JEARRARD'S HERBAL
Thats enough introduction - on with the plants!
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... out in the garden.
15th March 2026
Anemone apennina 'Double Form' .
A mixed week for the garden. The warmth at the start of the week gave way to a quick puff of cold air that has emphasised the fickle nature of spring.
Notwithstanding, it has been warmer overall and the garden has moved decisively into the rapturous enthusiasm of spring. For a brief period I had three Leucojum in flower
(L. vernum, L. aestivum 'Gravetye Giant' and L. aestivum 'Bridesmaid'). And then the night fell and slugs reduced it to two.
Spring flowers can be fleeting, and delicious.
Anemone apennina 'Double Form' appeared as an entirely expected surprise. I hadn't seen it emerging but I have seen flowers on the earliest A. nemorosa.
Finding it in flower was a delight, it is a favourite plant, and inspired the thought 'oh, the lovely anemone is in flower'. It was immediately followed by the thought
'of course it is you blockhead, the time is entirely right'.
The plant has been entirely reliable for uncounted years and is still far too delightful to be taken for granted.
15th March 2026
Narcissus pseudonarcissus .
I have a garden. It might be more accurate, and more confusing, to say that I have had many gardens and this one is all of them. There is the garden that I moved into,
a bare space given dynamism by the cutting wind. There is the garden of aspiration, that distant vision that I plant towards, and there are the many manifestations
of the garden of reality. Bare mud, dead plants and recently the return of the dynamic wind. More important have been the gardens of the years and this year's garden
has been warm and nostalgic, echoing its past manifestations with kindly satisfaction.
In the early days I was determined that the garden would not be overwhelmed by polka-dot planting of narcissus. One or two cultivars planted in large drifts
would be more than sufficient. I tried to stick to that but circumstances knew better.
To start, the space that is now my meadow was planted with Narcissus obvallaris. A single rogue N. pseudonarcissus
had stowed away in the sack. I had to lift it, I should have thrown it away, but instead I planted it in a dim and distant border.
There it remained as the years trotted by, healthy, leafy and flowerless. Finally I moved it and found it a new home in the sunshine. This is the result,
part of a garden that I never really intended.
15th March 2026
Pleione Britannia 'Doreen' .
I should start by apologising to young people who may have been named Crystal. It is one of those names that speaks of a time and a place.
I suspect that when the social historians dig through the stratifications of time, they will find a thin layer that contains almost all of the Crystals.
That is how it has been with Doreen. I have known a few Doreens, they have been quite wonderful people, and yet the name seems to say something
that captures a time and a place. There will be another thin stratum of time that houses most of the Doreens.
In keeping with its name, Pleione Britannia 'Doreen' is a wonderful thing, practical, sensible and without pretensions.
I am very fond of it. It has great vigour and flowers profusely in the middle of the Pleione season.
There can be little doubt that it was named in the middle of the 'Doreen stratum', though I don't know the details.
So I salute the Doreens and delight in the mark in time that they have engraved on the company of orchids. Perhaps the Crystals will be as lucky.
15th March 2026
Prunus spinosa 'Purpurea'
This has been the time to celebrate unlikely affections. Without seeming to try, some plants achieve personal significance with no regard for expectations.
As I have driven around this week, the hedges have been filled with clouds of white blackthorn flowers. This is the blackthorn's finest moment because
it is an evil plant, thickly set with dust covered thorns that penetrate and suppurate. I'm not a fan, though in a hedge from the safety of a car, it is a fine thing.
It would be better if it was pink.
The purple leaved form is an unexpected delight. I got it from Macpennys (I think they still stock it) and it has spent decades in unexpected suffering in the garden.
I planted it in a windbreak, and then added a row of larch. The larches are long felled and the Prunus had suffered. I was able to rescue a single sucker.
The sucker was planted in a new border where it could be cherished, but a mature pine tree fell on it. It has suckered again and started to recover.
This is the first flower following the latest setback. It isn't a spectacular thing, it doesn't really fit in my ideal garden, but I will fight tooth and claw to keep it.
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.
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Perhaps my MONKEY will fool them.