JEARRARD'S HERBAL
10th August 2025
Arum maculatum yellow berry .
It has been a cooler week, days have been moderate and nights have been comfortable, so it has been a time of stress-less anxiety. Stress-less because the heat of summer seems to
have passed without drought or destruction wreaking havoc, anxious because the gentle call of autumn is becoming louder.
At the moment it is a sweet sound with echoes of successful culmination. Arum maculatum yellow berry has fulfilled its promise. When I bought it I had a slight scepticism,
born of trepidation, that it would turn out to have red berries much the same as any Arum maculatum. I'm not opposed to the red berried form, it is a lovely native wildflower.
I'm not even going to call it a weed, though it can behave like one. However it is a lovely native that hardly has a foothold in the garden and I would be happy to keep it that way.
I was particularly anxious not to spend money introducing it deliberately.
This glitter of yellow berries in the undergrowth is a very satisfying culmination. I have a single plant of the red berried form that arrived by itself in the hellebore bed. It looks magnificent
but I am going to make an effort to remove it, berries and all. I will then scatter these yellow berries in its place. It will still be a lovely native wildflower (certainly not a weed)
and it will be my lovely native wildflower.
10th August 2025
Crocosmia 'Tamar Double Red' .
There are a lot of Crocosmia around the garden though most have finished flowering. I love them all, but as the clumps become congested and they stop flowering
I am left wondering what I am going to do. Which were distinctive and which were merely orange? I have nothing against orange, the Crocosmia in the hedges locally are looking amazing,
but they are a bit like daffodils. When there are fields of them around the house, which do I actually want in the garden.
There are a few that are outstanding. 'Paul's Best Yellow' has been really good and needs to be lifted, split and spread around. It makes me wonder if I really want 'Citronella' after all.
'Hellfire' is the best red flowered cultivar available. There is a pot of 'Lucifer' flowering close to it and poor old 'Lucifer' (delightful in his day) is never going to be planted out.
Then there is 'Tamar Double Red'. It has the charming habit of producing extra tepals in the flower. The exact number varies but there are generally a few. I have never seen a flower that I would call double
but 'Tamar Extra Red' would give the wrong impression completely.
It may be that the time has come to edit the Crocosmia in the garden although I have to allow that, like the native Arum maculatum, they might not choose to be edited.
10th August 2025
Lycoris x houdyshelii .
Unexpected things have been happening in the greenhouse. Clivia seeds have been germinating. It is too early to hope for anything in particular from them
but first tiny nubs of green are showing at the ends of the first roots. The promise is written on the label but it will be a few years before it can be seen in the plant.
On the bench opposite them Lycoris x houdyshelii has come into flower. I don't know why I grow Lycoris, they are tiresome things. Ask anyone and they will tell you that they never flower.
That has certainly been my experience. I decided a few years ago that they needed to be wet (boggy) in the summer, and hot. They were moved into the propagation house
and stood in water, after that it has been a matter of waiting. I'm not sure that there is an end point. I have just been waiting.
I have allowed for the possibility that Lycoris resemble Nerine in their strange flowering behaviour (they're not very closely related in fact). Nerine
initiate flower buds in autumn - they will be doing it around now - that won't develop into flowers for two years. I thought that Lycoris might have a similar delay
which might explain why they still haven't flowered even after I had moved them!
Well, now I have a flower. The bulb arrived from China as L. shaanxiensis, which it isn't. Identifying what it is is more complex, but L. x houdyshelii is currently my best guess.
I have flowered the hybrid before (but not this clone). I would like to think that some of the others might take the hint.
10th August 2025
Roscoea purpurea 'Wild Dawn'.
In comparison to Lycoris, Roscoea are delightfully agreeable. They hybridise easily, produce seed freely and flower at a year old.
It is not surprising that I have been raising seedlings. Twenty years ago I was raising crosses between species to see what was possible. It was interesting but didn't produce anything in the way of useful garden
plants. Since then the red form of Roscoea purpurea has become available and seedlings have proliferated. I have been trying to move away from the classic 'Red Gurkha' look
to get seedlings in new colours and with purple leaves. I have named a few and they are starting to be distributed.
My favourite, though it isn't the one people pick out when they see them, is 'Wild Dawn'. I don't know any other with rich pink flowers like this. There are others that are pink
but I don't know anything else quite as committed to the cause as this one.
Last year I crossed it with a purple leaved form, with the thought of startling the heavy complacency of August, and then forgot to collect the seed. It may possibly germinate where it fell,
I am keeping my eyes open. Perhaps this year I will take more care. Roscoea has produced some remarkable plants but I think there are more to come.