JEARRARD'S HERBAL
8th May 2022
Acer palmatum 'Beni Tsukasa' .
The soft light of spring is hardening. For months the garden has rippled with gentle colours, from the first snowdrops to the latest Erythronium.
Things have moved on, the evergreen azaleas are in full bloom. If they ripple at all it is with chromatic muscularity, bulging and flexing their hues
against cottage garden complacency.
The dry spell continues. It is the usual pattern for spring, eventually the clouds will roll in from the sea and the grass will sing with the silvery threads
of running water. Until then the garden is hardening in the sunshine, the shade of trees has become a refuge. I forgot to wear a hat as I went out on Friday. I
remembered again very quickly.
I had hoped to move some of the Acer palmatum this spring, they are getting crowded as they grow. They look a bit like flustered commuters in a lift, trying to maintain
an impossibly small personal space arounds them . I have more space available, I should have moved them but somehow the time ran out.
'Beni Tsukasa' has performed its annual pink marvel. Part of me wants to move it into light shade with the purple and pink azaleas where it can be spectacularly shameless.
Part of me wants to be more subversive.
8th May 2022
Cornus florida var. urbiniana .
Cornus florida urbiniana is a rare dogwood from the mountains of eastern Mexico. I planted it some time ago in a space where a magnolia had died.
When it went in I was expecting the usual Cornus florida performance, twiggy growth, some hint of autumn colour and an occasional flower. The
climate here doesn't provide enough summer heat for the floral performance and spectacular autumn colour of the eastern USA. Fortunately the Mexican variety
is adapted to the softer mountain conditions of eastern Mexico and it has flowered abundantly and reliably for several years.
I hope for seed but it doesn't seem to set any. I could find space for a comfortable grove of them. Not enough to settle a Cornus cloud on the spring landscape
but enough to lie under on a gentle slope and watch the azure blue fragments of sky scintillate in its arms. My plant has an angular growth habit that displays the flowers
in parallel planes but I have seen it billowing in thickets like bubbling thunderheads forming on a sunny day, cloud after cloud of tumbling promise.
I must plant some more. They might only occasionally match my image but it would never be forgotten.
8th May 2022
Magnolia 'Galaxy' .
Magnolias are funny things in this garden, some of them grow and some don't. I can't explain it. I have a good soil and a mild climate which are generally plus points.
I am also quite exposed to the wind (less so as the windbreak establishes) which magnolias will not appreciate. Still, some grow and some do not. I planted a row of eight at the top of the garden,
four have grown strongly, four died when they were young. Down by the front entrance 'Black Tulip' seems to have died but a couple of feet away 'Emperor' has established,
at least for now. I don't understand it. In practise I keep planting without expecting success. Some of them will become trees, others will fail at an early age.
'Galaxy' was one of the survivors, growing at the top of the garden where the wind ruffles its composure. It has prospered and flowers late in the season
dusting the branches with flowers just as the leaves expand. I enjoy its wayward blooms that scatter heavy petals as they fade, falling to the ground
with a soft thud.
8th May 2022
Hyacinthoides non-scripta .
There is a new naturalism sweeping through gardens at present. People are welcoming in our native plants to fill the space with romance and pollinators. Call it wisdom
or revelation, call it laziness if you will, weeds are the new wonder-plants. Of course, gardens full of weeds are nothing new whether they were apothecary's gardens, wild gardens
in the Robinson tradition or more modern gardens with "conservation" or "ecological" branding. The truth is that weeds are nothing new in gardens, there is a time and a place to embrace them
and this has been the week.
The bluebells have been magnificent. I should really have a bluebell viewing party, invite some friends around in the evening and drink a bottle of something rather nice.
Unfortunately subversiveness has taken hold. I have spectacular dark bluebells and a spectacular pink Acer. I am fighting the urge to combine them.
There is plenty of space for some shrubs among the bluebells and a dozen Acer palmatum 'Beni Tsukasa' would certainly have impact. I little bit of reckless drama can be a good thing.
A little bit of careful thought wouldn't hurt either, it's not a thing to rush into.