JEARRARD'S HERBAL
14th September 2025
Hibiscus syriacus 'Notwoodtwo' WHITE CHIFFON .
A week of bits and pieces. It has been a bit of everything without really being much of anything. The garden has been moist, occasionally dripping
and when the sun has shone it has a prickly, clammy feel. I found myself swatting my neck and rubbing my arms. There have been moments when
it felt as though the grey horse-flies would be flying and biting. Sunny weather after rain. Fortunately the horse-fly season has ended,
it is too cold and too late for them. I am swatting the memory of horse-flies not the stealthy reality. That tickling on my neck is the dribbling rain.
The garden has been full of 'well-I-never' moments. Walking past my Hibiscus 'Notwoodtwo' I saw an unexpected puff of mulberry-rose.
I nearly didn't go and look at it, 'unexpected' in gardens often means unwelcome and this week has been busy. I didn't need any deviation from the established order.
However, girded with courage (and aware that a mulberry-rose flower was unlikely to be unbearably intimidating) I went to look.
It is a sucker that has grown from the base of 'Notwodtwo'. I am amazed, I wouldn't have expected the Hibiscus to be grafted.
My first thought was to cut it off but my second thought was more mature. I actually prefer it to 'Notwoodtwo'. The white flower is not a strong plant,
not a good bloom and not very resilient. I keep it because it survives despite the wet. Mulberry-rose will be allowed to show her mettle.
14th September 2025
Nerine bowdenii .
You can ask anyone with high, arching eyebrows and they will tell you; being surprised is habit forming. I could almost hear the garden's tiny cluck of
discomfort as the season threw surprises.
I had seen the Nerine spikes coming up in the new herbaceous border but I wasn't prepared for flowers. Not only flowers, but flowers in good colours
which gives me pause for thought. I have raised a lot of Nerine bowdenii seedlings in the past. Not so many recently because I became a bit bored with them,
but there are still plenty of seedlings coming into flower each year. The latest groups are pale pink and white raised from selected parents. They are
all lovely but there is nothing distinctive among them. They will all go out into the new herbaceous border to jolly-up the slump of autumn.
Before the pale colours, I was breeding for darkness. I raised a bench-full of dark seedlings and didn't find anything that I thought was special.
Out they went into the garden and unexpectedly this one has come up. It is dark and early. It may be as good as 'Isabel', time will tell.
I am interested enough to consider lifting it for the greenhouse, but lazy enough to let it prove itself where it is for a few years.
14th September 2025
Roscoea purpurea rubra .
The red Roscoea present similar problems. I have just sorted through the latest seedlings and rejected most of them.
I have kept eight of which two or three are special and the remainder are merely good. Time will tell if any of them are also robust and reliable.
I had the sense to give the rejects away, it saves the tiresome process of coming back to them year after year to see if they have
unexpected value. The selection process is necessarily hasty, was it over hasty?
The question arises because of the previous seedlings planted (dumped) in the new herbaceous border. This one has a charming pale splash down the labellum.
It is caused by bleaching in the sun I think, but it has been consistent. Perhaps this is one that I shouldn't have parted with.
Wright or wrong, it will stay where it is for another year. I have only just cleared out the last seedlings, I'm not going to start putting them back again.
14th September 2025
Camellia brevistyla
For a number of reasons I have been walking around the garden looking at Camellia. In spring I acquired a number of young plants
that I had intended to plant in the windbreak. The intention was good, and remains, but the action didn't happen. I am looking for suitable spaces.
At the same time I have been admiring the buds forming. Through the summer the shoots are entirely leafy, showing no sign of the buds to come.
As the autumn weather starts they suddenly change their appearance. Perhaps it is associated with the end of extension growth. The shoots harden and the
buds in the last few leaf axils start to swell.
I sowed a handful of seed from Camellia brevistyla and five of them were planted in the garden. A sixth didn't make it and languishes in a pot behind the greenhouse.
It has now rooted through and will be troublesome to move. You don't need to guess which is the good one.
The ones in the garden are interesting with small white flowers in late autumn. The one in the pot is magnificent, flowering early and with larger blooms.
Last week I looked at the small buds forming, anticipating the flowering of October.
Well I never.