JEARRARD'S HERBAL
14th August 2022
Nerine seedling ex 'Janet' clone.3 .
The dry weather has continued, the garden waits patiently for some relief. It is promised for next week but I'm almost afraid to hope for rain.
It might not happen. I still have hydrangeas in flower under the trees. A couple of days ago I drove through Penzance and saw hydrangeas lining the roads
that had been burnt to a crisp, flower heads hanging, wilted beyond all hope. If there is rain next week they should produce new growth an a few weeks
but I think that the summer spectacle has ended.
So far the greenhouse has survived the drought. I have reduced water use as far as possible and most of the bulbs are dormant anyway.
In the nerine house the first flower has opened, marking the start of the autumn season. It is an open pollinated seedling from N. 'Janet'. I
noticed that it was very early last year, flowering a few days after N. 'Catherine'. I thought that it might be an aberrant flower from an enthusiastic seedling,
a manifestation of the rashness of youth. This year it has flowered even earlier, while N. 'Catherine' is still just a short spike. I have
come to the conclusion that it is a very good thing.
It would be nice to have some idea why it is so early but the N. 'Janet' was open pollinated, I have no idea of the pollen parent. None of the other seedlings has
been particularly early.
14th August 2022
Roscoea capitata .
The summer Roscoea remained dormant for long time through the spring. In the last days of June I weeded around them, as much to console myself
as anything else. Almost immediately they broke through the surface and have rushed up into flower. I grow far too many red-flowered selections of R. purpurea.
I have bought a lot of named ones and selected another dozen or so of my own seedlings. I should really sort through them and
only keep the best but it is difficult to do, they all have their merits.
I still have a few of the spring growing species beside the R. purpurea forms on the bench. I had decided that they should all go out into the garden
to give me some bench space back. It didn't happen. I noticed Roscoea capitata in flower and that was the end of that. It is staying indoors in a pot until I have raised
a batch of seedlings from it. It is a distinctive species and not slow growing but I lost it last time I got fed up with endless expansion of the Roscoea
collection. It was planted outside and never seen again. It took a long time to find a replacement so this one isn't going to be risked until I have a few more.
14th August 2022
Tulbaghia ludwigiana .
Most of the Tulbaghia flowered in the spring. They aren't dormant at present but they are resting. I have cut back the water supply. They aren't happy about it,
but they aren't really suffering either. It is another genus where I have grown too many. Every bulb grower in the country seems to have named their
own Tulbaghia seedling. I have one of my own at the moment with dark lavender flowers. It is distinctive, I am tempted to save it but I don't think it adds
anything to the cultivars already available. I'm getting ruthless in my old age.
I thinned out the Tulbaghia a couple of years ago. Those that where just variations on the lilac theme were planted outside where they can prosper, seed
and engender chaos to the delight of the local bee population. I still have too many but I don't have many too many.
Tulbaghia ludwigiana breaks the mould by flowering in summer. It is a subtle bloom, I hadn't noticed it coming up and only saw it as it opened.
It has the green and brown flowers that I am currently looking for among seedlings. They are not striking, but they are what makes the genus interesting.
14th August 2022
Hedychium wardii RF.134 .
Perhaps it is the heat (or the watering). Suddenly there seems to be too much of everything. When I planted the Hedychium collection out in the garden I thought
that I had solved the most pressing of the problems. I had a large garden space available and high hopes that they would all fit into it. The reality
was less generous. There was space for about half of the plants, the other half remain under cover while I try to think of a solution.
Hedychium wardii RF.134 has been the first to flower in the greenhouse. It marks the start of autumn. In the garden, H. wardii
is not yet showing flower spikes, but there are plenty of others that are. The heat of the summer has suited them very well. It it does finally rain next week then
there is a chance that plants that have never flowered before will make a show.
They say that every cloud has a silver lining. I would be happy just to see a few clouds, I don't even need silvery. Dark and threatening
will do just fine.