JEARRARD'S HERBAL
Thats enough introduction - on with the plants!
To navigate this site use the links above or the detailed links at the bottom of this page.
... out in the garden.
3rd August 2025
Magnolia grandiflora 'Edith Bogue' .
The weather has softened. It is too early to say that it has cooled but the steely harshness of the mid-day sun has moderated. I am still abandoning the garden through the middle of the day
but it isn't unpleasant to stand in the shade and look at it. It's an activity that falls somewhere between a vista and a siesta.
With the random impact of a short-sighted badger in a field of ant hills, the garden has produced a lot of surprises this week. The best of them is almost entirely hidden
and nearly passed undetected. Magnolia grandiflora 'Edith Bogue' was planted in 2008 as part of the replacement windbreak. I took down a row of Pinus radiata
that crossed the middle of the garden and were taking away all the light. 'Edith Bogue' was said to be the hardiest of the cultivars available and after a few months clearing away pine logs
I was very aware of the way the wind whistled up there. It established and grew well. The new windbreak towers over my head now and below it the wind is moderate.
This is the time the Magnolia has chosen to flower. Not where I can see it but nestled in the foliage three metres above me. Even a long lens on the camera couldn't get a picture.
Despite that, this blurred white blob in the centre of the picture is the most exciting thing in the garden today. I have waited seventeen years, I have envied other peoples trees
but today I have a flower and it has been worth it.
3rd August 2025
Eucryphia x nymansensis 'Nymansay' .
Once the Magnolia had established, I planted a Eucryphia in the row to thicken up the windbreak. It's a stylish idea, two late summer flowering evergreen trees
planted next to each other. I could have a focus of summer attention when the wind was least troublesome. Unfortunately the stylish idea is reverse-engineered.
I got the Eucryphia because it was £1.50 in the 'reduced' bin at a local nursery and, as the saying goes, 'not dead yet'.
The fortuitous juxtaposition was an accident, I didn't know what to expect from the Eucryphia at the time. There was a space.
At least I thought there was a space. Both trees have grown and they are barely two metres apart. My only (feeble) excuse is that I fully expected them both to die in the
serious gale. They have survived, they have grown, they are tangled together. One of the reasons that I haven't been able to get a decent picture of the Magnolia
is that there is a Eucryphia in the way. What sort of fool plants like that?
The important thing is that the Magnolia has flowered. I can't see it and I can't smell it but I know it's there.
3rd August 2025
Hydrangea aspera 'Goldilocks' .
Sheltering the the comparative calm of the windbreak, the hydrangeas are flowering. It is difficult to be objective but it feels like a particularly good year.
The colours are intense and the bushes are smothered with them. It could be the year, it could just be that they are feeling well established
and prepared to perform.
I only have two forms of Hydrangea aspera in the garden but I have been enjoying them and it feels as though there should be space for more.
H.a. 'Gold Rush' was distributed a couple of years ago but seems to be falling out of commercial favour. The bright golden leaves made a striking impact
in the garden centres but it hasn't been very vigorous, at least not here.
H.a. 'Goldilocks' has been a better thing. The yellow colour is restricted to the new growth in spring when it is interesting but never gaudy (or even bright).
By the time it flowers it has adopted green as a signature colour, encrusted with lilac highlights. I am hoping that it will be vigorous and resistant to disease.
I hope in particular that it will resist the honey fungus that dined like a king on the Magnolia that previously lived here.
3rd August 2025
Allium sphaerocephalon .
The demise of the Magnolia served as a reminder that garden features come and go. It helps to be flexible. Spalding Grey once said that if you have a perfect moment
you should enjoy it and then just walk away, never return. It is very easy to waste time trying to recapture something that can never be as good again. It is wiser just to move
on and try something new. On that basis I should probably grub out all of the hydrangeas this year. It isn't going to happen but I can see myself endlessly whining about
how they were better in 2025. If anybody hears me whining please pick a fat inflorescence and slap me hard with it.
The hellebore border has a different transience. By April it has finished and I have spent years looking for things to liven the space for the rest of the year.
So far the best effect in summer has been the hogweed. I may have to twitter on about 'the environment' and pretend it is deliberate
(I know about the environment, it is currently full of things that bite me).
Allium sphaerocephalon was part of the August decoration. I even have a handful of decorative ceramic globes beside the border to echo their robust shape.
Unfortunately they rarely flower and the lovely grassy leaves make little impact. This year I have a sudden flurry of activity which makes the hellebore border interesting.
If the onions are happy they will spread and become reliable.
If they don't, it was a marvellous year for the hydrangeas.
To find particular groups of plants I grow, click on the genus name in the table above. Click on the "Index" box at the top of the page for the full list.
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