May in bloom

Suddenly my garden is full of colour!

So I thought I'd round up what's best, from old favourites to new discoveries.

Tulips

Ragged Black Parrot and blousy Angelique. The tulips this year are my favourites ever, I love, LOVE my Black Parrot.

Fluffy Cherry Blossom, which is already all over the grass.

The bright, acid green Hakonechloa brightening the shady side of the terraced garden.

My lovely new Honesty or Lunaria annua Chedglow bought recently at Powderham Castle. Read about that trip here.

Argyranthemum (Marguerite Daisy) and Olearia scilloniensis turning their faces to the sun.

Brunnera Jack Frost - such delicate flowers and beautiful leaves - I need more.

Williams Pear and Apple blossom, one almost over and one just beginning.

This is my mystery shrub and it has never flowered so well. My mother-in-law gave it to me as a seedling grown from seeds she collected from a park. It has leaves a bit like a Kerria, deeply veined and, as you can see, white papery flowers. It has been forgettable until this year but now looks lovely. Any information anyone can offer as to what it might be would be lovely - I feel I should appreciate it more now!

Double Primulas - both, I think, Mothers Day presents from years past.

My Choisia sundance is flowering fit to bust, covered in new growth and looks very healthy. I'm still fooled by it's pale, colour-drained foliage. Sometimes it can look positively ill!

Euphorbia Fireglow and Euphorbia cyparissias are both popping up largely not quite where I was expecting. They seem to move every year, especially the cyparissias which is showing an alarming tendency to leave the bed completely and colonise the lawn!

This Berberis darwinii is flowering for a second time this year - what value for money! 

Spires of Tellimia grandiflora and whorls of Hosta are erupting, and the slugs and snails are already celebrating - but never fear I am on the case!

Geranium sanguine is creeping and has been flowering all through the winter.

My Euphorbia Mellifera is statuesque and glorious but is getting really too big. I must research how to control it, everything around it is decidedly cramped, but I couldn't do without it.

So there is my mid month roundup, but things are changing constantly. The Cherry and Pear blossom is already gone and the Alliums are bursting out. 

It is such an exciting time in the garden as things rush into growth and burst forth. Every year it catches me far behind with all the preparations I was going to make. Plants I was going to move are now buried in new growth, spaces I had cleared to add new things have miraculously disappeared, and weeds are already flowering. Every year it happens and now I am too distracted by the loveliness to do mundane maintenance - I never learn!

Enjoy whatever is happening in your garden (the rest will happen eventually).

Now I must check my vegetable bed!