JEARRARD'S HERBAL
27th August 2023
Hyacinthoides lingulata
I suffer a bit from unusual wind and now I have a crooked banana. Perhaps we don't need to go any further down that road. Strange things happened to the weather last weekend. A gusty wind
got behind Musa 'Tibet' and knocked some stems over. It blew from the sheltered side, out into the open, it was very peculiar. There has been a tropical storm in California
depositing unexpected rain and local flooding. It's so odd you might almost call it you might almost call it autumnal. Seasonal mists have descended here before the arrival of the August bank holiday. It is
as if the weather was being capricious.
Mercy me.
I had an urge to cling on to the last of summer. The Disa have finished writing their fiery story across the greenhouse, but there is one yellow D. uniflora still looking good. It is my weak growing clone,
slow to start and slow to develop. It crowns the Disa season with spectacular lethargy, a guttering flame from the exhausted ashes of the inferno.
Summer sees me writing with the doors and windows wide, a glass of juice beside me and a soporific yawn for motivation. Hyacinthoides lingulata has arrived, the door
is bolted and I'm surrounded by coffee cups and bars of chocolate. I suspect autumn has arrived.
I'm not suggesting that the Hyacinthoides is to blame. The clustered blue flowers caught me by surprise when I was watering the greenhouse yesterday.
They are the symptom, not the cause, of seasonal change.
27th August 2023
Colocasia gaoligongensis
I have a warm cold greenhouse. Parts of it are almost hot. That is to say, I have an unheated greenhouse which warms in the sun quite efficiently. It has an irregular shape,
having been added to in places over the years. There are several doorways but fewer doors so it cannot be closed. It can't keep the winter out, but it is very good
at encouraging the spring in. Temperature, airflow and shading vary from place to place.
Colocasia gaoligongensis thrives in one of the warmer corners. It is completely hardy and I should really plant some outside, I'm sure it would prosper.
I am reluctant to disturb the status quo. I have grown a number of Colocasia over the years and this is the only one that has grown well. Summer isn't
really hot enough here to suit them. I'm tempted to give Colocasia 'Pink China' another go, but it's an idle idea not an obsessive urge.
I caught the Colocasia in flower just as it was starting to fade. It should have been accompanied by the rich scent of ripe bananas but it passed me by.
I had COVID last week, all I can smell is burning rubber.
27th August 2023
Hedychium 'C. P. Raffill'
In the garden the Hedychium are filling the space with jovial floral laughter. Ha ha, no sense of smell, ha ha ha. There are seven taxa in flower in the garden at the moment,
but only 'C. P. Raffill' is really performing. The others have offered a spike or two as advance notice that they are about to take the task of decoration seriously.
I get a moments warning to steady myself before the seasonal steam roller starts.
'C. P. Rafill' is usually the first to make a striking display. It will be followed in a week by 'Tara' which is slightly taller and a bolder shade of orange. 'Tai Spirit'
will come a fortnight after that and last for longer as the autumn night temperatures start to fall. It is also taller, more elegant and less visually bludgeoning.
A fortnight ago I was enjoying the foliage in the Hedychium border. The leaves flutter slightly in the wind, but the plants remain settled like a flock of relaxed
chickens ruffling their feathers. I was worried when I planted the border that it might be too much, but when it is restful it is very restful
and then when it isn't, it is orange.
27th August 2023
Amaryllis belladonna
I don't really have a plan in the garden. That isn't to say I don't do any planning, just to acknowledge that it rarely goes beyond the daydream stage. When I laid out the garden
I established a basic structure. It followed the common sense shapes of the site. I put a path around the perimeter just to make sure that I could get to it all. After that,
everything has been whimsical.
The plants that fill the garden are there by chance. I get things that I like and then I look for places to put them. It has worked out very well for the Hedychium
(though I still have 50 in the greenhouse, and nowhere to plant them). It hasn't worked out so well for Amaryllis belladonna which would like an open, sunny site.
I don't have one of those, but I do have quite a lot of Amaryllis. Quite a lot of sulky Amaryllis to be more accurate. I try to resist them, I fail.
I have just bought some Australian hybrid bulbs to try. Deeply stupid behaviour.
However, there is hope. They are said to include some genes from Brunsvigia in the mix which might make them easier to grow and flower. That was the hope when I was given some
seed of white flowered Amaryllis from Japan. Hybrid genes, excellent growers. I sowed the seed in 2014 and the first bulb has flowered in a pot in the greenhouse. It is white and magnificent
and everything I could have foolishly dreamed for.
Mature bulbs of the pure Amaryllis belladonna bought in 2009 have given me nothing but leaves in all that time. Lank, untidy, dead-duck leaves. I don't know what it is, Brunsvigia my darling,
but there's an unexpected secret in your genes.