produce at one time.
They don't last very long but as with the clumsy clown, they don't stop trying.
The first heavy rains of autumn are expected tonight, the early Colchicum flowers will be flattened and the ground will be softened for the emergence of a pink army. Perhaps. I hope.
If it happens, I will show it. If not, there is always next year.