Beautiful Bloomers for May!
May 15, 2020 - POSTED BY Monique Halloran - Gardeners Choice
May is so full of promise in gardens, so I couldn’t resist another few photos of yet more blooming blossoms! Alliums have stunning globes of flowers held proud on strong stalks, and the first photo shows Allium Purple Sensation, one of my favourites. They are especially good for smaller gardens as they grow up to 90 cm tall and can grow through other perennials, thereby not taking up any extra space. Also the Allium Purple Sensation has a medium sized flower unlike the Allium Giganteums, which are stunning, but can make small gardens look tiny! Below you see the Purple Sensation growing through Hydrangea Annabelles – a little experiment I carried out. Love it. Then you have a photo of Allium Mont Blanc, another favourite of mine which I often plant either on their own, or mixed in with purple Alliums.
Next we have the majestic flowers of Zantedeschia Aethiopica. Zantedeschias are clump forming, semi-evergreen perennials that have exotic, large, arrow-shaped leaves, which form a great contrast to the elegant, funnel shaped white spathes of flowers. The flowers can be up to 25 cm in size! Zantedeschias like to be kept moist and can look wonderful near water. Otherwise they are easy to maintain, being happy in sun or semi shade, in acid, alkaline or neutral soil. To contrast the extravagance of these flowers, the next photo shows the evergreen Geranium x Oxonian Wegeningen. These geraniums are spreading ground cover plants with delicate, salmon pink flowers that carry on flowering from now till the Autumn! One warning though, they do love to spread, so be prepared for that!
Hesperis matronalis are popular, tall, scented perennials that make beautiful cut flowers which will last up to 5 days in your vase. I have found they will flower twice for you, if you cut back the first flush of flowers back. They are self seeders though, so it’s important to leave some flowers on the plant till they have finished sowing their seeds or they may not reappear! I often plant the Hesperis matronalis alba, which is shown in the photo, mixed together with Hesperis matronalis violet. At 90 cm tall they make a colourful spectacle! Photo 7 shows an early flowering rose, Rosa Molineux. This rose gets covered in yellow flowers which emerge tinged with apricot from the buds. Rosa Molineux makes a great hedge as they repeat flower and are approximately one metre high.
If you wonder what to grow in semi shade that isn’t just a ground covering plant, then consider Zizia Aurea. These Zizias grow up to 90 cm tall, and are perfect to grow in amongst Autumn flowering perennials, thereby taking up no extra space, and getting a good bit of support for their delicate stems. You will enjoy their delicate, lime green umbels of flowers for many weeks. Zizias are another self-seeder, so leave their flower heads on till they have sown the next year’s plants. Finally I had to include this Helleborus orientalis which has been flowering since early January, and now has its seed heads in the centre of the beautiful flowers. Evergreen, robust, great leaf shape, flowering when little else does and for a long time, what is not to like about the Helleborus orientalis! Happy gardening!
