JEARRARD'S HERBAL
1st December 2024
Impatiens tinctoria .
The low light levels of winter have blurred the garden. I bought a new pair of reading glasses in the week in case it was me. They helped a bit with reading
but they didn't sharpen the blurred edges of the garden. It has been raining, and the rain has defied gravity. It hangs in the dark clouds
and low-lights the sombre garden with gloom. It doesn't fall and then stop, it just appears on the ground and hangs around aimlessly.
I live on a steep hill. I like to think that the excess water drains away quickly but it hasn't been happening. Everything is covered in sparkling droplets
that didn't drop and that don't sparkle.
Cloud has kept the temperature up, we haven't had a frost though the windy nights have howled for one. Impatiens tinctoria continues. The new leaves have paled,
it can feel the chill but the first frost will blacken the stems and it will collapse. Often after the first frost the flowers survive, clinging defiantly to the dead stems.
They have courage but the exuberance of summer has gone.
A few flowers are still hanging on like the residents of a gold-rush town once the gold has gone, tired, enfeebled and nostalgic.
1st December 2024
Dahlia tenuicaulis .
Dahlia tenuicaulis faces the strange transition from summer differently. It spent the balmy months making stems and foliage. As the daylength dropped it started to initiate flower buds.
Now it is a race to see if the buds will open before the frost comes. So far so good. I might get a month of flowers or it could all end tomorrow.
Skies could clear and frost arrive to restore the missing sparkle. It doesn't seem likely. The weather forecast can't see beyond the heavy dark humidity
and even from the top of the garden, the dreary horizon is dark and shadowy.
I don't want a frost. Darkness is a small price to pay for warmth. It can be hard to hold on to that idea amidst the squelch and dribble.
Dahlia tenuicaulis is the best of the tree dahlias here. It produces decent stems and also manages to flower. I have a Dahlia imperialis
but it doesn't really justify the space it occupies. For the last two years it has suffered in summer storms and spent the autumn as a bare stick,
leafless and pointless. I wasn't expecting flowers. Even in a sheltered greenhouse it doesn't seem to flower until January, but I had hoped for some foliage effect.
I have it tucked against the house, and possibly it needs more moisture. I might move it next year and see if I can improve its performance. It can
hardly get worse.
1st December 2024
Galanthus elwesii 'Hiemalis' .
I bought some bulbs last week. It was a reckless act, the bulb planting season has passed, but the garden centre was using desperate discounts to shift them
and make space for Santa. Cheap crocus, cheap daffodils and a moderately cheap fritillary. The act of planting them will help to liven the dejected garden.
They are mostly intended for the new herbaceous border. It has been cut to the ground now to make way for the new year (all except for one canna, which is starting to look like a mistake).
Crocus will flower in the spring sunshine, as the threat of frost recedes.
Until then, there are a few early spring flowers offering a promise of a bright new year. Galanthus elwesii 'Hiemalis' is the first of the 'outdoor' snowdrops to bloom.
Galanthus 'Remember Remember' was flowerless this year, for reasons best known to itself. I don't pry, it has produced a good tuft of leaves from the clump
and I am sure it will try harder next year. I have had two attempts to get a decent picture of 'Hiemalis' but low light levels have defeated me.
It is strangely appropriate. It has blurred the seasons.
1st December 2024
Narcissus 'Rijnveld's Early Sensation' .
The high point of the week was the arrival of daffodils. I had a single bud a couple of weeks ago but the slugs had a party with it. The more the flower opened,
the more they ate. By the time it would have been fully open there was nothing but a thin yellow streamer of tissue dangling from the stem.
This week I have half-a-dozen flowers. Perhaps the slugs have had their fill, the flowers are undamaged. 'Rijnveld's Early Sensation' is a very good cultivar, flowering early and then continuing
to produce flowers until the end of February. It will still be in flower when the bulbs I haven't put into the ground yet start to bloom.
As well as the plants in the meadow, I have a second colony growing in the verge outside the house. I haven't seen the shoots emerging yet but (council lawnmower permitting)
they will be up before long making a cheery horticultural contrast to the bananas planted behind them.
It isn't a traditional combination but I find it very pleasing.