JEARRARD'S HERBAL
27th October 2024
Dahlia merckii 'Alba'
The autumn has brought another cold and turbulent week. The nights started to close in and the clocks went back last night, so this evening is going to be gloomy.
The garden has moved from levity to smiling through gritted teeth.
A storm blew through the garden last weekend and left some large branches lying on the ground. They fell without causing any damage that I have seen.
That much is simple. Slightly more perplexing as a long straight piece of timber that looks like a softwood trunk, perhaps of a pine or a larch. It is about 20 feet long,
a diameter of about 6 inches. It has conveniently arrived on the ground without hitting the new planting in the area. The only puzzle is, where did it come from?
I'm sure that if I looked more carefuly I would find a break up above and solve the mystery but for the moment I don't think we're in Kansas any more.
Dahia merckii 'Alba' has moved into the danger zone. I have had the species flower through into December, but a cold night could end the display at any
moment.
27th October 2024
Eucryphia x intermedia
Further up in the garden, where I might expect the wind to have most effect, there has been little damage. Eucryphia x intermedia was planted in one of the internal windbreaks
to add some evergreen bulk to the mix. It went in because I love Eucryphia, because they grow so well locally, but mostly because it was cheap
at the end of the season. We all have our weaknesses, mine is for a bargain. I'm not sure how much of the planting in the garden has been driven by economy
but most of it is opportunism. The chance comes to plant things so in they go.
It isn't the perfect way to plant a garden but it has its advantages. I spent a while exchanging horror stories with another gardener.
Yes, I planted one of those. Yes, I also thought it was a good idea at the time. Yes, the deer ate mine as well. Why do I garden? I think it is the elegant clothing that attracts me.
A flowering Eucryphia makes it all worthwhile. Cheap, anonymous (at the time), it will one day be a towering candle of white blossom.
For now a scattering of white blooms is enough to elevate the mood of a dark day.
27th October 2024
Hedychium 'Devon Cream'
Further down in the garden the Hedychium border is a triumph of exotic foliage. It is doing what I wanted, it is doing what I planned,
but it is doing it because I needed somewhere to plant a lot of Hedychium and at the same time there was a space. I call it seizing the opportunity,
you might call it luck. Both things probably play a part.
Hedychium 'Devon Cream' is reliable here, flowering early enough to escape frost, growing tall enough to be striking and knowing where to stop.
None of this wandering around like a lost ginger popping up here and there. It makes a good clump and then it flowers.
There are a number of very similar plants doing the rounds. Until this year I was happy to accept them all as 'Devon Cream', the differences are slight enough to
be disregarded. Unfortunately as I passed 'Tresco Hybrid' in the week I noticed that it was much paler than the others. It is white with primrose echoes
rather than pale yellow. It is inconvenient that 'Tresco no.1' and 'Tresco no.2' are both the same as 'Devon Cream'. I had assumed that 'Tresco Hybrid'
was just another in the nomenclatural soup. It seems not. I will observe it some more.
27th October 2024
Nerine bowdenii 'Ostara'
In the greenhouse the tender Nerine have reached a peak of pinkness and are dazzling in the deepening gloom. In the garden, N. bowdenii
is doing its best to match them. Most of the cultivars I grow were obtained as single bulbs and after several years they have started to build into modest clumps.
I have most of them grouped into a space at the top of the garden and they are just escaping the appearance of lonely strangers at a party and becoming a community.
'Ostara' is one of the first introductions from the new wave of Dutch breeding. It is shaded with pale pink but in the garden the effect is white. It seems to be quite vigorous
and I have raised a generation of seedlings from it which are all very similarly coloured. They have been planted through the new herbaceous border to avoid confusion.
They will eventually add a last crescendo to the seasons display. This year the new herbaceous border struggled to produce a first crescendo
but the early tulips were good, the peonies are improving and the Astilbe will be spectacular if the deer ever stop eating them.
At the moment it is another border of lonely strangers at a party but it will all come together eventually.