JEARRARD'S HERBAL
4th August 2024
Spathoglottis ixioides
The ground is wet, the garden is warm and following a couple of years of drought, things are looking pleasantly lush. The difference is slight but significant. Hemerocallis
flower reliably every year but this year they look as though they are enjoying themselves. Salix 'Golden Sunshine' is a beaming pool of light
while last year it looked like a grilled banana.
In the unexpectedly buoyant wealth of growth in the garden, my attention has been taken by a few small things. In the greenhouse, Spathoglottis ixioides has flowered.
I have been down to photograph it three times. None of the pictures are much good. If the flower lasts, I will have another try later.
It is a tiny terrestrial orchid from the eastern Himalayas, just reaching into China. I bought some tubers a few years ago because I was told that it appreciated the
same conditions as Pleione. It has grown on the same bench, but it has been very slow. The tubers are tiny. In the first year I got a single leaf. Several years later
I have a small clump and it has finally produced a flower spike. I have been watching it for weeks. Orchids can be slow, but this made a snails pace seem speedy.
Indeed, snails have been my main worry. The delicate flower spike would not resist a hungry mollusc for very long. This tiny yellow flower
is the reward for my patience.
4th August 2024
Circaea lutetiana Variegated
In spring the garden seems to burst from the ground in an overwhelming tide of colour. The arrival of the sombre shade of summer has come as a relief.
With it comes the opportunity to work in the garden without having to tread nimbly between emerging plants. I have had a couple of sessions controlling
weeds in the new plantings and clearing bulb beds for next spring. I will have to have another go to get things in order, and there is a lot of mowing to do,
but I have made a start.
As I was weeding behind the stump of a sycamore tree a tiny white leaf caught my attention. It very nearly got yanked before I
snapped to attention. It is a variegated Circaea lutetiana putting in a welcome appearance. I am quite fond of the plain leaved form, for no particularly good reason.
Not fond enough to encourage it, but fond enough to enjoy it when it has encouraged itself. Many years ago I grew the white margined C. l. 'Caveat Emptor'
from Corinne Tremaine but it was never very strong. I miss the quiet curiosity it brought to the garden. I hope this variegated sport will bring something similar.
I have cleared a little space around it and hopefully it will prosper.
4th August 2024
Hydrangea macrophylla 'Hortmagreclo' MAGICAL GREEN CLOUD
I have some big hydrangeas in the garden. They flow outwards at the base like scoops of ice cream melting in the heat. Hydrangea macrophylla 'Ayesha'
has made a large spreading mound in the centre if the garden, encrusted in pale blue flowers. Yesterday I saw a similar sloppy dumpling in the gardens at Wakehurst
decked in candy pink flowers. I am glad that I live on a soil that supports blue hydrangeas, the pink was quite challenging.
The Hydrangea giving me most pleasure at the moment is neither blue nor pink. In recent years a few green flowered cultivars have been released.
I acquired this one almost by accident. I saw it for sale and bought it on a whim, not knowing what to expect. In the garden it has had good green flowers
that persist for a very long time and it has been compact without looking stunted. The flower heads are held upright on stiff stems.
I imagine that the breeder produced rows of very similar seedlings and I can understand why this was the one that was selected.
It has great poise.
4th August 2024
Nerine (angustifolia x white seedling)
The ruthless rotation of the seasons is slowly thrusting the Nerine house to the fore. A couple of weeks ago I went in there and weeded, after months of ignoring it.
There is more to do. Some brambles have pushed long arms between the sheets of plastic. They need to be removed carefully and I must go around the outside to the greenhouse
beating back the weeds. As I was doing the 'first pass' weeding under the bench (cutting it back with shears so I can reach under and pull things out)
I noticed the first flower spike emerging.
I have an early flowering plant of N. 'Catherine' that blooms in August and I have been using it to breed early flowering seedlings. I'm not sure that 'early flowering'
is a useful character for a Nerine but I have raised them anyway. Crossing an early white seedling with N. angustifolia gave me this, flowering in
the last week of July. I am hoping that it will last long enough to be pollinated with the next one in bloom. No sign of any more flower spikes yet
but I am sure they will be showing soon.
Note to self: have another try at photographing Spathoglottis and look for Nerine flowers.