JEARRARD'S HERBAL
Thats enough introduction - on with the plants!
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... out in the garden.
5th April 2026
Clivia miniata green throat .
A week at the height of spring that seems to have lacked brio. Perhaps it's just me. Lying in bed in the morning has been very appealing. The garden has been overcast
and a brisk, warm wind has huffed and puffed about the place with important things to do. Occasional flashes of bright sunshine have filled the garden with promise but the dank times have been leaden.
I spent most of the week repotting Disa. It should have been completed last autumn but it wasn't. Fortunately it's complete now and the plants are producing flower spikes.
Given the time of year I shouldn't have been surprised by the first Clivia in flower. Through the winter I have tended to ignore their corner of the greenhouse.
I hope it hasn't needed watering and I like to overlook the winter collapse of vegetation. Spring arrived, it was clear that watering had to be done
and the first Clivia is already flowering.
I bought this one because at the time it had a green throat to the flower. Over the years the green has vanished and in its place I have a rather ordinary, if compact,
orange Clivia. I keep it because it flowers at strange times. This one is as likely to flower in autumn as it is in spring. I have a vague hope for interesting autumn hybrids,
but I have never produced any.
5th April 2026
Magnolia 'Star Wars'' .
Sunshine in the garden would have performed a heavy, throbbing dance among the flowers of Magnolia 'Star Wars'. Too heavy for disco and too pink for house,
they would have moved to their own unique music. Grey skies enriched the colour but held the flowers firmly locked to the ground.
Sometimes in the spring
you will see fledgeling birds in the garden, too young to fly but old enough to bounce. They hop upwards through the branches of bushes and sit in the upper twigs
flexing their wings. They look as though could become airborne at any moment but they haven't quite mastered it yet.
Under the grey skies, the magnolias look like that.
A bit of sunshine and they might be off but for now they are earthbound. Rhythmic stumbling movements in the dark that are forlornly seductive.
5th April 2026
Pinguicula grandiflora .
The greenhouse has been warm. In the last two weeks I have moved the winter refugees in the house back into the greenhouse. When the sun comes out the
greenhouse is hot and the light is gentle. Perfect conditions for the few orchids and ferns that I was keen to protect.
Most things in the greenhouse have to take their chances with winter. As soon as the warmth arrives the dormant buds of Pinguicula grandiflora
curl open and the flowers spring up. I have grown a number of different variations on the theme of Pinguicula grandiflora over the years
and I still keep them in different corners of the greenhouse but if I am honest, the difference have been eroded by time. They manage to pollinate each-other
and produce abundant seedlings so I have a lot of pots, a lot of grand names, but only one plant.
When I first got this pot it was labelled Pinguicula corsica and I managed to convince myself that it was distinct. In more recent years I have given up the struggle
of differentiation, just as I have done in mathematics.
5th April 2026
Tulipa 'Spryng Tide' .
Red tulips are a garden poem that offer hope, joy and ease in difficult times. I yearn for them in the garden. Years without red tulips are poorer for their absence.
However, red tulips do not make things easy. It's true that they are cheap, they are easy to plant and they will flower reliably but then they are gone.
I have red tulips in the years that I remember to plant them in the autumn. A perennial red tulip would be a wonder.
I have an awkward space in front of the house. It would probably be sensible to keep things simple and leave it as grass. Unfortunately I want the hedonistic rush of red tulips in spring.
In the early days I planted 'Apeldoorn', and replanted and replanted. It was lovely but it wasn't practical. Four years ago I planted twenty bulbs of 'Spryng Tide'
because I was promised that it was more perennial. This year I have nineteen flowers. It hasn't flowered as well as it did last year, but it is surviving.
I am very impressed and trying not to get too excited.
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.
I have a lot of good intentions when it comes to updating this site, and I try to keep a note
about what is going on, if you are interested.
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Perhaps my MONKEY will fool them.