JEARRARD'S HERBAL
13th April 2025
Calanthe no.2 .
Another sensational week for the garden, the sun has shone and the weather was crowned yesterday with a couple of hours of light rain.
It was much needed, the ground had started to dry. The moss that has invaded all of the mown grass has turned silvery-olive, a sure sign that it has dried.
There is crunchiness to every footstep, barely audible but sensed with the feet.
I lit the bonfire in the evening and then wondered if that was a sensible move. It was all fine, but the time has come to consider these things.
I would hate to burn the garden down.
Time to hide amonst the orchids before the delights of spring overwhelm me. The Calanthe have done well this year. I don't know whether that is down to
luck or whether I am finally getting a feel for what they need. One flower spike last year, seven this. It is movement in the right direction.
This one came without a label from Laneside Hardy Orchids, hence the magnificent appellation 'no.2'. It's not poetry, is it.
13th April 2025
Coelogyne stricta .
Coelogyne stricta was found in flower in the greenhouse yesterday. I had seen that the spike was coming up last autumn but assumed it had been
killed by the winter. The plant has been hardy with me in the greenhouse, suffering an occasional browned leaf but bouncing back.
It has flowered on and off through the summer but I though it was a bit much to hope the flower spike would survive a chill.
This is a good result from a good plant. It isn't as tough as Coelogyne cristata but it is having a good try.
13th April 2025
Cymbidium Warm Wishes 'Lewes'.
I grow too many Cymbidium. It is the universal cry of the Cymbidium grower. There was some space in the greenhouse, I repotted the Cymbidium, now
I have no space. I have too many plants, unfortunately they are easy to acquire and difficult to part with.
Cymbidium Warm Wishes 'Lewes' is a charming small hybrid that doesn't occupy much space and has delivered a spike of flowers. They have been a bit chewed by slugs
but they still look good. When I look back I see that it last flowered in 2017 so perhaps I am getting better at growing them or perhaps not.
Back in 1984 I was given some really good, awarded hybrids. To this day some of them still haven't flowered. My cultivation leaves something to be desired
and I grow too many Cymbidium.
I loved the first one I ever bought, why did I ever get a second?
13th April 2025
Dendrobium Bardo Rose clone.2.
In taking photographs of the Dendrobium yesterday I moved a few of them off the bench and then discovered that they wouldn't go back.
Something will have to be done and I'm not sure what.
Dendrobium Bardo Rose is flowering for the first time in a while. This isn't the standard magenta-purple clone seen in commerce, but a paler pink one.
It seems to be hardier than the darker clone, which I have killed a couple of times. It is a hybrid between D. falcorostrum and D. kingianum
so it should be fairly tough here but a couple of winters have not agreed with that conclusion. I will probably have another go. The magenta-purple form is both ugly and delightful. .
13th April 2025
Dendrobium x delicatum .
Dendrobium x delicatum presents a giant, spidery problem on the bench. The canes take after D. kingianum in form but inherit something of the size of D. speciosum.
As a result it tends to sprawl over the space with long arms that get tangled into other things. Fortunately it delivers a good display every year
but the size is becoming a problem. It is already growing in a 10 litre pot, it is not going to get a bigger one. Some serious dividing is in order.
I have seen forms of the hybrid with upright growth which look very appealing. I'm not sure if they are naturally upright of if the grower
simply removes canes that grow sideways. I'm going to have some spare divisions, I might conduct a trial.
13th April 2025
Maxillaria rhombea .
My greenhouse is not really suitable for the more exotic orchids, the winter is too cold. However there are a few unexpected plants that prosper out there.
My adventure with cold hardy orchids started with Cymbidium which seem to tolerate my conditions. I followed them with a couple of Pleurothallis
from the high Andes and noted in a vague way that those that seemed hardiest were not the ones from the highest altitudes. I haven't understood that yet, which brings me to Maxillaria.
Maxillaria rhombea has grown in the greenhouse for a decade without winter damage, including the beast from the east, when temperatures fell to minus 5 degC
in there. It grows to about 2,000m in Mexico and Guatemala but there are others in the genus that go much higher. This is the only one I have tried that has
really resisted the winter cold and I don't understand why.
13th April 2025
Pleione formosana 'Oriental Splendour'.
Pleione are much more reliable in the greenhouse. I haven't cracked the cultivation of the autumn flowering ones yet, I think they just need more heat,
but the spring flowering forms prosper.
Pleione formosana grows in the mountains of Taiwan and several distinct clones have been introduced over the decades. This was one of the first to be named
in 1961 and had previously been grown under the name P. pricei. It has been around for a long time, propagated vegetatively, and presumably it now carries a
viral load. I find that as long as it isn't too stressed by cultivation, the signs of viral infection are minimal. It is still an outstandingly vigorous plant.
13th April 2025
Pleione Gerry Mundey 'Tinneys Firs'.
Pleione Gerry Mundey is another old plant , an early hybrid with P. forrestii that aimed to improve the vigour of yellow flowered plants by crossing
with a strong growing hybrid, in this case Tongariro. The resulting hybrids were really good, having everything you could want from a yellow hybrid
without actually being yellow. I know two clones of the grex, one that simply circulates as P. Gerry Mundey and this one, P. Gerry Mundey 'Tinneys Firs'.
They are both excellent and strong growers. This one has a darker red labellum and a more compact habit.
Pleione are spring plants and already there are Pacific Coast Iris in flower. The season is moving rapidly towards summer. .