JEARRARD'S HERBAL
21st April 2024
Geranium phaeum
Cold weather has obscured the progress of spring. I have lit the fire in the evenings, it has all seemed very wintery.
Cold winds have ripped through the garden but the ground is bursting with the freshness of new growth. The new herbaceous border is looking very optimistic.
Peonies, Astilbe and Hosta are all showing strong growth. The Agapanthus have appeared in tight clumps. Scattered among the herbaceous
enthusiasm, there is a carpet of annual weed seedlings. I will try to stay on top of them, but I know that by late summer the border will have developed a very "natural"
character. I don't mind. The herbaceous plants were all selected for producing tight clumps that will suppress the weeds when they finally knit together.
That day is coming. Slowly, year by year, the border is asserting itself.
Closer to the house, Geranium phaeum has a different strategy, flowering among the rough undergrowth before the grasses really get going. When this patch of Geranium
was first planted it was all 'Bowles Red', however over the years it has seeded around. The seedlings are all dark but they are very variable.
21st April 2024
Arisaema ringens
Arisaema ringens was another early surprise, growing in the greenhouse. A couple of years ago I divided this plant and half of it now grows outside.
I went looking for it and there is nothing to be seen. I'm hoping that it just needs a couple more weeks to emerge.
In the greenhouse it has been moving rapidly. Last week it was a dark, pointed shoot pushing through the compost. This week it is in flower.
There is a clump of Arisaema griffithii growing in the Stone Garden at Rosemoor. I saw it yesterday, the dark, sinuous shoots had just penetrated the surface.
I have been very impressed by the way it has prospered over the last decade. About three weeks ago I bought myself one (AGS show) and planted it under the trees.
It had a short shoot emerging from the tuber. As I planted the Trillium kurabayashii I looked for it, but there was no sign. It's all rather ominous.
21st April 2024
Pinguicula longifolia ssp. caussensis
In the greenhouse, a selection of hardy Pinguicula have been seeding around for years. I pot them up when I find them and try to group the distinctive ones together.
I have given up trying to distinguish the species that made up the mix originally. Most of it is Pinguicula grandiflora, but P.corsica, P. vallisneriifolia
and P. longifolia have all scattered genes about like confetti. I was very surprised when this seedling flowered. As far as I can see, it is a pure a P. longifolia
seedling, something I haven't seen for many years. I assume that the plant has been lurking, unflowered, for a long time.
I originally grew three different subspecies of P. longifolia but they slowly faded away. The last to vanish was P. longifolia caussensis, and that is my only reason for guessing the
identity of this one. It was the last to vanish and therefore the most likiely one to have survived.
21st April 2024
Erythronium 'Pagoda'
At this time of year the trees at the top of the garden shelter a diverse woodland planting. I add to the diversity when I am able. I would like to try Sanguinaria canadensis
up there but I don't have a decent patch in the garden that I could transplant. I was offered a plant in growth at a nursery yesterday but decided that £20 was a bit much for
an experiment. Over the years the bluebells have packed themselves tightly between the trees, new additions have to be robust and determined.
Trillium kurabayashii seems to be holding its own, and Erythronium 'Pagoda' has established. Flowering of the Erythronium is reduced this year and I'm not sure what to make of it.
Last summer was very dry, which may have stunted the plants. The clumps are also very congested now, which might be holding them back. I have never split Erythronium before,
I am quite nervous. In a few weeks time, as the leaves start to die back, I will lift and divide a couple of clumps. Next spring I will find out if they urgently needed dividing
or if I have made a terrible mistake.
Surely there must come a time when gardening is relaxing.