Mid May Blooms - 20th-25th May

Mid May and the sun is out; the bulbs have all gone but the early summer flowers are really starting to show. We have a few Foxgloves providing great height to the garden, but because we grew them from previous seeds we only have two options - pale pink and dark pink. They flower in the second year so you have to plan ahead and grow them through one year waiting for the flowering time.

Adding a huge splash of colour is the now quite large Geum, probably the leader in terms of May flowering. Over three feet high, and with masses of flowers that last really well; this is 'Double Blazing Sunset'. 

At the opposite extreme in terms of showiness is the Abutilon Megapotamicum; partly because it's climbing up the wall behind the four-to-seven-feet Foxgloves and the big, brash Geum, but partly because the little red heart pods are only just over half an inch long; they last for ages though and the flowers that come out are so cool: I always wanted one but it took me a long time to grow it and it took it a long time to grow up once I had. For a climber, it's very slow and small - well, mine is, anyway. Maybe I've put it in the wrong place, but I kinda like how you have to be shown it to see it...

Also bringing colour to the middle of May is the Yellow flag iris - Iris pseudacorus - which I planted by the pond, even though, since the pond is a small old kids' plastic sand pit buried in the ground, there's no actual wetness around it.

 

Oddly, I grow the Astilbe Chinensis ('Vision in Pink') by the pond too, as that also needs damp conditions. Oddly, they both thrive...  That's not in flower yet, so no pictures.

Each of the very few visitors to Daddy Green's Garden comments warmly on the Ceanothus (or Californian lilac) which was one of the first plants I bought, from a market in Dorset, and which has now established really well, though it doesn't seem to like to get too high. The snow of two years ago nearly killed it, but it's very colourful this May, although it's more by quantity than quality that it impresses as the individual flowers (photographed) are much less striking than the overall effect. The leaves are small and bright and tightly packed, which is part of the appeal, too. I'm trying to grow it from cuttings but it's too early to be sure if I've succeeded.

I say all the bulbs have gone but that couldn't be less true, as there are Anemones just flowering - late ones, no idea why - 

and the Alliums that I love so much are only just starting to kick off. They're a big favourite here:

The pink ones are 'Giganteum' or 'Globemaster' and the white one, not yet out properly (above), is 'Mount Everest'.

...And finally for today, the peony is starting to show, with its large, tightly-wrapped, globular blooms that seem a bit too posh to rub shoulders with my other plants. Ruby red, waxy and richly coloured, it reminds me of luxury. But I keep them anyway - they fill up a border really well.