May is the time when the garden goes into overdrive, everything seems to want to bloom at the same time, I just wish I could press a pause button and slow everything down a bit. Rhododendrons and Azaleas are now flowering with the wonderful perfume of the deciduous azaleas wafting around the garden.
Rhododendron Fantastica
This Rhodo is flowering in the woodland and we can see it from the house. This is a very reliable one, flowering every year with just the occasional bucket of water when we have a drought, yes we do sometimes have droughts !
Rhododendron luteum
Deciduous Rhododendron luteum is in the bed round the dead oak and has the most delightful perfume. This is still a fairly young bush, so is only small at the moment, but in 10 yrs time the perfume should be amazing!
Rhododendron Persil
Next to it in the dead oak bed is another deciduous azalea, R. Persil. This too has the same beautiful perfume as its neighbour and they both have wonderful autumn tints too, they both certainly earn their space.
Rhododendron bed
The rhododendron bed opposite the back door, has quite a few R. shrubs, but it was such a long time ago that I planted it, I have forgotten this ones name! In spite of that, it always puts on a good show at this time of year and is always the first one in this bed to flower, the others will follow soon.
Rhododendron Curlew
Going to the other extreme is evergreen R. Curlew. This one is tiny, at the moment only about 6 inches tall, it will eventually get to 1 foot tall! I think I should maybe move it to be with its friends across the lawn, at the moment it is in the bed which wraps round the alpine scree and gets forgotten where it is.
Evergreen Azalea
The evergreen azalea in the back garden draws the eye wherever you are. This one was here before we were, so no name I’m afraid.
Viburnum plicatum Maresii with R. Homebush
Also in the bed round the dead oak (I really must find a name for this bed!) is Viburnum plicatum Maresii which holds its flowers along horizontal branches and looks so pretty. In front, but not quite in flower yet is the pink of deciduous Azalea Homebush which, when open , has the most beautiful perfume.
Weigela Victoria ?
I have a feeling that this Weigela is called Victoria but can’t find it in my encyclopedia, can anyone help please? Anyway, it has purple leaves which form a nice background to the pink/purple flowers.
Choysia ternata
Choysia ternata is flowering away in the corner of the back garden. This shrubs always seems to have two seasons of flowers as it repeats towards the end of the summer. May is certainly the month for flowering shrubs!
The bog garden awakes!
The bog garden is now waking up ready to display all its candelabra primulas, astilbes, hostas, ferns and other bog plants.
Candelabra primula
Once all the candelabra primulas get into flowering mode, this area should be a rainbow of colour, so far there are just a few flowering.
Candelabra primulas
I planted all the primulas as a rainbow, with their colours in the right order. I think nature has been at work and mixed them up!
Camassias
These Camassias are in the front border by the drive, but I think they might be happier in the drier end of the bog garden, must make a note to move them.
Clematis montana
I photographed my Clematis montana too soon when I did my recent post about it. It now has far more flowers open and is looking like a pale pink waterfall cascading down the oak tree.
I think May is such a wonderful month as far as flowers go, climbers, shrubs, bulbs and perennials are flowering with more and more coming each day. Thanks must go to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for encouraging us to record our flowers on the 15th of each month. Do pay her a visit to see flowers from around the world.
.
Yes, a pause button would be handy right now wouldn’t it! The primulas are going to look a picture, as ever. I love the pinky/yellow one. I said in a comment to Carol that we don’t have enough space for climbers here, but a C. montana up a tree would be perfect.
I’m sure you have a big tree strong enough Jessica, to hold a C montana. From my experience though it will grow towards the first light it receives, in our case it has morning sun from 5am to about 10 am, then shade until about 6pm then sun till the sun goes down. If it had grown where I wanted it, it would have had the afternoon sunshine.
I’m eager for the candelabra primulas to make their mark this year, there are so many different colours and shapes, an interesting family which like my soil!
WOW! I would love to have a clematis that grows and flowers like yours. Do you feed it anything special?
Happy Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.
I’m ashamed to admit Sharon that it survives on neglect! It certainly need a very sturdy tree as its support, the weight of all the flowers and leaves must be considerable. The stalk has climbed almost to the top of the tree, then it has cascaded down with its flowers looking like a waterfall!
Yes please, pause! Such a wonderful time of year in our gardens! Nature does sometimes mess with our plans but your primula rainbow will be splendid nonetheless! Looking forward to seeing it in full bloom! Naming the dead oak bed – Oakland?Oakville? The o(a)kefenokee bed? The O. (A) K. Corral? Oakshire? Oak Dell? Oakwood?Oakdin? Oakdun? dara, darra, darraigh? Auldaiken? Acklam? Le lit du chêne mort? Auldaiken might be my favorite.
I will be happy however the colours turn out Peter, in the bog garden!
