JEARRARD'S HERBAL
6th September 2026
Acis autumnalis .
The garden has been quietly relieved by the recent rain. It has continued through the week in gentle showers but the ground is moist and the water tanks
are mostly full (except for the one where the guttering was blocked - lesson learned). The outlook is for dry weather but at this time of year the forecast is unreliable.
Rain can appear faster than they can predict it.
In the greenhouse, Acis autumnalis is putting on a good show among the nerines. It was very dry through the summer but that doesn't seem to have affected it
and it has responded well to a recent watering.
6th September 2026
Amaryllis belladonna 'Purpurea' .
In 2009 I bought Amaryllis belladonna 'Purpurea' in a fit of amaryllis enthusiasm. You don't see Amaryllis cultivars offered very often so I took it with glee.
(Thank you Bob Brown, you are an under-appreciated hero).
I haven't seen it offered for sale since. Nor have I seen it in flower for nineteen years. Now Amaryllis are charming things but I am not growing it for the sleek simplicity of its linear green leaves
or the satisfyingly chunky shape of its fat golden bulb. Nineteen years is a long time to be patient.
We are endlessly hearing that it has been the hottest/wettest/coldest etc year since records began but it is telling that this is the first Amaryllis year in two decades.
That is not to say there have been no Amaryllis flowers in other years, but this is undoubtedly a peak year. Many cultivars have flowered that I have never seen before.
It may be a portent the Amaryllis are good things to plant in the light of global warming, or it may be another two decades before the performance is repeated.
I am enjoying the moment while it is here.
6th September 2026
Nerine sarniensis .
Back to the greenhouse and the first Nerine sarniensis has flowered. It is a seedling from a cross between N. (Eve x Dingaan) and N. 'Catherine'.
I can't remember how long ago I made the cross, it might still be legible on the back of the label. I do remember the reason I made the cross
(which is not always the case). N. (Eve x Dingaan) was a good dark red/purple seedling from a purple breeding line. N. 'Catherine' is my earliest flowering cultivar.
I was trying to extend the colour range in my very early flowering Nerine. This seedling, apart from its inherent delight, suggests that I may have succeeded.
6th September 2026
Rhododendron 'Glendoick Papaya'.
The big excitement of the week also appeared in the greenhouse. I had noticed that Rhododendron 'Glendoick Papaya' had produced a bud-like structure at the end of one shoot
but I was inclined to view it as an unseasonal oddity. This week it has burst into three perfect flowers.
I have avoided Vireya rhododendrons for as long as I have been aware of them. Too fussy, too temperamental, for specialists only. That opinion has been reinforced by the number of
serious growers (private and institutional) that I have watched killing them over the years. Two years ago I got fed-up with being intimidated and bought three plants.
I have since killed two of them, but this one survives.
Perhaps it has been a steep learning curve, perhaps I have just been lucky, but I am feeling heartened.