Week 19 > You are reading Week 20 - May 15th, 2023 > Week 21

The First Flush of Bloom

Mid-spring unfolded quietly this year, after vegetation came back to life all at once.

The season's perennials are getting ready for the first flush of bloom, and judging by the abundance of buds, it's going to be spectacular.

What blooms now?

Peonies, Turk's cap lilies, irises, cranesbills, coral bells, beardtongues, clematis, alliums, columbines, lilacs and last, but best, roses.

Herbs will not be put to shame either, lavender, rosemary, chives, and sage put up their own show in May, on even footing with the other flowering perennials.

Many of the shade plants bloom in mid-spring, gracing north foundation plantings and surrounding deciduous trees with their delicate flowers, plants like astilbes, foam flowers, vincas, lily of the valley, Solomon's seal, bleeding hearts and lamium.

Did I mention the peonies? They are the quintessential May flowers, and look resplendent in the spring garden with their abundance of large, fragrant flowers. They have a relatively brief season, but what a season!

Rose Season

The first roses bloom in May, and as we speak, the Hansa rose, a resilient rugosa, is already heavy with flowers.

Despite a shocking stretch of polar temperatures at the beginning of December, which reached -6F, all the roses came out of the winter in splendid shape, and are covered in buds.

Even the cold tender hybrid tea, Fragrant Cloud, which is too delicate for this climate, is thriving and already sporting a flower bud.

Between the roses and the rest of the spring perennials, this season promises to be a symphony of bloom, and I'm looking forward to many beautiful pictures.

The classic May blooming rose is centifolia, the cabbage rose, but it is not the only one.

The once blooming roses start their season now, the Gallicas, the Albas, the Damasks, the rugosas, the species.

There is one more rose I need to mention, and it also blooms in May: Dr. Huey.

This hybrid rambler was bred specifically as a rootstock, because of its incredible resilience, so every time a delicate hybrid doesn't make it through the winter, I get another Dr. Huey shrub.

It's a beautiful dark red rose with pretty yellow stamens, and it blooms with abandon in May and early June, but alas, only once.

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