JEARRARD'S HERBAL
21st January 2024
Narcissus 'Rijnvelds Early Sensation'
It has been a week for avoiding the garden. The freezing weather arrived here at the start of the week. Ice on the waterlily tubs looked strong enough to stand on
but I didn't try. I'm in favour of entertainment in garden but this didn't seem like the right opportunity.
Through it all the 'Rijnvelds Early Sensation' stood up well. I only caught them having one floppy moment and is had passed almost as soon as I saw it.
The display has been reduced this year, perhaps I mowed it too late, or too early. Perhaps they just need feeding. It hasn't been the triumph of early flowering that I would like
but they have been welcome anyway. They have been spectacular growing on the verge of the road so I don't think it is a bad year.
There has always been a bare space in the middle of the meadow and last August I bought 50 new bulbs and planted them where I imagined the space must be.
Now they are in flower I seem to have got it about right. It looks a bit like the early stages of a hair transplant at the moment, but it will improve with time.
21st January 2024
Camellia 'Freedom Bell'
Camellias had been the brightest thing in the garden for weeks but a few nights of harsh frost turned them all brown. The garden was a mournful place
in the middle of the week. I skipped around briefly to check on things but I wasn't inclined to tarry. There's a warm stove inside, I will do my tarrying there.
By Friday the temperature had started to rise and I went out hoping to find some new blooms. I was too early, brown was still to dominant colour.
C. 'Takanini' had been smothered in double red flowers before the frost and has more buds to come, but first she has to overcome the browns.
I gave the branches a good shake and dislodged most of them, the rest will fall in their own time.
At the top of the garden, C. 'Freedom Bell' had escaped damage. It's quite windy up there and not prone to lingering frosts, so there was still plenty of colour.
I didn't like it much when I first planted it, the flowers are untidy, but it has grown on me. It is reliably early and has proved
once again that it is tough enough to remain cheerful through difficult weather conditions.
21st January 2024
Galanthus 'Lyn'
Snowdrops have also had a complicated week. There are plenty showing in the garden now, but development came to a halt as the temperatures plunged.
I have spent the week hoping that the sunshine at mid-day will be enough to open a few flowers. It didn't happen.
Finally on Saturday, with heavy rain and strong winds in the forecast, the snowdrops started to peek open. 'Lyn' is a good thing.
It is derived from the bubble of clones that constitute 'Atkinsii' and it has been vigorous and floriferous in the snowdrop border.
Last year I lifted it and planted it in a new border, devoted to the best of the early snowdrops. My plan was to have a small border
that filled with interest in January before the main snowdrop display started. It has worked well, considering the design imponderables of the situation.
'Lyn' has done well, 'Magnet' has been good and 'Fieldgate Continuo' has spread. As to the design imponderables, a pigeon ate a lot of the flowers.
It's a bit of a fashionista that pigeon. It had a very good go at 'Modern Art'. Let's hope it's just a phase.
21st January 2024
Nerine undulata 'Winter Sun'
It is a cheering idea that even in the coldest weather I can retreat to the greenhouse and have a happy hour or two among the plants.
It is a cheering idea, but that isn't the way it turns out. In the coldest weather I don't go down there because I don't want to see the impact of the freeze.
I went down on Saturday to water the Nerine. They had been getting very dry and I had been putting it off. Everything seems fine, leaves are undamaged
and the flowers of N. undulata 'Winter Sun' stood up to it all. It provides a touch of colour and interest when the rest of the greenhouse
is cowering from the cold. With luck I will also have flowers on N. 'Fish River Pass' in a few weeks. By then it should be a spring Nerine
rather than a winter rebel. I watered it just in time, the flower spikes were starting to droop. Hopefully their recovery will be swift.
I didn't stop to look at the Strelitzia. I meant to put fleece around it, but I forgot. I'm hoping that it shrugged off the cold
like a rugby player at a winter fixture, but I'm not confident. I realised last year that I couldn't easily replace it and that is generally a bad omen.