What a lot of fantastic suggestions for the dead oak bed, I’m now spoilt for choice, thank you so much! I’ll have to try them all out and see if the undergardener has any preference, watch this space!
I wish I had a pause button too! I loved Luteum and Persil and your white evergreen one is just lovely! Ooooohhh….the bog garden is fantastic, looking forward to seeing more on that! The cascading mantana is utterly charming!
I did enjoy the slow worm in your last post, for some reason my comment on that went awol…xxx
Sorry you’re comment re slow worm vanished into the ether Dina, I wonder what happened to it?! The bog garden is just a couple of years old, so I’m still juggling plants there, but by June/July it is very colourful. All the colour in May makes such a contrast to a couple of months ago, it is a wonderful month to be a gardener!
Your Clematis montana is wonderful! I love your description of it as a pink waterfall, and that makes me want one. Most of my azaleas and rhododendrons have finished blooming. I enjoyed the sweet fragrance of my native azaleas so much and am already anticipating next year’s blooms!
I’m sure Deb, you must have some strong tall trees that could cope with the weight of a C. montana. Mine has climbed up 2/3rds of the way up the tree before starting to flower, with the flowers then cascading down. I’m enjoying the wonderful perfume from the Azaleas at the moment and I hope for a while to come, when they have finished the perfume of the Philadephus takes over.
Pauline, it looks like paradise. Beautiful Rhododendrons and I like your photo of the awakening bog garden. Enjoy! Enjoy!
Thank you Susie! The bog garden will just get better each day as all the candelabra primulas open, this is where mt feet will take me each morning instead of the woodland!
The garden is looking beautiful – May is so spectacular in the Northern latitudes. I do miss it!
I agree with the Weigela I.D as it has those tell-tale purple-bronze edges to the leaves.
W. florida ‘Victoria’ it is a fairly old cultivar; the newer ones have leaves that are deeper purple rather than just tinged with it. It should get to about 3m all round.
I agree Matt, that this is a wonderful time of year here up north! Thanks for your confirmation of my Weigela name, but I’m concerned at it’s measurements, it has been planted for at least 15 yrs and is still only about 4×3 ft, it doesn’t have room to get any fatter!
Pauline, impressive number of different rhodys and azaleas. Divine. Instead of a pause button, find a wormhole and come down here where everything is slowing down in anticipation of winter!
I wish I could Catmint, it would be wonderful to see an Australian autumn! More flowers are coming on the rhodos and azaleas each day, May is certainly the month for them!
It’s May for sure in your garden Pauline. Rhoddie tastic! My brother has/had a Rhododendron luteum in his garden that he didn’t particularly want. I had put my name on it but he forgot to tell my SIL. She lopped it off around 3 inches from the ground – I live in hope that it regrows and I can bring it along here.
Loved the wide shot, everything looks so healthy and lush and the Azalea really stands out. Perfect post!
Angie, that poor R. luteum, I know that they can be cut back hard, but 3 inches! Hopefully it will regrow and come to live with you. May is such a wonderful month with colour everywhere in the garden, I love it all!
‘Dead oak bed’ sounds just right… 🙂 Thanks for sharing your lovely blooms – your bog garden is ready to explode with those candelabras… lovely lovely. How big does Rhododendron luteum grow? I like the idea of fragranced rhododendron….
The bog garden changes each day at the moment Cathy. Rhododendron luteum grows rather large, I have seen it 8x6ft in a friends garden, I’m hoping mine will grow to that size to fill in the centre of the border where I’ve planted it, the perfume is divine!
I too must compliment you on the rhododendron selections. Really beautiful varieties you introduced me to.
Ray
Thank you Ray for stopping by, it is always good to meet someone new! I will be popping over to have a wander in your garden too!
Pauline, You have such an eye for beauty! I love your woodland and bog gardens. The Azaleas are lovely. I didn’t realize some of them are scented….we actually have a bog but it would never have occurred to me to create a flowerbed! I have left it to nature……it’s full of ferns and skunk cabbage 🙁 .
Happy Gardening!
Thank you Sally, it’s the deciduous azaleas that have a lovely perfume, I have them planted beside a swinging seat so that we get the benefit of them.
There are so many plants that love to have their roots in very wet soil, we were so lucky to find that we have an underground stream in the garden. The previous people planted this area with normal herbacious plants and wondered why they were dying! We have skunk cabbages and some ferns round the pond which is next to the bog area.
I wish I could put them all in a drawer and open it on a cold November day and just enjoy ! Everything is looking fantastic. Loving your rhododendrons – we can’t grow them so I just have to enjoy everyone else’s !
I like your thinking, yes, it would be lovely to preserve them for when the garden is naked! Everything is growing so quickly at the moment, I just can’t keep up. Rhododendrons are quite common down here, everyone has at least one. My soil is neutral, or maybe just the acid side of neutral, although I can grow things that the books tell me need an alkaline soil!