JEARRARD'S HERBAL
23rd June 2024
Aesculus indica .
The difficulties of winter are over and the difficulties of summer have begun. The week has been overcast with bright intervals but the garden has been dry.
I have been to Ventnor Botanic Garden over the weekend and I was a little anxious about leaving. I spent a lot of time watering the greenhouse
but last thing in the evening before I left I checked the Disa and the trays looked worryingly low. Too late to do anything, I had to rely on
the promise of rain the next day to rectify things.
I was lucky, it rained. When I got back things were fine.
I left as the first flowers opened on Aesculus indica. Some of the larger trees in the garden have been stressed in recent droughts. A large Liriodendron
has been running out of steam for several years but it has hardly produced any leaves this spring. I am ignoring it and hoping it falls down by itself. Any damage it does as it
falls will be very unfortunate. I prefer that to the damage it does as I fell it, which will be entirely my fault.
The Aesculus is much smaller and still looks vigorous. I'm hoping that it is more tolerant of dry conditions.
23rd June 2024
Cornus 'Norman Haddon' .
Cornus 'Norman Haddon' has been in the garden for longer than the Liriodendron but it is a shorter thing with wide spreading branches and hopefully wide spreading roots.
The early flowers open lime green but they will pale to cool white as they mature. Before they quite get to white they will develop pink tinges and finally turn mid-pink before they fall.
Years ago I collected some fruits and extracted the seed. A couple germinated but I forgot to plant them out and they died. Meanwhile on the garden, a Cornus seedling
had come up in the middle of a Camellia. I'm hoping that it is a seedling from C. 'Norman Haddon' and not a stray seedling of C. kousa that arrived in the Camellia root ball.
It is now about 2m tall and it hasn't flowered yet. Tentatively, that is good news.
I don't think it will be possible to move the Cornus or extract the Camellia so there is going to be a problem. In about 20 years I will have to do something.
Alternatively, perhaps the Liriodendron will fall on it.
23rd June 2024
Magnolia tripetala .
I have been watching the larger trees in the garden. The Liriodendron has died, and a Magnolia wilsonii nearby has also died. This year M. tripetala
has already got a few browned leaves. It started flowering several weeks ago and the last few buds are still developing.
As I drove home yesterday there were young trees along the roadside that had burnt to a brown crisp in the early summer sunshine. Hopefully that is all that is going on
with my Magnolia. I am a little worried about honey fungus and phytopthora. I haven't seen signs of damage from either in the garden before
but both are possible.
A wet July would be very welcome after a couple of dry summers.
23rd June 2024
Stewartia pseudocamellia Koreana Group.
I only have one Stewartia in the garden. Despite sowing seed a couple of time, I didn't manage to grow any usable seedlings. This one came from a local garden centre
and I am hoping that when it matures it will have decent flaking bark. At present it is little more than a sapling and the trunk is smooth and grey.
It has been flowering for a couple of years and adds interest to June as the garden simmers in the heat and buds and flowers give way to shadows and showers.
Thanks to Chris and Wayne for showing us around Ventnor.