JEARRARD'S HERBAL
17th December 2023
Camellia 'Dazzler'
The week has been dark and wet. On Thursday I had a load of logs delivered. The poor old mower and trailer struggled to tow them up the hill to the log store
behind the house. It was the sort of day when you look at the sludge and the skidmarks, the oppressive darkness and the futility of gardening and yearn for some warmth.
I walked away from the whole mess, lit the stove and moved the logs after a cup of tea.
The garden has been doing its best to surprise me. A sparkle of orange turned out to be Berberis darwinii producing a few early flowering branches. It is a monster of a thing,
all growly and fee-fi-fo-ing, but it has a silly giggle of orange flowers that is irresistible.
Further into the garden, Camellia 'Dazzler' has a few intense blooms. I was surprised that I managed to get a picture. I had to untangle a flowering branch
from the undergrowth. The autumn flowering camellias have very fragile petals, they drop off at the slightest disturbance. The pink-red flowers seem to be most brittle
and 'Dazzler' is the worst of all, shedding petals as you walk towards it, not even waiting for a touch.
Perhaps it has been fortified by the warm weather and rain.
17th December 2023
Aechmea recurvata recurvata
I have a few large pine trees in the garden, originally planted around the perimeter, to keep the wind off. Two of them grow in the middle of the garden for the simple
reason that they were left over when I had finished. A few years ago I cleared the scrub around them and looked at trimming the lower branches.
I lacked the necessary boldness. The lower branches will fall off eventually. I was left with a piece of clear ground with good light and some overhead cover.
It was the perfect place to plant some of the Agave and tougher bromeliads.
Aechmea recurvata recurvata went in right beside a pine trunk to get the maximum shelter. I have been surprised by how hardy it has been.
It grew for years in the greenhouse, which has fallen to -5 degC so I knew it could tolerate some cold, but cold and wet conditions can be very trying
(if my mower could talk, it would have a tale to tell).
The big surprise was how much the rabbits loved the leaves. It is constantly nibbled down. Astonishingly, this flowering shoot has emerged from the trimmed, prickly cushion.
It is an unexpected winter treasure. I am hoping that eventually the tasty novelty of hardy bromeliads will wear off and the rabbits will start to leave it alone.
I might put a little fence around it until then.
17th December 2023
Galanthus elwesii
There are snowdrops sputtering around the garden through the autumn. They don't come in a grand flush, even in the greenhouse where all the G. reginae-olgae
forms grow. They come in sputters, a week or two apart. The early G. elwesii forms pop up
here and there in the garden as they see fit, without looking organised.
In the last week the snowdrops have gathered themselves. There is purpose in their movement. There are half a dozen different ones in bloom at the moment and the spring
flowering forms have poked their noses up to see what is happening.
This G. elwesii has been confusing me for years. Originally I planted G. 'Straffan' here. It grew into a nice clump. I lifted, split and moved it.
The following year this snowdrop came up in the same place. I don't know where it came from. Perhaps it was a seedling or a stray bulb.
Whatever it is, this is the first time it has flowered before Christmas. It's a puzzle.
17th December 2023
Mahonia x media 'Lionel Fortescue'
Behind the main snowdrop border I grow a selection of Mahonia. They went in to fill a space, a job they have completed diligently. I should really dig a few of them out
and move them into the windbreak but it's not a job I relish. They seem to move quite reliably but they fight back. Once again,
I am looking at the possibility. I'm sure that now is the best time to do it but they are in full flower and very prickly. Is it really worth all the swearing?
When M. x media 'Charity' got too big I just cut it to the ground and killed the stump. I was just too timid. However, there is plenty of 'Charity' in the garden,
I only have one 'Lionel Fortescue'.
If they are to me moved then it won't happen before Christmas, there are too many other things to attend to. For now I can enjoy the flowers and think of it as a task for another day.
There are always plenty of those.