JEARRARD'S HERBAL
9th June 2024
Cantua buxifolia 'Dancing Oaks' .
Flaming June has poked its nose around the door and then thrown in a few chilly days by way of apology. I'm wearing a hat in the garden to keep the worst of the sun off,
and the clouds have rolled over through the days, leaving the garden looking grey and wintery. Beads of sweat trickling down my back destroy the illusion.
The season is 'bramble-rich'. These are the weeks when the new extension growth riots out of control and weeding seems pointless. Any growth removed today
has been replaced by tomorrow. On Friday the grass needed mowing, today it is a meadow full of seed heads. I keep telling myself, it is only a phase. It all slows down shortly.
In a few weeks it will be possible to weed or mow and appear to make progress. For now there is as much value to be had in sitting in the shade drinking lemonade
as there is to be had in weeding, gardening or fretting.
Cantua buxifolia is a magnificent idea. It is rather tender but easily rooted from cuttings and the shrieking pink tubular flowers are astonishing when they are produced.
Ah, there's the rub. I have had one growing in the Agave house for as long as I have had an Agave house. Never a flower. It may be that the common clone in cultivation is
a dud. Recently I was given 'Dancing Oaks' and it has flowered for the last two years leaving me breathless with astonishment, as much from the act as the appearance.
9th June 2024
Cardamine pratensis .
I nearly tripped over Cardamine pratensis as I walked to the car during the week. I was crossing the small patch of grass outside the front door
and as I stepped, I saw what I was about to tread on. The terrifying magnitude of the situation hit me as the foot descended, filled with insight and anxiety.
I was able to deflect the foot. It fell to the ground safely without the rest of me following.
It might seem to be a lot of bother for a common but delightful plant. However, as far as I can tell it as a new plant in this garden. I grew the double form here decades ago, though
not near to the house. I have never seen the single form on the site, not in forty odd years. I have wanted it to grow here. I have even considered planting it here,
but I have never actually had it. Suddenly it has appeared by the front door without my intervention or, to be honest, my understanding.
All of that insight happened between step, recognition and footfall. In any sensible world I would have tumbled to the ground, laughing and delighted.
As it was I walked to the car and got the shopping.
9th June 2024
Dactylorhiza praetermissa .
I have, in the last remnants of youth (viz. foolishness), planted a few things in the garden in late spring. Most notably, a couple of Puya were lifted from the ground in
the Agave house and planted on the sunny side of a large pine tree. They will be dry there, and reasonably protected. That is the plan anyway. The first part has shown itself to be true.
They were not pleased by the move. I'm sure that it is only a matter of adjusting to the new situation but they do look a bit ragged at the moment. I'm sure it is only a matter of surviving until they produce some new roots.
I have carried water up to them to assist their chances but I haven't carried enough yet to cheer them up. Hopefully there will be some summer rain and the situation will improve.
Beside them, Dactylorhiza praetermissa has planted itself. I think of it as a plant of thin grassland with some moisture beneath but it has chosen a space in the dry shade of a pine tree.
Perhaps it was the best place available, perhaps fortune is fickle. If I was feeling grand then I would say I have a population in the garden. The reality is that I get an occasional flower spike
that seemingly appears with wilful disregard to the suitability of the location. This one in the bed under the pine is moderately well placed compared to previous appearances in the path and in the car park.
I am happy to have them despite their random distribution. I have abandoned the hope that they will ever fill the meadow with wonder, that would be far to convenient.
9th June 2024
Utricularia dichotoma .
Some plants are inconvenient, that is just their nature. Utricularia dichotoma wanders around in the water beds that house the Sarracenia. Many years ago it escaped from the bottom of its pot
to swim at liberty through the shallow water. After a few years it discovered that it could enter other pots through the holes in the bottom, and since then it might appear almost anywhere.
It would be inconvenient if it wasn't so charming. Utricularia bisquamata performs a similar feat, spreading by seed from pot to pot. It is too tiny to cause offence.
Last year I scraped a mat of creeping Utricularia sludge from the base of one of the beds, and dropped it into a tub of water outside. This has been the result. It is another plant that I noticed while passing.
The charming purple flowers gave me a sudden shock and instant insight. It can do no harm where it is, and it has protected the future of a Cyperus that I was finding a bit dull.
Now I know that it will prosper outside I can be a little sterner about its spread through the greenhouse. Too much of a good thing can be wonderful but it sometimes serves to highlight
the deficiencies of a limited space.