Slow Down a Little May

 
Can you believe that May is almost gone already? It is just speeding by. Maybe because with the warm weather this year everyone is busy in the gardens it makes it feel like it is in warp.
And the gardens are flourishing by leaps and bounds.
I got a few tomato and sweet pepper plants planted up into containers and the rest of the annuals planted out. So planting for the spring is done here now.

I got the new washtubs planted and the amaryllis bulbs planted into window containers and pots. I hope the amaryllis will do well so I can bring the bulbs in into the basement this fall and replant them for winter blooms indoors this year. If this doesn’t work gang it is off to the trash pile for those bulbs. The amaryllis are in containers behind the tubs and the coons have already dumped them all once already investigating to see if they were something good to eat. Those pesky coons may get some bb shots directed at them if I catch them at it.
In the tubs I planted a few snapdragons, zinnias and petunias and a couple sweet pepper plants in the back row. In the front long container I planted Gerbera daisies that were grown from seeds indoors this winter.

   A couple more irises are in bloom now. This one is ‘Monet’s Blue’ and it is really blue and not purple. Yeah!

A beautiful powder blue all over from its standards, beards and falls.
I am loving this one…but…

 
‘Fit For a King’ is a charmer also. With its deep purple falls and light lavender standards and beards it looks royal.

Fit For a King

The ‘Moly’ yellow alliums are now blooming. They have spread and are getting bigger each year since they were planted.

 
‘Moly’ allium

 
The polemonium, Jacob’s Ladder decided to bloom….

but what is up with the just one tall stock of blooms? LOL!
Oh well, the blooms smell like grape jelly so it is not all bad.

 
The astilbes are starting to bloom. I have them stuck all around into shady spots to add some color. These white ones are always the first of the astilbes to bloom in my gardens.

While looking around at the local Amish Greenhouse I kept smelling this wonderful aroma and finally my nose tracked it down growing in a hanging basket. So I grabbed up a smaller container of these yellow Bidens ferulifolia to bring home to add to one of my hanging containers.
I wish I had known that Bidens were so aromatic because they will now become one of the annuals I plant every year.
Have any of you tried to over wintered them indoors? If so let me know.

The ‘Florida Seiboldii’ Clematis is blooming well in its second year of creeping. So next year it well be its leap year and it should cover the trellis. White Iceberg roses are growing in front of it.

This is a lousy picture but the Blue Eyed grass is blooming. These were volunteers that came up in the woodland bed late year and I moved it to the Shade bed this spring. I found two more down in the woodland bed last week and I may want to relocate them later. The green grass with the tiny blue bloom on the ends of the blades are so cute and they are a true blue also.

The lilies are all in bud now and the second of the lilies  to bloom is the red Asiatic lilies along the woodland bed.

Next to bloom is the ‘ Stella de Oro’ lilies. This lily will grow anywhere and will put on a few blooms after the first flush of blooms over the summer into fall.

The ‘New Dawn’ climbing roses are blooming and growing over the roof of my little garden shed. This rose is loaded with buds and blooms this year. The whole garden is doing wonderful this year compared to the dismal year we had last year in the gardens.

I planted a new Geum chiloense, Avens ‘Red Dragon’ last week that was picked up at the Amish Greenhouse. It has picked up its dropping head now and looking better.

‘Blue Waterfalls’ Campanula

Salvia ‘ Blue Hill’.

Salvia ‘Rose Queen’.

The ‘Pink Sorbet’ peony is finished now and the blooms are dying.

 
‘Crimson’ Heuchera growing in the Shade Garden.

Dianthus ‘ Vintage Pink’ was grown from seeds a couple of years ago and it is starting to spread now.

And my very first bloom from the ‘Bolero’ poppy.

My favorite of all the roses is this ‘Crimson Bouquet’ floribunda rose. I have had this one for years and the aroma is a strong perfume. It is a wonderful rose to dry the blooms and use as potpourri or just dried rose stems for the winter months.

It is disease and black spot resistant and a very hardy rose.

Veronica Blue Woolley Speedwell is just starting to bloom with its tall blue spikes.

Wave petunias ‘Coral Reef’ grown from seeds with ‘Diamond Frost’ Euphorbia graminea.

Blue Fanflower Scaevola aemula 

So as you can see from all of these pictures that there are new blooms every day now in the garden when I go out each day to walk around.
Everyone have a lovely week in the gardens and
Happy Gardening,
Lona

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