JEARRARD'S HERBAL
Thats enough introduction - on with the plants!
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... out in the garden.
16th February 2025
I you have a bowlful of juicy berries and some tired white bread, why not make a Summer Pudding? It's an interesting question in some ways,
but why on earth would you do such a stupid thing. Spoil a bowl of delicious berries by squashing them down in a cover of wet bread,
it's ridiculous. Never was the idea of summer more heinously corrupted than in the squashed frigidity of Summer Pudding.
Which brings me to the Spring Garden. It has been a gloomy week. Mist has ghosted through the windy garden like the hollow howling of an underground train.
Strong winds in the week had been rattling the trees so I didn't go up there but by Saturday morning I needed to look around
and face the misty monsters of dejection as they squatted on the hilltop.
I found the first Narcissus 'Snow Baby' and rejoiced. Planting them through the border last year was a good move, I hope they settle in.
The remaining joy of spring was lost in the condensing vapour. Spring garden, Summer Pudding, my arse!
(Vulgar British slang used to convey that one does not believe something that has just been said - I checked the dictionary).
16th February 2025
Galanthus nivalis .
I had to wait until this morning for the first sunshine of the week. It makes an enormous difference to the feel of the garden. There was still
a strong breeze but the heavy weather of the week has let up for a while.
There are clusters of common snowdrops around the place. They have come from an assortment of sources over the years. They flower at different times, the first started about three weeks ago
and most of the plants in the long border are finishing. This little group by the house are just about at their peak and there is a clump behind the house
that came as a gift from Lincolnshire which are still pushing through the soil.
Looking through the collection of named snowdrops in the border, I am not sure what to do. Some of them have clearly seeded around, the differences are becoming less clear.
I have a lot of very similar cultivars and I am tempted to just scatter them through the borders. Never mind the names, they aren't distinct enough to care.
I am conflicted. The loss of labels will drive me to distraction, I know that in advance. However the plants will be much better set free if I can't tell them apart.
Perhaps I'm just getting too lazy to bend over and look at the detail.
16th February 2025
Narcissus cyclamineus .
The daffodils are starting to move. 'Snow Baby' was chosen for the spring garden because it flowered at about there same time as the double snowdrops.
Together they make a pale flowering carpet beneath the emerging hellebores. That's the plan anyway, things don't always turn out as expected.
In the snowdrop border, Narcissus cyclamineus has started. I have a few seedlings from it and I am hoping that it will spread more widely in the border.
At the bottom of the slope, by the front hedge, I have been scattering seed from a friends plants. No sign of Narcissus down there yet
but I'm sure its just a matter of patience. It was a well laid plan!
I did find one large trumpet daffodil growing in a tub in the snowdrop border. I didn't remember planting it so I checked the label.
"Mixed Erythronium seed". It seems the daffodils have been putting themselves about a bit.
16th February 2025
Crocus tommasinianus .
In a week of lurking greyness that hasn't felt like spring, there has been one sparkling triumph. Crocus tommasinianus opened in the sunshine this morning.
It is the commonest of crocus and it can seed into great drifts in some gardens. I often go to Kew in February to see the grass covered in
its silky lilac sheets. It can be one of the wonders of gardening. Unfortunately it is one of those things that prefers a drier climate and a sandier soil than I can manage.
There are three or four clumps that persist in the garden, survivors from planting years ago. They were enough to give me hope when I started to plant
them in the new herbaceous border. One end of the border is almost down on the bed-rock, I hoped the drainage and warmth would be sufficient.
I have been planting corms and scattering seed for several years and slowly I think I am establishing a population. This little group have grown from a corm but a few feet away
I think I have a seedling in flower.
It is hardly enough to attract attention, a garden visitor might pass by and not notice a few flowers from a common crocus, but for me it is seasonal triumph.
Winter, my arse.
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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about what is going on, if you are interested.
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