JEARRARD'S HERBAL
4th October 2026
Camellia sasanqua 'Plantation Pink' .
So far the autumn has been warm. In a few weeks this will seem like perfect weather as the chill nights and mischievous storms descend.
For now it is warm, occasionally misty, but mostly the garden is bathed in the sort of soft sunshine that leaves you cheerful but not warm.
Camellias have started to make their presence felt. Fat buds have formed ready for spring and the autumn flowering ones are on the verge of a grand display.
A flower here and there for now, offering the promise of seasonal scent and colour in the coming weeks.
4th October 2026
Hyacinthoides lingulata .
In the greenhouse Hyacinthoides lingulata has burst from the ground with fragile enthusiasm. I don't like to say anything, enthusiasm is precious,
but this is a quiet season. Gently gently, less brass band, more cheerful humming.
I have two clones of the species, the first flowers early and this year it was in bloom, rather sparsely, as the hot weather was dissipating.
It popped up, almost wilted in the heat and then dropped most of its flowers. This is the late flowering form, giving a good show.
It is quite vigorous and I tried some bulbs outside in a sunny bed. I was sure that it would survive but I never saw it again.
Somewhere between brass band and oblivion would suit the mood of the garden better.
4th October 2026
Hedychium 'Tai Pink Profusion' .
A long, hot summer raised the possibility of a good flowering year for the Hedychium. At present the Hedychium bed is filled with
optimistic-looking flower spikes, but most of them have several weeks to go before they finally open.
'Tai Pink Profusion' has been the first of the unusual forms to flower. It's not that it is reluctant, just that the summer season here is usually too short
for it to produce flowers. By the time the buds are swelling, the cold weather is upon us. It's not stopped by frost, but by cold, dank, misty weather
in November which brings development to an end and sees the buds collapse in mildewy fungus.
Perhaps this year things will be different. There are some cultivars in the bed that I have never seen in flower. The excitement is building.
4th October 2026
Galanthus reginae-olgae 'Rachelae' .
I have spent the day peering into the heart of a bonfire. It leads to slow contemplation in harmony with the season. It doesn't do to try and rush a bonfire,
unfortunate things happen.
As I peer into the fire I can feel the impatience of spring around the corner. I'm burning a fallen tree on the daffodil meadow. Already the daffodil bulbs will be rooting, the new shoots will be swelling.
I need to get the tree burnt and get off the ground before the shoots emerge. I think I have time, but it is closer than I would like.
Despite the seeming stasis of autumn, the vegetable clock is ticking. Last week the snowdrop pots were bare, this week I have four in flower. They were a surprise,
I was photographing Nerine and there they were.
'Rachelae' is looking particularly strong, it has increased well since last year.
It was one of the first autumn flowering snowdrops to be discovered (1884), in Greece. The name, at least, has persisted although the plant
disappeared from view for a couple of decades (Alec Douglas-Home, Harold Wilson, Ted Heath, James Callaghan sort of thing). In the latest effusion of Galanthomania
the name has emerged again. Whether it is still attached to the same plant is less certain.
So please don't tell the daffodils but spring is on the move.