JEARRARD'S HERBAL
16th November 2025
Camellia 'Nobilissima' .
November has trotted along rather cheerfully. I hadn't really noticed but suddenly we're in the middle of it. The weather has been unexpectedly mild and the garden
has launched itself into the 'not-summer' season with gusto. A couple of soaking wet days during the week have kept me indoors but I managed to mow the paths
and did a first cut on the Hellebore border. I'm not sure if I have been putting the garden to sleep for the winter or waking it up for the spring
but some useful work has been done and I can always dry off in front of the fire.
Last week my soul was gripped by stoic fatalism and the absence of Camellia 'Nobilissima' from the scene. I spoke too soon. This week there were a number of
opening buds along the path and a flower open 'round the back'. Colder weather is threatened for the start of next week. It may have started already, I have just been down to the greenhouse
and there is an unfamiliar chill in the wind. As a point of principle I don't carry things into the house for the winter. If they aren't hardy enough for the greenhouse
that is a lesson I have to learn. Except for a few orchids. And some ferns. And some of the clivias. But that is absolutely all, no exceptions. At least not for the moment.
The cold spell is not expected to last, I don't have to panic just yet.
16th November 2025
Canarina canariensis .
In the Nerine house the last flashes of colour are holding bright against the dark skies. I should spend an hour cutting off old flower stems. It always makes the place look better
but it is also a stark statement that the season has ended. I have a few very late flowering forms, 'Christmas Dreams' will come along in a couple of weeks and 'Winter Sun'
will last into the new year but they will look comfortably inappropriate, like an unrecognised guest found asleep on the sofa the morning after a party.
I have had problems with Canarina canariensis in the past. It didn't like the Agave house, too dry I think. In the bottom corner of the greenhouse it kept getting frosted
before it had really started. I tried having it under the bench so that it was protected in the first few weeks of growth and then emerged above the bench to flower.
It was a clever idea, the plant said 'no'. I have finally had more success in the Nerine house. The plant fits in well with the Nerine cycle of growth. They all start to produce leaves at about the same time
in autumn and return to dormancy at the same time in spring. In recent years it has escaped being frosted and it is getting more vigorous. This year it managed to grow straight up to the roof
and twine through the roof beams. Previously I have had to support it to keep it from scrambling over the floor - charming but very inconvenient.
The first flower has opened and experience has shown that by this stage the plant has already fortified the tuber.
A sharp frost would kill the top growth but it is now strong enough to sleep securely until next year.
Last year I harvested a seed capsule for the first time and put it in my pocket. I wonder if it's still there?
16th November 2025
Clivia gardenii 'Maxima' .
Clivias do unexpected things and they do them in a charming way. I get used to clumps of leaves being fatly fabulous but then suddenly there will be flowers.
I don't see the flower spikes develop, I just find flowers. I have two plants of Clivia gardenii 'Maxima', both grown from Chiltern seeds, and both are in flower this week.
The difference between C. gardenii and C. robusta is not always easy to discern, the two species have only been divided in the last twenty years
but in wild plants the distinction is clear. The situation in cultivation is more complicated. Hybrids of all sorts had been raised before the distinction was understood
and Clivia gardenii 'Maxima' is a seed raised taxon from South African growers that may have mixed parentage.
Fired with enthusiasm to sort out my plants once and for all, I went down to the greenhouse this morning to study them.
One of the differences between the species is that C. gardenii has anthers that protrude from the end of the flowers and C. robusta has anthers within the flower tube.
I seemed to have one plant with anthers showing and one plant without. That was simple. Then I looked in more detail.
A slug has eaten all of the anthers from one plant. The mystery remains.
16th November 2025
Hedychium 'Tai Pink Princess'
I was consoling myself last week that the pink flowered forms of Doyle Smittle's 'Tai' series of Hedychium hybrids never flowered outside in this garden.
The start of the week was busy and dreary, I hardly had time to look. Walking around on Friday I discovered that 'Tai Pink Princess' was not only in flower, but had passed its best.
So much for my glib assumptions.
The Hedychium bed is still looking good. Flowering has mostly ended but, like the Nerine house, there are still a few flashes of colour. The foliage is looking
lush and rippling tightly in the breeze like an over-inflated balloon that is about to burst.
The banana plants beside them are more advanced. The gentle breeze that caressed the Hedychium has been a bit stronger at banana height. The leaves have started to shred.
I noticed that some of the foliage has darkened in the cold in advance of the first frost which will blacken them. A couple of frosts later and the Hedychium will follow.
Then the Camellia hedge behind them will be revealed in its full springtime glory. That was the cunning plan anyway. It has never quite worked out
but who can tell what surprises the garden may still have in store for the year.