May Showers and May Flowers

Grape hyacinths and first daffodils blooming May 15, 2014

Wow! Where to start! May is always such a busy month, what with getting the flower beds cleaned up and ready for a new season of growing, as well as moving perennials, planting new ones, starting seedlings and buying and planting annuals.  I do LOVE this whole job, though! :)

The perennials are growing quickly, Monkshood, Delphiniums, Lupines, Maltese Cross, Bleeding Heart, Day lilies. My tiger lilies are about 6 inches tall now and most of the oriental lilies are up. I sprayed all of them with Bobbex to deter the deer, rabbits and rodents from munching on them.

Day liles, lupines and bleeding heart are bursting with life

My Peonies have shoots now, but are so slow in coming up, in comparison to our friend Janet whose peonies are already setting buds! ( Her peonies are so huge, but she says she wishes she had less of them. I told her I would gladly help her move some of them in the fall and take a digging or two as they are obviously so healthy!)


May15- Rosebushes
Unwrapped and cleaned mulch from around the rose bushes in my flower beds.
Note to self: this fall make sure you use PEAT MOSS around the rose bushes, not compost which packed down far too much. There was a lot of winter kill to my rose bushes this year. Had to trim back all branches serenely except for my Morden Ruby which seems to have fared the best.

The John Davis rose bush in my Angel bed looks completely dead. A good place to put my new Morden Belle rosebush or the Turbo subzero rose (which is growing vigorously in its new pot in my greenhouse.)

My Winnipeg Parks is feebly attempting to send out new shoots from the roots, not the first time this has been the case. I'm glad it survived, but I wonder if a different location would help it to grow better.  (This is a good time of year to dig them up and transplant…)

The Morden rose bushes in my Stackstone bed all have shoots starting on what little healthy branches they do have left and once I add fertilizer they should do well. I like to scratch Blood and Bone Meal  around the soil under the rose bushes. Then fertilize them occasionally with Miracle Grow. ( High nitrogen- the first number - for growth)


I planted my seedling Cosmos in my rock garden bed and some purple (store bought) Verbina.  Verbina are worry-free annuals that well, bloom all summer and our pesky resident Marmot doesn't care for them.
 Also planted some rocket mix snapdragons (one of my favourite flowers) in my triangular bed as well as trimming the very scraggly False Spirea there.

Pear blossoms

Wild Saskatoon shrubs are all blooming now.

Fruit Blossoms
YAY! Our ornamental pear tree is in full bloom now with beautiful fat white blossoms all over it.

The wild Saskatoon shrubs are also blooming now. and the apple blossoms are not far behind. Usually this all happens in the space of 2 weeks, but with early spring being so snowy and cold this year, it is all happening almost at once! Even the plum shrubs are opening their blooms and they barely even have any leaves yet! I noticed that my lilacs are setting their blossoms as well and I love when they all finally pop open and their scent regales us whenever we are nearby.

Rhubarb with vegetable garden behind

Flowerbeds
Did a lot of clean up on the shade side of my stackstone bed. It seems the False Dragonhead perennial is attempting a takeover of that bed! It surreptitiously sends roots out all over the bed, popping up new little Dragonheads. They are actually quite nice once they bloom in August,  tall stems with light blue little flower spikes.  Keeping them in check is essential.

I planted a nice 'Little Rocket' Ligularia which potentially will get spikes of bright yellow blossoms which look spectacular against the dark leaves. I also planted a pretty Spiderwort which already has some little light bloom blossoms.  The Lambs Ears in that bed are starting to grow now and it looks like my Heuchera is still alive there as well. I see evidence of tiny brown leaves sprouting.

Winter is a distant memory, for now….