JEARRARD'S HERBAL
19th November 2023
Camellia 'Drama Girl'
It is a very unusual season. When I looked back over my notes I found that I have been saying that for forty years, so I suppose it must be true.
It has been good weather for lighting the stove and pretending that the world outside the back door doesn't exist. I watered the Nerine yesterday which can be a
delightful job, basking in the rich colours and the warmth of the greenhouse. The atmosphere was cold and clammy, the outlook grey.
Strange things are happening in the garden. Signs of spring are appearing very early. My friends are all saying how late everything is.
Perhaps the vagaries of chance play a larger part in the revolution of the seasons than we like to think. Wet weather has drenched the garden. I had the mower out on
Thursday and as I braked coming down the hill, I left a six foot skid mark on the grass. It will repair itself in time. I'm certainly not going to do it. With low temperatures,
the foliage on the Impatiens has developed a cold yellow sheen. The new growth is distorted. There are three species still in flower here but to quote a friend
"they've gone a bit weird".
The first of the spring camellias has opened. I would have expected it to be 'Nobilissima' but instead it is the giant flowered (saucer sized) 'Drama Girl'. If she doesn't charm
spring into the garden then she will bludgeon the winter out.
19th November 2023
Dahlia tamaulipana
I hesitate to say that the autumn storms have done surprisingly little damage in the garden so far. It feels like I am tempting fate. Instead, I will note
that there are still a few dahlias adding interest to the garden. In recent years I have come back to the genus after the cold snap around 2010 which wiped them out in the garden.
There are some more interesting species available now, I'm sure they will persist (ha)!
In spring I planted Dahlia imperialis and D. campanulata on either side of the front door. I hoped that the house would give them some extra protection with the possibility of late flowers
(I have lost both of them in the garden previously). In the first of the autumn storms, D. imperialis was repeatedly smashed against the wall until the stems snapped.
No flowers this year but the plant might survive. Dahlia campanulata was growing tall until the local deer discovered that they could climb the steps to the front door
and eat it from above. No flowers this year, and I think the plant has been done for.
Dahlia tamaulipana has fared better and I think it is probably the best of the recent introductions. Growing tall, and out in the open, it has shrugged off the wind
and eluded the deer. Perhaps I should qualify that with 'so far'. The lilac pink flowers started to open this week and with luck I will get a gentle display of colour
before the monochrome assault of the frost.
19th November 2023
Galanthus elwesii Hiemalis Group
Autumn flowering snowdrops are ten-a-penny. All you have to do is spend an unreasonable fortune on them and tear all your hair out with frustration.
It has always seemed a fair price to me.
Galanthus elwesii has forms that flower before Christmas (don't say Voldemort) that get called the Hiemalis Group for convenience. Several clones have been named,
differing by a few days in their flowering period. New names come and go. I am very impressed with this stock, which came from Broadleigh Gardens many years ago.
It has survived the years, increased well and often flowers in November (or December ... January, February as it pleases). It isn't the earliest of all
but then 'Earliest of All' is no longer the earliest of all. Snowdrops come in the spring and spring comes in the autumn. What a good thing we have Narcissus
to keep the seasons honest.
19th November 2023
Narcissus 'Viridi 5'
I have a few special daffodils growing in pots behind the house. Some things that I don't think will thrive in the open ground. Some things that I want to keep a close eye on.
Some things that are so small that they risk being overlooked anywhere else, and some things that I was too lazy to plant out when they arrived.
Among their number is the delightful, autumn flowering N. 'Cedric Morris'. I have no doubt that any day now somebody will show me their delightful clump,
flowering away like a yellow weed. I went searching for mine, delighted by the dense tuft of healthy leaves. Closer inspection uncovered the headless flower stems.
The RHS exhorts us to love our slugs. Perhaps if I post them some of mine, they can love them on my behalf. Let's think of it as a service to members.
I had also hoped to find the trembling flowers of N. 'Viridi 5'. Hoped but not expected. There it was, undamaged, the first narcissus of the season. I
had five clones of the Viridi narcissus. I think I still have four of them, but only this one seems to flower. Perhaps if I fed them more, kept them warmer, gave them more sunshine
it might help. I have no idea what to do so I leave well alone for fear of making things worse.
It is a very unusual season. In the garden it is mostly autumn but parts of it have already pushed through to spring.