JEARRARD'S HERBAL
31st July 2022
Anigozanthus flavidus .
A cooler week followed a little bit of rain over the weekend. I have just repaired a hole in the greenhouse roof and it was very satisfying to stand under the repair
and watch the light drizzle accumulate. It would have been nice to see it sluicing swiftly into the gutter but it wasn't that sort of rain. I'm not complaining, my tiny waterlily
was getting close sunbathing on the beach and it has now returned to its watery life. I helped it a little with a watering can when the rain wasn't enough to do the job.
Fortunately the week was cooler and mostly overcast. The garden has relaxed from the heat and although we need more rain the garden has edged back from the brink of collapse.
Among the Agave I have a plant of Anigozanthus flavidus given to me as a seedling. I wasn't expecting it to be hardy enough to survive but it has gone from strength to strength.
The green, hairy flowers with dark "faces" are not classics of floral beauty but they have remarkable poise and a tiny tickle of menace, like an angry growl from
a teddy bear. If it produced seed I would grow more of them.
I am doing the opposite with the Agave. Weeding in the Agave house had become an unpleasant way to shed blood in the interests of horticulture.
I have reduced the prickly menace by substantially reducing their number.
31st July 2022
Dyckia goehringii .
The danger of prickly plants in the garden has increased significantly in the last decade. In the case of the Agave they have simply grown larger. Convenient pot-sized babies have become
sprawling adolescents. I always knew that something would have to be done long before they flowered and it seems that long-before has arrived.
I have kept a small selection of those large plants that have softer leaves.
Dyckia goehringii arrived because I admired its gorgeous silvery armed leaves when I saw it at Cotswold Garden Flowers. I should have recognised the danger
when it latched on to my hand as I picked it up. On the other hand, it was beautiful and I do love Dyckia. I am still attached to it, and it still takes every opportunity
to be attached to me. The rosette has grown and divided and I would have split it by now if I had the courage. I haven't. It it ever gets too big then I will assault it with a
long-handled spade and hope that some of the shrapnel can be rooted.
A couple of weeks ago it produced, quite suddenly, a spike of flowers. Dyckia never have spectacular flowers but even by Dyckia standards these are modest.
The plant is a beauty. The flowers, though modest, show that it is happy. I keep a safe distance and hope it doesn't get smothered in weeds because I'm not pulling them out.
31st July 2022
Disa cardinalis .
It has been a spectacular season for Disa. I have a number of seed raised hybrid groups that are showing their colours for the first time and it has to be admitted
that their colour is generally red. But what wonderful reds. I have every glowing sunset shade flickering in the greenhouse as the last light illuminates the horizon.
It has been magnificent. Yesterday evening I spent a few happy hours picking out the best of them before the flowers fade.
Whilst I have been fussing over novelties, Disa cardinalis has had its best season ever. The tall spikes of flower open from the base to the top
and it will continue to bloom for several weeks. I have a few hybrids from it but it is hard to see how they will improve on the species.
It seems perfect but I can't resist meddling. A few years ago I crossed it with D. aurata and they have made nice compact plants. I was hoping that the first of them
might flower this year but I am going to have to wait a bit longer. In my imagination they are going to be wonderful, I hope they can cope with the pressure
of expectation.
31st July 2022
Aristolochia fimbriata .
I wish that I grew more Aristolochia, there is something very satisfying about their strange flowers. They enjoy the heat so it has been a good year for them
despite the shortage of rain. Aristolochia fimbriata has been flourishing in one of the warmer corners of the greenhouse. I have been told that it would be hardy here, and
I have no reason to doubt it, but I love it and it loves heat so in the greenhouse it stays. I grew my plant from seed and it germinated without any fuss. Last year I sowed
my own produced seed and not a single one came up. I don't think I did anything different, I think Aristolochia are fickle. If I get more seed this year
I will try again, I would happily plant it in every nook and cranny of the garden.
The forecast is suggesting that the temperature will rise again next week but the skies will remain overcast without delivering any rain. If the dry weather
continues for long I may come to regret parting with so many Agave.
But I don't think so.