JEARRARD'S HERBAL
9th March 2025
Adonis ramosa .
Spring is slowly becoming wonderful. The garden is lowering its defences against the onslaught of winter. It has, by some measures, been a cold spring.
The consequences can be seen in many spring plants that have yet to show signs of growth. However it has been a spring without extreme lows. We
might have had one or two grass frosts but they have gone by the time I get up. We have had no savage, penetrating cold.
I was looking at the selection of tropical orchids that survive the Cornish climate (not tropical) by sheltering in my bathroom. They can go out to the greenhouse soon.
When the sun hits the plastic it is much warmer out there.
In the greenhouse, Adonis ramosa has produced its first flower. The first bud appeared at ground level a fortnight ago and was immediately eaten by a slug.
This is the plants second attempt and first success. It comes from northern Japan where winters are cold and harsh and summers are hot and wet. I try my best in the greenhouse
and although conditions aren't ideal the plant flowers every year and would increase faster if I remembered to feed it more often.
9th March 2025
Crocus 'Ruby Giant' .
I have just been in Wisley admiring the Crocus growing in the lawn in front of the old laboratory building. When they first went in I was unsure that they would survive
the intensive maintenance required for a fine lawn. I was also unsure that a mixture of purple, white and striped forms would look good.
I am delighted that I was wrong on both counts. The plants are thriving and the effect is spectacular. I would show a picture but instead I am going to show my
own Crocus 'Ruby Giant'.
I don't really have a Crocus garden, it is a wet and shaded place. I would love a little greenhouse where I could grow them in pots but I can't even find
a sunny corner to put one in. It hasn't stopped me planting Crocus but I am filled with pessimism as I do it. I expect the squirrels will dig them up and eat
them long before they get a chance to grow. So these 'Ruby Giant' are a triumph. I planted them in the new herbaceous border when it was still bare.
Most of the border is rock, it seemed that Crocus might stand more chance in the subsoil and bedrock than anything else. About 50 went in
and after some establishment issues, a few years later most of them have reappeared. There is a chance that they will increase,
it's a tiny triumph.
9th March 2025
Freesia viridis .
The cold spring is in evidence in the greenhouse. Freesia viridis is flowering a month later than it might. Further down in the greenhouse the latest
forms of Nerine undulata are still in flower, showing that it hasn't been an extreme winter. A couple of serious frosts in January would have
destroyed the developing flower spikes. The storm Darragh took a single roof sheet out of the Nerine house and the plants underneath have
got very wet but they are looking better for it. I already knew that I kept the main house too dry in winter, but when its cold and dull in January
the last thing I want to do is drag a hose around for an hour. I should try harder, I probably won't.
Freesia viridis is a strange little thing, said to be pollinated by night-flying moths. They must find it by scent because the flowers are almost
invisible among the foliage. I am confident they will be there every February and March, but I still have to search for them. I don't know if it will hybridise
with other freesias, it seems to come true from seed in the greenhouse, but this year I plan to try.
9th March 2025
Narcissus 'Medway Gold'.
Daffodils are daffodils. The big yellow ones appeal to the child in me and have done ever since the days when the child in me was more immediately evident.
There is a bare-faced innocence about them on a par with the urge to break toys just because you can. I have never quite grown out of big yellow daffodils
but I always feel quite awkward about it. It's because I never quite grew out of breaking toys either. Sometimes when I am carrying a dish in the kitchen I think
'what would happen if I just let go'? I don't do it (or at least I haven't yet) but I can't help thinking. It's a bit like fish and chips and chocolate biscuits
on a Friday night. It sounds good doesn't it.
Narcissus 'Medway Gold' is an adult pleasure. It's tiny, the flowers are about 1cm across, a really wonderful thing. I have been singing its praises for several years,
it is good to see it turning up in collections more regularly. Tiny daffodils may have lost the raw delight of child-like innocence, but they don't break any crockery.