JEARRARD'S HERBAL
20th July 2025
Cyclamen hederifolium .
A hot and heavy week promised a thundery conclusion. It didn't happen, at least not here. The promise of six hours of heavy rain yesterday steadily reduced through the morning,
in the event we got an hour of light rain in the early evening and a garnish of decorative mist. The garden is appreciating being moistened but it would have been nice to be drenched.
The next few days promise some unsettled showers, they skip in and out of the forecast like spring lambs. It was disappointing to miss a deluge but the season seems to have changed.
With any luck the garden will be saved from the stress of drought and the water tanks will be topped up.
I need to get the mower in under the sycamore trees and cut down the worst of the ivy leaves. It doesn't kill the ivy, but it allows enough space for other things to grow as well.
The best part of the year under the trees is cutting back the ivy leaves and then scrutinising the ground for weeks to see the first cyclamen buds unrolling.
Too late, they're already here. Rain last week must have started them, mowing will have to be put off.
20th July 2025
Vincetoxicum nigrum .
Planting in gardens ebbs and flows. When this garden was young most of my gardening was a battle to establish something in the ground that might break the wind and provide some cover.
The ideal plants were fast, evergreen and tolerant. Small details, whether I liked them or not, were insignificant. It is very satisfying to look beyond
those pioneering days and plant things in the softer habitats that have been created.
As little as a decade ago I would not have wasted time planting out Vincetoxicum nigrum, its sombre flowers and thin vining growth would have had the impact
of wind blown thistledown on a charging elephant. More recently I have been able to establish it under a mature pine tree where it has been quietly charming.
Last year the pine tree blew down, the fight is on. Already there are brambles trying to take over, the tide is on the turn.
I will raise some Vincetoxicum seedlings and plant it more widely so that it can populate the quiet corners with its quiet flowers. Then I will roll up my sleeves and attend to the brambles.
I haven't planted a new pine tree, I have planted a Paulownia instead. It seemed like a nicer idea.
20th July 2025
Haemanthus humilis 'Quanti' .
I have been feeling awkward around the Nerine house. Everything is dormant, the only green leaves in there come from a Hymenocallis that I had forgotten about.
It isn't entirely happy that I left it to desiccate when it wanted to grow. The Nerine are asleep. I must go in while they are dormant and remove any weeds,
clean up the old leaves, get ready for the growth to come. Suddenly yesterday I found a pink spike pushing through the dead, bleached foliage. It isn't a Nerine,
it is a nerine-warning. They won't be long.
Haemanthus humilis grows on the same cycle as the Nerine, emerging a little earlier in the autumn and dying back a little earlier in the winter.
The arrival of the first flowers warns me that it is time to start watering in there again. As I took this photograph I looked around to see if there was any sign
of emerging Nerine flower spikes. I couldn't see anything, so this should be weeding week. It is a last chance to get the job done before the flowers get in the way.
20th July 2025
Watsonia 'August Pink'.
It has been a good summer for volcanic colours in the garden. The Hemerocallis have performed well in the heat and the bright red ones have performed better than they have for years.
They have ended very suddenly and handed the torch on to Crocosmia in orange abundance. Almost before they have started the Crocosmia leaves have started to look old,
heat and drought have taken their toll. Cooler colours are building for the autumn. With the first of the Cyclamen, the first of the Watsonia have flowered.
I have a selection of bright orange and red forms but they seem to be declining while the pink and pale salmon colours are increasing. I think that the time has come to raise
some more seedlings and plant them out. Time to release a new riot of colour into the restful indolence of August.