JEARRARD'S HERBAL
Thats enough introduction - on with the plants!
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... out in the garden.
6th June 2010
Clematis 'Bijou'.
Every year produces a few novelties for the garden, and I am as keen as anyone to leap on a band-wagon, so I am happy to have a tiny Clematis as
the wonder of the moment. I know Raymond Evison has been breeding smaller varieties for pots and patios and I have a garden full of pots,
so it seemed like the perfect time to try it.
This is the commercial wonder of the age. It is in all the garden centres at the moment. I bought it about a month ago when I first saw it. It is like
a litle lavender cow-pat in a pot. If it stays as small as promised, it will be quite amazing. Part of me sees it as a rather freakish little blob
but I found a place for it in the garden straight away. At the same time I bought four more conventional climbing varieties, and they are still in
their pots while I work out where I am going to put them, so it is odd, but it held my attention.
6th June 2010
Agapetes serpens 'Scarlet Elf'.
Another first flowering for me. I am fond of Agapetes but they are a difficult size. Too small to prosper in the garden without
protection from the brambles, and too large to grow for long in a pot. This one currently lurks in the greenhouse, but it has produced long arching stems
in all directions, so I am going to have to find a more suitable situation shortly. I have just planted another great load of Camellia, so it will
possibly find a home sheltering beneath one of them. I should root some cuttings first, just in case.
The buds have been clustering along the stems for month now, but it has taken a couple of warm weeks to get them to open.
6th June 2010
Roscoea 'Raw Silk'.
I have to thank Nigel Rowland at Long Acre Plants for drawing my attention to this rather charming new cultivar. I assume that it is a yellow selection
of R.humeana, it has large flowers and good strong growths.
It has been a couple of years since I raised any new hybrid Roscoea and perhaps this is the year to pollinate some more. I have almost cleared
enough space in the greenhouse to grow them... If I can get the Epimedium out at last there will be some space to work with. A few of the previous
seedlings are worth saving, but I think the majority will end up taking their chances in the woods.
6th June 2010
Anemone coronaria 'Hollandia'.
Earlier in the year I planted out some Anemone pavonina in the hope that they would prosper. I still have the hope, but I discovered that the flowers
were attractive to rabbits which are certainly prospering.
As a quick fix for the bunny-munching blues I bought a box of bright red De Caen Anemones. They are a reliable wonder. I soaked the tubers overnight in a
shallow saucer of water and then planted half of them in a sandy soil, and the other half I poked down the side of assorted pots and containers. As a consequence, I
have a little patch of scarlet (and a little patch is sufficient for now) and a scatter of buds poking out in unexpected places. A field of scarlet might be nice,
but I think the attraction would fade. I might try scattering some mixed colours through the herbaceous border. Some blue ones would be fun planted with
the Clematis but anything that contrived would be bound to come up scarlet, and perhaps that wouldn't be such a bad thing either.
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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