Unusually for me I’m a day late with the GBBD post but I had a wonderful surprise on my return from Rome as the Alliums have just started to open their puff-ball flowers and there are a whole array of them dancing above the prostrate rosemary.
Allium cameleon (above) is a new addition this year and I rather like the pink tones of the buds and newly open florets which then go whiter. Its a very pretty flower.
Alliums aside May is the month of the Aquilegia in my garden. I have loved Aquilegias for years and have a growing range of plants. I prefer the ones with larger flowers to the more, shall we say dumpy, flowers which I think are related to our native Columbine. I am rather taken with the second and last of the four above, both in their first year of flower so it was a nice surprise to see what the flowers looked like.
Orange seems to be making more of an appearance in my garden than at this time in previous years. Both Geum ‘Totally Tangerine’ and Lathyrus aureus were bought last year. I like the contrast with the purples which seem to be the prevailing color in the garden at the moment and I think small dots of orange, especially from the geum flowers which have a habit of nodding above other plants on long stems really add some zing to the border.
Talking of purple one of the first plants I sought out on my return yesterday was the Buddleja salvifolia. I have been waiting for it to flower for weeks. Another new purchase last year it is just heavenly, the leaves are wonderfully soft a bit like Stachys byzantina and the scent is wonderful.
Umbellifers seem to be creeping into my garden more and more. I have started to appreciate the added texture their frothy flowers bring. At the moment this is from Sweet Cicely (bottom) and Chaeropjyllum hirsutum roseum (top).
In startling contrast we have Arisaema consangineum (I think) which I grew from seed many years ago and seems to really like its new location on the slope. As ever in my garden the flowers are pointing in the opposite direction to I had planned but I learnt the other day that you can rotate the bulb to put the flower in the right place and the plant will stay like that, the flower doesn’t grow towards the sun like other plants so I might give that a go.
And finally we have the wonderful Lamprocapbos spectablis ‘Valentine’ which is a real show stopper. There are other flowers in the garden, the geraniums are just starting to open as are the irises but these are the plants that are flowering their best today.
For more Garden Blogger Bloom Day posts visit Carol at May Dreams
