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.
1st February 2026
Araucaria heterophylla .
It has been a week for breathing deeply and looking at the consequences of storm Goretti calmly. A couple of lesser storms pottered through the garden
bringing down broken branches and shaking the loose detritus from the remaining trees. Finally storm Chandra passed through.
I'm hoping that it will be the last for a while. As far as I can see it brought down a single dead trunk on a Lawsons Cypress.
Once I had overcome the frustration I cut it into sections and have been enjoying its performance in the stove. Heartwarming.
Walking carefully through the garden has only revealed one additional loss. I had been focussed on the large trees and had missed this unfortunate Araucaria.
After many years languishing in a conservatory and collecting mealy bug, I planted it out a couple of years ago and it was starting to recover.
It is too tender to view as reliable but every winter that passed was a small triumph. Unfortunately a small limb torn from an alder
hit it squarely and snapped it in half. The stump might regrow but I'm not too hopeful.
This is the second Norfolk Island Pine I have snapped in half, it's beginning to feel like a pattern. In a garden centre on Friday I checked the price
of a third but it was too high.
1st February 2026
Galanthus 'Brenda Troyle' .
When I toured the garden for photographs the wind was still blowing and I was a little anxious but the wind dropped and the sun came out.
It felt like spring. I went down into the greenhouse searching for the warmth of sunshine, but it hasn't arrived yet. The greenhouse was lovely, it was mild and comfortable,
but it wasn't warm. It was tepid. The roof was still dripping dankly and the atmosphere was heavy and wet. One day soon the greenhouse will be hot in the sunshine
and the terrifying shackles of winter will have been released.
Meanwhile the snowdrops are snowdropping for all they are worth. 'Brenda Troyle' had started to open on Wednesday. By Saturday she would have been perfect
but by Saturday I was at the Myddleton House snowdrop sale. It was great, I came back with almost nothing and the almost nothing I came back with is wonderful.
The first job for the new week is to spend almost no time planting almost nothing.
Gardens move on.
1st February 2026
Narcissus 'Spring Dawn' .
It feels like a very early season. The camellias were early, the snowdrops were early and it is only the daffodils that seem to be dragging their heels.
'Spring Dawn' has only just started but when I look back at my records, this is about right. 'February Gold' is just emerging. In another four weeks it will flower
just in time to justify its name as it always does.
I took a trip to Penzance in the week and enjoyed seeing fields of daffodils along the road. I don't get that sort of display in the garden and often wonder if
I should put aside some space for a daffodil spectacular. It seems wasteful when friendly farmers will do it for me. I would quite like a golden carpet of my own.
Unfortunately I am a collector of good things. I would want one of everything and end up spoiling the effect.
So I have a speckling of different daffodils through the garden. They aren't quite there yet but their moment is coming. When I have planted almost nothing I must clear
away fallen branches and leave the ground open for them.
1st February 2026
Camellia 'Macdonald's Seedling'
Storm Goretti was a shock. I coped with it by being calm and practical (and by staying away from the garden until it was over).
Now when I walk around I am rocked by occasional shock-echoes. I know the trees that are down but it is still shocking to see the size of the holes
torn up by the rootplates as they fell. I'm not sure how the holes get filled, I'm not sure if they ever get filled, but some of them are impressively wide and deep.
I live in a mining area and there is always the chance that a corner of the garden will collapse into an unrecorded mine working.
It is unlikely after a few centuries but it could happen. It is heartening to see that none of the fallen trees unearthed anything worrying.
Equally heartening was Camellia 'Macdonald's Seedling'. It is the best single red Camellia japonica that I know.
I saw it a decade or more ago, at Falmouth Spring Show, and immediately planted a young one in the garden. Up until last year
I had misplaced it. I knew I had one but couldn't put my finger on it. Last year it finally flowered. This year it just escaped being ripped up by the roots of a falling Leyland
and it is celebrating in flower.
Never was the happy happenstance of gardening so clearly exposed.
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.
I have a lot of good intentions when it comes to updating this site, and I try to keep a note
about what is going on, if you are interested.
If you want to contact me, the address is incompetentjohnMONKEYjohnjearrard.co.uk
When typing the address in, please replace MONKEY with the more traditional @ symbol! I apologise for the tiresome performance involved, but I am getting too much
spam from automated systems as a result of having an address on the front page.
Perhaps my MONKEY will fool them.