Welcome to Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day for May 2018.
Here in my USDA Hardiness Zone 6a garden in central Indiana, we went from “where is spring?” to “here is summer”. Nearly overnight.
We set records on Sunday and Monday for high temps. I think Sunday it got to 88ºF and Monday it got to 91ºF. I had hoped to get to August before we saw any days in the 90’s.
So much for such hopes.
Out in the garden, I expected to see the blooms of mid-summer, hot as it was. But the blooms of spring are out in force, sweltering no doubt, and wondering, if plants wonder, why it is so hot.
Until this heat, the garden was actually a little behind in blooms, at least compared to past May bloom days. Now with this heat, I’m sure the flowers will catch up. Unfortunately, I also think with this heat some of the blooms won’t last as long.
I guess we just need to enjoy them as we can while sitting in the shade and cooling off with a tall glass of iced tea. Or from inside looking out the windows.
Some of the highlights include, above, the Lily of the Valley, Convallaria majalis. I can smell the LOTV flowers as soon as I walk out the back door. If you’ve never smelled them before, you are missing out.
And I have a variegated variety of LOTV, too.
I also have columbine, Aquilegia sp., all over the place because I am inherently lazy and let them self-sow around. The plants never get so large that they crowd out other plants, so why not let them have their way in the garden?
I noticed the daisies are blooming. I need to come up with a Yes/No question and ask these flowers to answer it for me, one petal at a time. “Yes/No are you jealous that I can grow peonies which are right behind the daisies?” Then I need to deadhead the daisies, or they, too, will be all over the garden.
How about a blue salvia with an orange geum? Yes, I like it, too.
And I like my false indigo, just starting to bloom in yellow
and blue.
Gosh, it wouldn’t be much of a garden without clematis. This is Clematis integrifolia, one of the first to bloom. The garden fairies will fight over these blooms.
The hardy ground orchids, Bletilla striata, survived the cold spring. The foliage, though, looks pretty rough. It always does.
Over on the side of the house, it is a bloom fest with Snow-in-Summer, Cerastium tomentosum competing with gillyflowers, Dianthus ‘Baths’ Pink’.
I don’t want to upset the flowers, so I’ll diplomatically call it a tie.
There are more blooms around the garden, including alliums, garden peas, strawberries, lilacs, and more, but that’s enough for one post.
What’s blooming in your garden as we enter high spring in mid-May? We’d love to have you join in for Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day and show us!
It’s easy to participate. Just post on your blog about the blooms in your garden on or around the 15th of the month, then come here and leave a comment to tell us what you’ve got and a link in the Mr. Linky widget so we can find you.
“We can have flowers nearly every month of the year.” ~ Elizabeth Lawrence
Hi Carol. Happy Bloom Day! We have had the same pattern of winter to summer almost overnight and blooms being off schedule, but spring is certainly bursting out all over. Your May garden is looking wonderful with all it’s colorful blooms! Thanks for hosting and happy spring!
I hope to chat with you again in Denver–In the meantime there will be blooms !
It was quite a bit of work selecting only a few pictures. There is SO much blooming now! I wanted to send pictures of several of the rhododendrons. (I will post some in one of my own articles.) I also wanted to show the other two Peruvian lilies. I omitted many pictures. However, next month, when less is blooming, I might post pictures of warm season annuals, just because I am so pleased to be able to grow impatiens again! The petunias look good too; but that will be next month. For now, I hope you like these.
I agree entirely about the Lily of the Valley scent. That blooms so tiny can offer up so much. It's just incredible. Thanks for hosting GBBD and Happy May! The tall glass of iced tea sounds perfect.
We, also, had the zero to late spring effect where I live in the Southern Tier of New York. No 90's, but we've been close. I enjoyed all of your flowers because I don't have most of them. Well, maybe lilacs, which are starting to bloom (I just didn't take pictures) because they aren't full out yet). Our lily of the valley are still a few days away. Spring, stop, so I can enjoy you! Happy May, and happy GBBD, to one and all!
Thanks for hosting Carol. I am still trying to clear Lily-of-the -Valley after 40+ years in the garden. She has become Lily-of-anywhere-I-want-to-grow and in all the places I do not want her.
What beautiful blooms! I had done columbine for a while but not sure where it went off to! May need to get a few for my shade garden.
My lily of the valley are budded but no blooms yet. We are about to get a number of 80 degree days so it seems like we are all off our normal spring schedule and weather.
I think everyone has had a sudden jump to summer this year , we have in the PNW , upper 80's yesterday . I just planted a Betilla , it's so small , I needed to find a place where it wouldn't get lost in all mad summer growth, Happy Bloom Day !
I can totally relate! Here in zone 4B (Minnesota) we had a warm up for about a week that caused flowers to catch up a bit. It cooled down but today we are back to 75 for the rest of the week. Thank you for hosting!
Summer seems to have arrived early here too. This is it, the month we dream of all year and your blooms are bountiful! The fragrances at this time of year are such a delight.
