JEARRARD'S HERBAL
2nd March 2025
Galanthus Warley Place Group.
The weather has changed direction during the week. After what seemed like months of greyness, suddenly the skies cleared and the sun shone.
The muddy patch outside the mower shed will take a while to return to green but it is at least firm now. Clear skies
have meant that the temperature falls at night and the threat of frost has returned but this is March. Temperatures may fall but they shouldn't fall
far. I went into the greenhouse yesterday and for the first time this year it was warm and the atmosphere was buoyant. It's a very pleasant change.
Through January and February the clammy humidity crumbled from the air around me. It wasn't nice.
Bright sunshine in the garden has brought out the best in the late snowdrops. At the top of the garden the ground has a scattering of Galanthus plicatus
seedlings that originated at Warley Place. When Essex Naturalist Trust started to clear Ellen Willmott's garden I was given a few bulbs from the naturalised population
in return for identifying them. Since then they have spread under the trees here and are starting to look established.
2nd March 2025
Crocus 'Ruby Giant' .
In the early years in this garden I grew a lot of crocus. They were cheap, easy to plant and gave a big impact. It was rare for them to survive into the second year
and I concluded that the garden was simply not suitable. However, one or two persisted. In the following decades an occasional flower
of C. 'Barr's Purple' or C. 'Whitewell Purple' would appear. I would peer at them with something akin to astonishment at their unexpected survival.
Over the years they have made little clusters - clumps would be too bold as a description. I have come to expect them in the spring and in recent years I have started
to find a few more scattered about. Either the crocus fairies have been sneaking them in at night or they are spreading. I prefer the idea of the former but I think
it's probably the latter.
All of which glacially slow horticulture inspired me to plant Crocus 'Ruby Giant' in the new herbaceous border to give some colour in the spring when the ground is bare.
I think I planted about 50. They all flowered in the first year, I had half a dozen in the second year and only a couple of stragglers in the third. However this year they are back.
I have about 20 and they have increased into little clusters. Perhaps I can grow crocus here after all.
2nd March 2025
Pieris japonica 'Dorothy Wyckoff' .
Spring creeps through the garden very slowly. During the grey weeks the signs of spring were building but in the dull light it was very subtle.
Flower spikes started to emerge from the hellebore bed but it still looked very brown. This week has been filled with low beams of light skittering over the ground
and the bed has come to life with colour.
Further down in the garden the first Pieris has responded as well. The flower buds form on P. 'Dorothy Wyckoff' in the autumn like reddish threads at the top of the last seasons growth.
I don't know what triggers them to develop but in the last two weeks they have been swelling. Little gritty spots of red on the strings inflate into white flowers.
'Dorothy Wyckoff' is the first but there are others following along, they will flower for several weeks and by the time the last blooms fade, the scarlet new growth will be evident.
As ever, I should plant more cuttings and grow more Pieris. They stand the wind well and give a long period of interest.
There is one more asset. As Pieris get old and the space between their trunks fills with bark flakes and old spiders webs, the atmosphere is wholesome.
When camellias reach the same stage they are intangibly unwelcoming.
23rd February 2025
Galanthus 'Cowhouse Green'.
Most of the snowdrops have finished. It has been a mixed season. Those that I keep in tubs have responded to the year rather poorly. They probably just need feeding, I can't remember when I last did it.
The snowdrops that have been planted in the ground have behaved much better. Every year I plan to plant a few more out but there are always other things that need attending to first.
This year I am determined. More snowdrops in the ground, fewer in pots. I have started well. I only bought two new snowdrops this year, and they both got planted in the garden.
'Cowhouse Green' was planted out a couple of years ago and has increased well since then. It will need splitting and spreading before long but I think I can leave it for another year.
I want to put some more effort into spreading 'Brenda Troyle' about, and the Warley Place Group can always benefit from some attention.
I have been worried about those snowdrops that are not very distinct.
For years I have kept them neatly labelled in tubs so that they don't get confused but I am beginning to think it doesn't really matter. If they aren't very distinct, who cares what they are called?
Perhaps the time has come to plant them out and let them merge into a nebulous swarm. I think I would like that, but possibly it would drive me insane.