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.
8th February 2026
Crocus tommasinianus 'Barr's Purple' .
"In the spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love." Unfortunately I am no longer a young man so I hope my love will forgive me if my thoughts have been straying to bulbs.
It has been a cold, wet week. Such illuminating flashes of sunshine as have appeared have done little to lift the greyness of the outlook. However, this morning dawned clear and dry
(the rain is on hold for the afternoon) and I was able to get out and see what was happening. My strongest impression was that the bulbs in the garden, like the season, had sprung.
It is of course the season of snowdrops. The right combination of warmth and humidity has allowed them to spread their petals wide this morning for (what seems like) the first time this year.
I should probably have shown Galanthus 'Brenda Troyle' being perfect. It is sheer perversity that has dragged me in the direction of Crocus. This garden supports snowdrops
with comparative ease while Crocus fight for survival in the wet, shady ground. The faintest hint of sunshine this morning showed a small group of 'Barr's Purple'
opening and I rushed to get a picture before the cloud blew in.
I planted them several decades ago hoping they would spread. They haven't. A few of them have persisted and this represents my small purple astonishment at seeing them in flower.
8th February 2026
Crocus 'Ruby Giant' .
My long and slow struggle with Crocus tommasinianus owes its origin to my youth in the south east. On a dry, light soil it would spread into lilac carpets,
opening and closing with the sun. I was enchanted, I was determined, and I lived on a heavy yellow clay that made such things impossible. The move to Cornwall
gave me a suitable soil, I imagined, and the 'Barr's Purple' dream took off. Unfortunately I hadn't allowed for the rain and the shade, the first Crocus iteration was
rather feeble.
Eventually I cut a terrace into the hill - I say I cut it, a nice man with a digger did it but I contributed by leaving him alone to get on with it. The space for the new herbaceous border was born.
Mostly stony subsoil with occasional boulders, but it was in full sun. Realising that the soil would be more-or-less bare in spring, I planted 50 Crocus 'Ruby Giant'.
It is a vigorous selection (or possibly hybrid) of Crocus tommasinianus. I would have planted the species itself but, just as with 'Barr's Purple' decades before,
I couldn't get the corms. Too subtle for the big Dutch bulb firms. In went 'Ruby Giant', its a start, let's see what happens.
(It's out of focus because I daren't tread on the ground).
8th February 2026
Crocus tommasinianus .
I hardly need to say it, but the 'Ruby Giant' survived. They aren't increasing very much, but they are still there.
Two years ago I was wandering around in a garden centre pretending to be interested in plants when I really had my heart set on a cup of coffee, and there in front of me
was a pack of Crocus tommasinianus. Just the thing to add diversity to the new herbaceous border. I put them in, hoped they wouldn't turn out to be mixed Dutch hybrids,
and stood back to allow the lilac tide to lap at my feet.
It hasn't worked out quite as well as that, but they have established, they are still flowering, and I have high hopes. There is a short period in spring
when the detritus of winter has left the border and the detritus of spring has not yet appeared. In that short gap, Crocus tommasinianus
flowers among the moss and fires a starting pistol over the resting border.
8th February 2026
Crocus tommasinianus .
It is an indulgence to focus on Crosus tommasinianus when the garden is filling with the wonders of spring. I have been cutting branches and clearing paths after the onslaught of storm Goretti.
I imagine that it will take most of the year to deal with it all. In the rain of the middle of the week I made a start on two Leyland cypress that had fallen
onto the daffodil meadow. I can't clear them yet, but I am hoping to remove the worst of the heavy foliage and let the bulbs see the light again.
They won't have a good year but with luck they will survive. The appearance of Crocus tommasinianus in this highly unsuitable garden gives me hope.
Fuelling my ridiculous dreams is my partner's garden, where Crocus tommasinianus spreads like soft butter on warm toast. For a couple of years I have been spreading seed gathered from his lawn
into the new herbaceous border. His colony have distinctive silver backs, unlike my commercial stock. I was waiting for the first flowers to appear,
a chance to celebrate a triumph of the unlikely.
Suddenly I find I don't have to wait. These bulbs stowed away in the root-ball of a transplanted Mahonia and give me a chance to revel in the
unpredictable fortunes of gardening.
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.