JEARRARD'S HERBAL
5th November 2023
Pinus radiata
Wet weather through the week has been cheering. It is good to see the water tanks full to overflowing. There is a short season of appreciation, by Christmas I will be taking wet weather for
granted. For now the memory of dry weather of early summer is still vivid enough for the sound of dripping water in the greenhouse to be cheering.
However, water has been the incidental aspect of the arrival of storm Ciaran which blew through on Wednesday. Occasional rain and gusty wind. By Thursday morning the worst of it had passed
and I thought that the garden had escaped unscathed. A trip to the greenhouse showed that a roof panel had blown out but I got out a ladder and put it straight back in again.
Further investigation at the top of the garden showed that the words wind and break were peculiarly apt. One of the Pinus radiata to break the wind had in fact been broken by the wind.
The top fifteen feet had snapped off and thrown into the middle of the garden. Fortunately it had fallen without causing any more damage. I have had a couple of sessions removing it, not much left.
I planted a number of Pinus radiata when I moved in forty years ago to make the first line of a windbreak. They have made handsome trees but unfortunately they only
really get the attention they deserve when something goes wrong. This is fairly small damage, if the whole tree had blown over it would have meant a lot more work.
5th November 2023
Hedychium 'Gardner Waters'
The Hedychium in the garden are looking dejected. They enjoy wet weather but it doesn't the best in their flowers. They are usually the most dramatic thing in the garden when they bloom
but this week they have been eclipsed and they don't look happy about it. It's difficult to compete with falling timber.
Hedychium 'Gardner Waters' is a selection from the USA that flowers as the chill of autumn makes itself felt. It has good yellow flowers in large heads
and so far it has made a tidy clump. When I got it, I was sent a long chunk of rhizome more like a tree branch than a rootstock. I was worried that it might be a bit of a wanderer.
So far so good. If it starts to show any wandering habits then I will discourage it with a spade.
I still have a few Fuchsia flowers hanging on and there was a single fresh flower head on one of the Hydrangea. The bounty of late summer has faded away.
The Hedychium bed is surrounded by autumn flowering Camellia. As the last flowers of autumn turn to mush, the first of the spring flowers are opening. They look particularly bright and fresh
in the lazy light of the late season evenings.
5th November 2023
Galanthus 'Remember Remember'
The garden is clearing, the space is opening out again. It is an exhilarating thing to witness. The first green buds of spring are a thing to celebrate
and it is easy to overlook the increasing presence of trees and shrubs. Vistas close in, the light darkens and the garden becomes gloomy.
Now the leaves are falling, the sunlight has started to slip back into the garden, gently brushing the ground with delight.
Low on the ground, the last Cyclamen hederifolium are still flowering among the fallen leaves. I have a population that is slowly establishing under two ancient sycamores.
I think the ground is too dry and impoverished to hope for an astonishing autumn carpet but the passing years are delivering a wide speckling of pink.
Autumn snowdrops always look startled to me, as though then had been asleep on the train when it pulled into their station. They spring from the ground with startled dignity, rushing in a confused way through
the familiar setting. Galanthus 'Remember Remember' has other shocks to contend with, flowering as the sky is filled with fireworks this evening. In the morning I will check the garden for the fallen evidence.
It would be a tragedy if a dead rocket hit a live snowdrop but it would also be quite funny. That is often the way of things.
5th November 2023
Liquidambar styraciflua
Small details will occupy the attention through the next few months. Snowdrops and other bulbs will keep colour and delight alive as the garden slumbers. The new herbaceous border
has still to be weeded. The Hosta have died down, the last of the peonies still cling on to some orange foliage but there are some gingers and Iris
that still look obstinately green. Hopefully they will die back shortly, the bed has to be cleared completely by the end of the year. The first Crocus can
then appear from the bare ground. That is the plan anyway.
The last large details of autumn have survived storm Ciaran. This Liquidambar has been drifting away from green for a few weeks but it has suddenly gained conviction
and turned scarlet. Low sunlight has emphasised the change and the wind, that felled whole branches, has left the shimmering beauty intact.
The weather has whims, or perhaps Liquidambar leaves are tenacious. I should plant one where the leaves can tumble among the autumn snowdrops and fallen rockets.
It would be magnificent.