JEARRARD'S HERBAL
4th May 2025
Hyacinthoides non-scripta .
A warm week has ended with a cooler breeze. We have reached the time of year when a breeze is refreshing rather than worrying.
I am wrapped up in a last minute rush to get things planted in the garden before it gets too hot and dry. I bought a couple of new camellias
on Friday and I don't want to keep them in pots through the summer.
In the meadow, the bluebells are looking good. The colour is strongest where they get some sunshine and the plants are spreading vigorously.
They are invading the long grass very effectively. At some point I will have to decide how far I want them to go. I have been considering getting
rid of the grass altogether and giving the space over to spring bulbs. It may be that the bluebells will make the decision for me
and just take over.
4th May 2025
Paeonia x smouthii .
Despite my damp and shaded garden, there are a number of peonies scattered around. P. delavayi seems to prosper in light shade
and I am slowly adding more plants. In the Agave house there are a number of seedlings that came to me as P. rockii. As far as I can see they are
just mixed tree peony seedings but they are ridiculously cheering when they flower.
In the new herbaceous border I have a selection of herbaceous peonies that are establishing. There are more flower buds than I had last year
and the plants look stronger, so I am pleased with the progress. It's quite wet out there but the tough cultivars seem to tolerate it.
Paeonia x smouthii is a hybrid involving P. tenuifolia and it grows in the Agave house. It has been vigorous inside and I like to think
that it would do well in the border but I am nervous about moving it. P. tenuifolia died in the garden and I am reluctant to take the risk.
4th May 2025
Pinguicula grandiflora .
I have a few Pinguicula that are far happier with the moisture here but they prefer the additional summer warmth of the greenhouse.
I grow a few species but it is P. grandiflora that really prospers, speading from pot to pot by seed and often usurping
the original resident. I have an assortment of Pinguicula labels but most of the plants are now P. grandiflora.
In the next few weeks I will try to get down to the Lizard to see the small colony of P. vulgaris growing there.
It is treated as native to Cornwall in the Flora but I have my doubts. It has only been recorded in the last 30 years
and it seems a very unlikely native to appear when heathland and bog habitats are declining in the county.
Feels like guerilla planting to me but I doubt we will ever know for sure.
4th May 2025
Disa (Gwennap x Watsonii).
The flowering of the bluebells seems like the last great fanfare of spring. The trees are leafing-out rapidly and the woodland flora is winding up for the year.
Down in the greenhouse, the first of the Disa flowers has opened. I was determined to get the plants split and repotted through the winter
but somehow there wasn't time. It will have to wait now until the end of summer. The display will be reduced as a result but I am hoping
that with a bit of careful feeding and some luck, they will still do well.
There are also a lot of seedlings to pot on, but that can be done through the flowering season without setting them back.
I have been breeding Disa recently to get larger flowered yellow seedlings and this flower is part of that aim. Unfortunately it is orange
but there are plenty more seedlings in the batch and there could be a good yellow among them. Orange is more likely
but the summer is here, the swallows have returned and I'm feeling lucky.