May is a magical month in the garden. If you haven’t been a tourist in your own yard recently, go out into the landscape with new eyes. Pretend you’re on vacation and tour the property in the morning with a cup of coffee, or in the evening with your beverage of choice, and look at the changes on a day-to-day basis. It’s amazing how the unfolding of plant life happens so quickly in the spring. Today, I celebrate the plants that are making me smile.
Last May, when I was visiting P. Allen Smith’s garden at Moss Mountain, I was impressed with the Alliums that he’d planted. I came home and immediately ordered several of these bulbs from Brent and Becky’s Bulbs online. They arrived last fall and I planted several varieties in various locations in my gardens. Now I have the great pleasure of watching them open.
The oriental poppies are also lovely in their unfolding. If you have this perennial, be sure to check it daily so you can appreciate the wonder of the process.
Tree peonies bloom before the herbaceous perennial types, and their flowers are spectacular from bud to full-blown blossom.
And talk about a spectacular unfolding! Ferns, particularly the not-so-frequently-grown Osmunda regalis, aka royal fern, is dramatic from when the emerging fronds are covered with white, web-like tissue to when they are unfolding into their tall, graceful fronds. How can we not be impressed?
I first grew Zizia aurea so that I could say that my garden “contained plants from A to Z.” But now I grow this lovely native perennial because it’s easily grown, supports butterflies, and flowers in May.
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