JEARRARD'S HERBAL
16th July 2023
Philesia magellanica .
It has been a watery week. In the previous week the sun had thinned like an overused teabag. Light mist had formed in all the distances and colours. The summer garden had been softened
by the coolness of indecision, but the earth was still grounded in reality. Un-swayed by the aerial promise, it was dry. This week the rain came. Some of it was heavy, some light, and some of it fell like the sound
of a radio from an open window. The key point is that it all fell, and it kept going for most of a day. The ground isn't wet, but it has been re-acquainted with the idea.
Water tanks have refilled and flushed through, and there is a damp patch on the greenhouse floor where the roof leaks, a joyful, luscious, cooling damp patch.
There are times when the damp patch is a worry, a defect in the roof, a fear that something will have to be done, but this week it is wonderful. I went to do some weeding among the Dendrobium
and there was a large frog sitting in it. She seemed to be content. It has been frog-pleasing weather.
Philesia magellanica seems to have appreciated the falling temperature as well. It has a dozen flowers open and spaces them carefully to keep them from appearing in the same picture.
It's still in the greenhouse because I still don't have the courage to plant it out. Courage will come, I have been working up to it for a few years now, don't rush me.
16th July 2023
Haemanthus humilis .
Most particularly, don't rush me in the morning. Some people leap out of bed, saunter lightly through the morning ablutions and face the day with a spring in their step.
Others have Haemanthus humilis in their hearts. Just give me a moment, a bleary-eyed, soft-shattered day-fragment to pass from distant dream to dawning daytime.
Surely it isn't much to ask, and equally surely I will be the one asking it. I get out of the bed in slow motion, the boundary between being awake or not is less a sharp line,
more like a flight on autopilot. A lot of ground is covered without conscious control.
Haemanthus humilis sleeps deeply through the winter and doesn't stir until spring is well on the way to lunchtime. With or without the stimulus of water, it will flower in July.
The first flowers appear like an optimistic squeeze on an empty tube of toothpaste, but it will rally. Next week it will have a ball of pink flowers on a decent stem. It just needs a slow moment
to throw aside slumber and gather itself before the pollinator party begins.
16th July 2023
Roscoea purpurea 'Purple Sultan' .
I have watered all the sleeping corners of the greenhouse. The alarm has been sounded for all the autumn flowering bulbs and tubers. I spent most of the morning yesterday
waking the Nerine from slumber. I have been keeping them slightly moist through the summer, watering every three or four weeks to protect them from the stresses of desiccation.
This week the rain has arrived, I have watered them with rousing intent. It is time for them to wake up. In the process I found the first flower spike showing on the side of a bulb,
the first sign of the year coming to a crescendo.
I woke the summer Roscoea three weeks ago. The pots were completely dry and needed a soaking. Roscoea rhizomes are very tolerant, they have taken the seasonal hint
and burst into growth. R. purpurea 'Purple Sultan' is the first of the "red" flowered forms to open. Raised by Keith Wiley, it is part of the explosion of colour
in R. purpurea that followed the introduction of 'Red Gurkha'. It wakes up in a very ebullient way, like a teenager with an erection. Half a century, who would have thought.
16th July 2023
Watsonia seedling .
It has been Disa week. Colour has tumbled from the benches in perfect innocence. Next week may be brighter, it may be fuller, but it will also be older. The crows-feet of weariness will have started to show.
This is Disa week, the perfect night-before, when the morning-after is still inconceivable. I have spent as much time among them as I can. The intention is to assess the new seedlings.
I'm no good at it, I like them all.
I had the same problem with Watsonia when I was still raising new hybrids in abundance. As my Watsonia phase drew to an end I just planted them all and let them fight it out for themselves.
Watsonia (pillansii Pink x Stanford scarlet) came out on top. A pretty thing, its F2 hybrids were diverse and I was undecided. Planted out in a clump, they have also sorted the matter out for themselves.
This profuse flowering pink seedling with an orange tube has been the most vigorous and has trounced the competition. The winner takes it all. Summer has progressed.