May 2001 |
|||
 |
|
|
 |
I am starting this wonderful month for gardeners with Ceanothus Blue Mound. Now is that a well named plant? It is evergreen, and there are leaves beneath that mass of blue flowers. Like most of it's kind it is borderline hardy in the North of England but came through the last winter with no damage. It does need an open sunny spot to do well. Behind it you can see my beech hedge well clothed in new foliage. The Ceanothus was a tiny thing when I bought it three years ago, but is growing faster than I expected, and is a plant I would highly recommend. |
|
||
|
|
As well as being a great month for flowers May also excels in new foliage and non more so than the range of Acer species and hybrids. This one is Acer shirasawanum Aureum with, almost yellow, lime green leaves turning deeper green in the all too sunny spot where I planted it. In deeper shade it will retain the light foliage colour until the autumn. Although the leaves are quite large this is still a very slow grower and ideal for a small garden. |
||
Going for real contrasts of colour this month, first blue then yellow now a dazzling orange. This is a reliably perennial spreading poppy, Papaver Fireball. I am down to my last small clump, mainly because it has been crowded out by more vigorous neighbours. It spreads by underground runners but is shallow rooted and easy to control. The colour takes a bit of placing though, orange is not a favourite of mine, but this is a cheerful little plant and most people who see it remark favourably on it. |
|
||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
Yet another colour change this time to the lilac of the err Lilac. This one is the miniature Syringa pubescens microphylla, not truly miniature except in flower size it does make a good size bush in time, but is slow growing and once again a good candidate for a small plot. The scent I should add is not miniature being equally as strong and beautiful as it's larger cousins. Sorry I don't know the format for scent files on the computer, so you will just have to take my word for it. |
|||
|
|
|||
Rosa xanthina Canary Bird is looking exceptionally good so I thought it deserved another entry. Flowering has been held back due to the cold start to spring, with the upside that it is now covered in blossom of varying shades of yellow through cream. This is the rose for people who can't grow roses, flourishing in a variety of situations and conditions. Be warned though, it can grow large in all directions if left unchecked. |
|
||
|
|
This one was a gift from a gardening friend and planted by me in far too small a space, but I shall keep pruning and tying it back, and enjoying it's evergreen foliage and pure white flowers. It is of course the Mexican orange blossom Choisya ternata. |
||
One of my newest plants to date, a double pink Agyranthemum, and I have to say I'm very pleased with it. I know from past experience that it won't survive the winter even in my greenhouse, but just look at all those flowers and they should continue to open until the first frosts. If you have more heat and can overwinter it they are very easy plants to grow from cuttings. |
|
||
|
|
The Osteospernum to the left was a new purchase last year and was also expected to be a one year event, but this proved to be a hardy variety, even planted as you can see in a concrete pot raising it above ground level and exposing the roots to more cold. Sorry to say it was bought unnamed. In case you hadn't spotted it I am a lover of daisy type flowers, but with so many of them attractive to my slug population, I am limited in what I can grow. |
||
|
|
|||
Keeping the link to our fourth and last cat, brace yourself, then click on Tabitha's name to meet her, but stand well back, she has a mean right hook. |
|||
|
|
|
|
