JEARRARD'S HERBAL
30th March 2025
Clematis alpina 'Constance' .
A week that has been genuinely warm not just a cold chill garnished with the sparkle of sunshine. I have done a bit of potting
and enjoyed disdainfully throwing my sweat-shirt onto the corner of the bench. I saw that the large magnolias by the house
were breaking into flower and was a bit worried that even before they were fully open they had started to scatter petals
over the grass. The spring garden is full of colour and predictable surprises.
I have a small hydroponic alpine bench in the greenhouse. I built it on a whim many years ago and although it hasn't been a roaring success,
it has been interesting. When it was first filled I tried almost any small alpine that I could get my hands on to see if they would grow.
Most of them grew well, overflowed the pot and then died out as rapidly. The slower growers have been better but Clematis alpina has been a surprise.
I planted 'Constance' to see what would happen and a decade later she is still flowering every spring. I would release her into the garden
but there isn't really anywhere suitable so she sits in a tank of water looking rather strange.
30th March March 2025
Camellia 'Macdonald's Seedling' .
I would suggest that there are more bad camellias than there are good ones, and there are enough good camellias to fill anyone's garden
with unreasonable abundance. I have always admired the strength and wind tolerance of Camellia 'Debbie' but the garden would be a better place without the flowers.
Walking around on Wednesday, it was very clear that 'Scented Sun' was an order of magnitude worse. I said as I passed that the garden would be a better place without it.
I have modified that view. It is a dense evergreen that takes the full brunt of the prevailing wind. It is really tough, not just repulsive.
On the other side of the garden 'Macdonald's Seedling' has produced a flower, the first for several years. I first saw it at Falmouth Spring Show
where it stood out in the decapitated splendour of the cut blooms. I bought it immediately as a rooted cutting and grew it on in the greenhouse, where I think I killed it.
I saw it again at the Rosemoor Show this spring and made a mental note to replace it. This one, flowering in the garden, demonstrates that I had already replaced it,
planted it out and then forgotten the whole thing. A very welcome surprise. If I forget it again by next spring that that will be a good measure of my senility
and a delightful surprise at the same time.
30th March 2025
Pleione Quizapu 'Peregrine'.
The Pleione have gone from bare pots to full flower in the last fortnight. Warm weather and sunshine are delightful things.
The warmth in the orchid house has banished the winter chills, the only drawback is that the Pleione will start to fade
almost as rapidly as they appeared. Last year I had it in mind to make a few hybrids but by the time I got to it, the flowers
were already going over. This year I am determined to act faster. I should really go out and do it right now but this-and-that
need doing, it will have to be tomorrow.
The big (small) surprise among the flowers has been P. Quizapu 'Peregrine'. Raised by Ian Butterfield, it has been causing problems for me
ever since I first saw it at an RHS show in Vincent Square. That is to say, a very long time ago. The first one I bought cost me £20 and died without flowering.
The second lingered pitifully for a couple of years before vanishing. The third was given to me about four years ago and limped along slowly.
I was expecting to find a brand new gap in the pot where it once grew but astonishingly it has grown. Nice big bulb, nice big flower.
I can't explain it.
30th March 2025
Trillium kurabayashii .
As well as Pleione, I have killed a good number of Trillium over the years. Part of the problem has been my determination to get good plants
established in pots before I plant them out. I pot them up, they flower in the first year and then drop dead. I had come to the conclusion
that trilliums and I were mutually incompatible.
I had one last try. A single plant of Trillium kurabayashii was planted under the trees and it survived. After a couple of years of pessimistic incredulity
I planted two more and last year I put in another three. They have all come up again. In a daze of disbelief I planted a single Trillium luteum
last year as well. That has also appeared this spring. It isn't going to flower, but it hasn't died.
This is a small, rather dull plant in the garden tapestry but spring has sugar-coated it with glee .