Coming to your senses
The rich aroma of Wallflowers is as superb as their vibrancy. Alliums send up their rounded buds which crack open into rounded orbs of purple and white stars, and these include the chives with their delicious flavour, and wild garlic which is invaluable for warming up a crunchy salad bowl. In the shrub border, Choisyas open their fragrant white blossom which contrast against the glossy green leaves which also exude a musky scent when rubbed. The canopies are enlivened by the golden chains of laburnums, and walls of houses and cottages display a torrential downpour of heavenly blue wisteria. In the woodland or shaded borders, ferns unfurl their fresh green fronds against the swathes of bluebells. This is certainly a month to take a holiday……… in the garden!
Hesp Hesp hooray
HESPERIS (sweet violet) is a lovely early flowering cottage garden plant, producing richly scented pinkish purple flowers in abundance this month. Related to Wallflowers, but much more mellow in colour, it will grow well in dappled shade in contrast to their sun-loving cousins.
ONE WAY of improving your own garden is by replicating aspects you like from other plots. Whether that is the ones you pass on a stroll, or ones you pay to see, your area can benefit from the inspiration of others. The best gardens and gardeners have stolen their ideas from elsewhere and this is certainly the best way of learning about plant combinations and daring originality. Whatever the size of the places you visit, you can tailor-make ideas you have seen and like to your own garden.
The appearance is Cent-sational
CENTAUREAS, otherwise known as perennial cornflowers, epitomise the zodiac aspect of the first half of the month. Their sporadic rich blue florets sit randomly above their soft felty greyish green leaves and thrive in either sun or shade in any soil that is not waterlogged. If you cut the plants right back after flowering they will come back again during the summer and maybe reward you with a second flush of flowers.
As Aqui as Larry
AQUILEGIAS are a superb cottage garden plant. They are easy to please and very adaptable, self-seeding where happy. Their dainty bonnets come in all shades from yellow through white through shades of pink and blue. Again, if these are severely chopped back in June they could produce another crop of blooms during the summer.
It’s very set in its spathes
IF I HAD to choose an aquatic plant of the month, it would be the Skunk Cabbage. It’s large limy yellow spathes sit neatly above their spring cabbage-like leaves which are very pale green with some even paler variegation It is a marginal plant but it likes its roots and the base of the leaves in water. It establishes easily to form a tough compact clump – so much so, it is difficult to move an established clump.
Labur-ing for tunnel vision
LABURNUMS are popularly grown small trees which display their golden chains of pea-like flowers against their fresh small green leaves. An even more beautiful sight is a Laburnum arch where a double row of trees has been trained so that the tops meet together, And the flowers hang from this tunnel. They are easy to grow and are unfussy but the seed pods are poisonous so be careful if you have children.
Didn’t they do Wall
WALLFLOWERS are easy to grow and very rewarding. They produce masses of bloom for a long period in spring, and so are ideal for containers or spring borders. Their sweet scent is an added bonus. Colours come in a wide range of yellows, oranges, reds, pinks and white. They are usually grown as biennials, raised from seed outdoors from May to July and then transplanted into their final positions in autumn. They do well in a sunny position on a well-drained soil, with the soil surface compacted. For the best effect, plant near a wall and underplant with tulips and a little Myosotis (forget-me-not). To sow seeds for next year’s display, simply sow in drills in a well prepared tilth as you would with salad vegetables, and keep well watered in dry periods.
Keep them Delphy
IF YOUR Delphinium and Lupin seedlings are doing well, keep feeding and watering them this summer but keep them in pots. Young one-year-old plants purchased from garden shops should have all their flower buds taken off this year to promote lots of strong stems and masses of flowers next year. Keep generously liquid feeding these until the autumn when a dressing of bonemeal can be given to boost the crowns.
SOW Hollyhocks and Malvas in seed trays outdoors under netting in a sheltered spot and keep moist. When the seedlings are at the three or four leaf stage, transplant them individually into four inch pots and grow on during the summer ready for planting outdoors in October. And then just look forward to next summer’s display.
PUT supports in place over tall growing herbaceous plants such as Asters and Rudbeckias so they can grow through them. You can use practically anything from a group of canes with twine tied around and criss-crossed over the plants or plastic mesh can be domed over the plants. There are also a great many ingenious but rather expensive systems available from retail outlets.
Harden off your Pelargoniums and Fuchsias by standing them out of doors and bringing them in on chilly nights. Later in the month, they can be planted out into your pots and baskets. I find that tending to use just one or two colours for each container brings the most effective results. For trailing plants, pop in a bit of Nepeta, Lobelia or trailing Verbena.
SOW runner beans singly in peat pots to avoid root disturbance later on. I find starting them in containers even outdoors is better than sowing them direct into the ground where they would be at the mercy of slugs and a late chilly wet spell.
KEEP on top of weeds as often as possible to prevent any of them becoming established. However, if in doubt as to what they are, let them grow a little more. There’s no telling how many Hollyhocks, Polemoniums and Alliums you might pull out otherwise. If you don’t have time to dig out deep rooted perennials such as dandelions, then pull off the flowers and buds to prevent them setting seed.
The first ten days or so of May brings a rather settled theme with some very warm and sunny days on offer. A weak easterly influence might introduce a stray thundery shower. Mid-month could be more unsettled with some heavy bursts of rain followed by blustery, showery south-westerly winds. Later on, it should turn drier again with the return of some warm sunshine and possibly a hot end to the month.
JUNE brings out the gorgeous bearded Irises along with Canterbury Bells and Lupins. In the shrub border, we discover Mediterranean favourites such as Cistus and French Lavenders. There will be advice on getting the best from tomatoes, courgettes and salad vegetables and from summer flowering bedding plants. We will also be waving goodbye to bindweed (hopefully forever).
See you next month!
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