JEARRARD'S HERBAL
Thats enough introduction - on with the plants!
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... out in the garden.
28th June 2026
Bletilla 'Laneside Lippy'.
It has been a very hot week, even here in moderate Cornwall. I have spent most of the time sheltering in the house with the doors open hoping for some relief
from a passing breeze. I don't cope with heat very well and both days and nights have been uncomfortable and restless.
I have tried to get out for an hour in the mornings but the heat builds so quickly that it has been exhausting, and the evenings have been slow to cool.
In the middle of the week it was 9 at night before the temperature fell below the mid twenties C and the greenhouse was still too hot to go into.
On the plus side the garden has embraced summer. I only managed to get to look around once but it was worth it.
I have been able to keep up with the watering in the greenhouse - notwithstanding a touch of wilt yesterday evening that I have just corrected - and the late Bletilla are coming into their own.
'Laneside Lippy' is one of the last selections from Jeff Hutchings before he closed Laneside Hardy Orchids. I wish I had all of his selections but you always think
'another time', and then suddenly and lamentedly, they are gone.
Note to self: act now, prevaricate later.
28th June 2026
Hemerocallis 'Black Magic' .
The heat and the light have suited the Hemerocallis in the garden. Despite my efforts they remain a bit confused. Many are still labelled, some are identifiable, some will be forever lost souls.
They have a short season in glowing perfection. It could be that this was their perfect week and I am glad I managed to see it on Friday morning, though not for very long.
A decent breeze near the top of the hill made the garden tolerable but exhausting after an hour or so.
'Black Magic' is a very old friend, I first planted it in the garden in Essex in the 1970's and the stock has followed me around ever since. It is a difficult colour, usually rather dull
but with the promise of purple lingering barely seen in its warty depths. This is a good picture of it in good light looking it's best. It doesn't always manage that
but it's a very wonderful old friend, warts and all.
28th June 2026
Hydrangea macrophylla 'Leuchtfeuer' .
Just as the Hemerocallis proclaim the arrival of the heat, the hydrangeas have started to slip some colour into the shady places. They don't like to be too dry
and it has been suggested that global warming will make them less useful in British gardens, but I think we have a few years yet.
I went through a phase of planting deep red flowered forms because the colour fascinated me. They bring a warmth to the shade of darker places which is nothing like
the glowing contrast of pale colours in the gloom. It has a gentle, settled look.
'Leuchtfeuer' brings a selection of mahogany and purple shades to the garden. The large florets are marbled with green when young. Now that it has settled into my slightly acid soil,
the pale flowers in the heart of the bracts are dark blue. In the early years they were perky pink and had the insistent irritation of a crying child in a cathedral.
28th June 2026
Magnolia sapaensis .
The best part of all gardens is the fantasy. Dreams of things that could have been and dreams of things that might still come. From time to time I am seized with the urge to cut it all down and plant
the hillside with Magnolia campbellii woodland. At one point I even got around to raising a couple of hundred seedlings but they rapidly overwhelmed me
and it went no further. It was a grand plan and perhaps it would have been magnificent occasionally even though Magnolia campbellii would provide a fickle display even in my
moderate garden. However in my dream it would have been perfect. And that is where it should stay. In recent years I have lost a large Magnolia wilsonii
to honey fungus, and my large Liriodendron went the same way two years ago. Too much reliance on magnolias might have been a mistake.
It didn't stop me planting Magnolia sapaensis when it became available and it has just reached sufficient size to flower moderately. It will be a few years before there is enough of
it to attract the fungus and it is an evergreen species, perhaps they aren't so tasty. Dreams are dreams and practicalities are unavoidable.
To find particular groups of plants I grow, click on the genus name in the table above. Click on the "Index" box at the top of the page for the full list.
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about what is going on, if you are interested.
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