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JEARRARD'S HERBAL

8th November 2026

Elaphoglossum metallicum .
The last attenuated days of summer have lingered in the garden like damp litter by the roadside. Darkness has crept into the afternoon bringing with it dank and cold air. For all the appearance of declining seasonal majesty, the garden has belonged to the camellias this week. A lot of flowers which serve as cheerful markers to the passage of time, have all happened at once. Camellias have been the feature of the garden this week and I'm not going to say anything about them.
Instead, I am going to concentrate on the small details of garden life that would escape the notice of a garden visitor but which occupy the entire attention of the gardener.
I bought Elaphoglossum metallicum a couple of years ago on the wishful whim that some small portion of my house or garden might have become tropical without me noticing. I thought of it as resident for a heated case in the house. Instead, I stood it in the conservatory and was amazed it survived to following spring. It went into the greenhouse and it still hasn't died. It still has both of the leaves it had when I got it and its survival has slightly obscured the fact that it hasn't grown any more.
So the magnificent feature of the garden for me this week has been the merest suggestion af a tiny new shoot nestled at the base of the leaves. It isn't in sharp focus, it is in soft, hopeful eye of the beholder.


8th November 2026

Fuchsia 'Diana Wright' .
Some corners of the garden get sidelined. It isn't deliberate, it's just the way of things. I have a path, from nowhere-in-particular to somewhere-incidental, that gets forgotten. For a decade it was overgrown with scrub but about ten years ago I cleared it and returned it to use. Since then it has resisted intensive gardening and finally during storm Goretti the route from nowhere-in-particular to somewhere-incidental was blocked by fallen trees.
It is still blocked. I will get to it eventually, there are other priorities. However, I do occasionally creep onto the path from the unblocked end to see what is going on. There I found Fuchsia 'Diana Wright' scattering flower fairies from her branches like bees around a hive.
It has been here for forty years, much loved but almost completely neglected. Very occasionally it is thrilling like a smooth run through a series of traffic lights or a good Camembert.


8th November 2026

Strobilanthes mastersii .
Strobilanthes mastersii has been the horticultural darling of the last few years. When young and well fed it produces magnificent foliage and it deserves to have a place in the winter-defying exotic garden. It has performed every exotic function asked of it, short of flowering. Last winter I saw it in flower in the glasshouse at Wisley and it was magnificent. This year it seems to be flowering for everybody. There has even been a suggestion that they will all flower this year then drop dead and vanish from gardens. Only time will tell.
I have been growing it in the greenhouse, hoping for signs of flower - if I can only get it big enough it is sure to try. Suddenly it is a 2m tall shrub with buds on the top. It's almost impossible to photograph, I'm not going up a ladder for it. I have since seen young plants flowering in small pots so it may be more co-operative than it first appeared, or it may all flower this year and vanish.



8th November 2026

Narcissus pachybolbus .
I have an Amaryllidaceae border in front of the house that is full of - Amaryllis. It was originally intended for some to the Nerine but I was given a lot of Amaryllis and they are doing well. The border also contains some snowdrops and a few daffodils. As long as it is below ground during summer, I'm not to worried what I plant there. Some Cyclamen have crept in and I wouldn't object to an Arum or two.
I have been peering intently at the amaryllis-covered ground in the hpe of seeing the early shoots of daffodilis. There are some Narcissus papyraceus that I would like to see, if only to be sure they had survived.
While my attention was thus diverted, I missed Narcissus pachybolbus coming into flower in some stony ground beside the house. This this the first of next year's daffodils, the 'Rijnveld's Early Sensation' in the meadow aren't showing yet but they will be in flower before the last blooms on N. pachybolbus have faded.

Now, about those camellias...


Camellia 'Nobilissima' Camellia 'Show Girl' Camellia 'Takanini'



Camellia 'Winters Toughie' Camellia 'Winters Interlude' Camellia 'Winters Snowman'