"There are more blooms around the garden…but that's enough for one post." Ha! My readers may wish I took your approach, instead I documented it all.
And here I thought SoCal was the only place experiencing pronounced weather whiplash. I'm sorry it's affected you too and I hope it cools enough to allow you to enjoy your spring blooms. I'd love to grow Lily of the Valley but that's yet another plant that doesn't like our dry conditions. Yet, even while we're back struggling with drought, I'm lucky to have plenty in bloom. Thanks for hosting, Carol, and it was good to meet you in person in Austin!
Isn't that stripey LOTV fabulous? I planted it last fall and I just love it. Happy GBBD and thanks for hosting.
I have lily of the valley but not the variegated variety, I may have to address that.
Thank you for hosting this meme and it was lovely to finally meet you the other week.
Helen
Hello carol, can you package the LOTV scent and post it to me? I wonder if it smells like Singapore plumeria? Perhaps one day I will visit in spring somewhere and smell the LOTV. Happy GBBD to all!
We also went from winter to summer in two days!!!!! It seems my plants are a bit confused, well I can't blame them. Today it hit 95 degrees (lower Middle Tennessee). We have some rain coming in tonight so it will become a sauna outside, yuk.
I will enjoy everyone else's flowers from the comfort of my air-conditioned house.
Jeannie@GetMeToTheCountry.blogspot.com
I am envious of your number of blooms. I seem to be a few weeks behind you. I'm eager to see my false indigo, as I added some new ones this year and last year! Thanks for hosting
Hi Carol,
May is one of my favourite months in my garden. At this time so many plants are in full bloom. I love roses and have many and I really enjoy their beauty and fragrance this month. I really like your dianthus. They look lovely in that big numbers.
Best wishes,
Lisa
Your ground orchids are spectacular. My Lily of the Valley is finished blooming. Happy GBBD.
I bought a Clematis integrifolia this spring and planted it – it has yet to bloom – and I am waiting impatiently! (See you soon in Chi-town!)
blue-eyed grass, dianthus,columbine , allium, and solomon seal all bloomingn my garden!
Thanks for hosting Carol! It's been a while but I always enjoy Bloom Day posts!
Here in NH, we went from "Will winter ever end?" to "Oh, it's spring! No, it's winter. No, it's spring." Still in danger of freezes and frosts but I'm hopeful we're on to warmer temps so that soon we can plant out veggies and annuals. Not much blooming yet but enough after the long winter.
What a wonderful way to share our blooming gardens! May is a big one in Southern Oregon, although the lilac is finished already, and my rock garden flowers have moved from purples to pinks. To day was thunderstorms, At least I didn't have to water the seeds I planted just yesterday!
I'm new to your blog. I'd been following Pam Penick on her blog Digging, and in her entry about recent Garden Bloggers Fling, you were mentioned. I came over here, and I felt you must be a kindred spirit when I saw the entry about your hoe collection!
I love your idea of the Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day. Thank you so much for hosting it. (P.S. I messed up using the widget and added my blog twice to the May list, #30 and #31–I'm Grace@TentativeGardener. I don't know if you could delete one of those links?) Happy Gardening!
Blue and orange together, yes, I like it too!
Thanks for hosting!
Carol, It's always a treat to see what's blooming in your garden in this, your favorite garden month. When I had volunteer columbines in my zone 6 Pennsylvania garden, I was also happy to have them seed themselves around. The spring display is just beginning in my Maine garden, but our long-awaited spring is now an exuberant happening. -Jean
Lovely to see all these spring blooms in your garden, Carol! I don't know what happened to spring, but it was over in the blink of an eye, and it definitely feels more like summer here, too. By the way, Mr. Linky isn't working for me, but I do have a Bloom Day post up, too.
Never mind my comment about Mr. Linky–I just noticed it posted my link after all. I'm just glad it didn't post every time I tried unsuccessfully, or I would be listed about a dozen times:)
Hi Carol, the blooms on those hardy orchids are very striking! I'm always amazed at how quickly your region can switch or even skip seasons! Happy GBBD!
Hi Carol, as always many similarities and differences. We had the hot spell and now hundred year flooding. And yet the plants persist through it all. The Columbine are indeed flowers that spread themselves but it's hard to say no to their wanderings.
I was in such a rush to finish my post and link to it that I forgot to leave a comment on your post. How rude of me! Thank you for hosting, as always! The PNW has had a similar winter to summer kind of spring, though not quite overnight. We did have a couple days of spring before shooting into the 80's. Now we're back to pleasant spring temperatures in the high 60's and low 70's. Funnily enough, between the mild winter and cold spring, many of my blooms are on about the same schedule as they were after the previous, harsh winter followed by a warm spring.
Hello Carol! Happy spring, er….summer? Those pink Dianthus are lovely — my favorite pic from your post.
Ps I think I accidentally linked to my April BD post. Gah! Please ignore my mistake. I need more coffee. I went back and added May. Hopefully it works!