Iris Langport WrenThis month the stars of the garden are the various irises and aquilegias. I have always loved Irises of all sorts. My love affair started with bearded irises such as Langport Wren above. Over the years various varieties have come and gone from the garden, mainly due to too much shade, but Langport Wren has ben a stalwart. Now my garden is more sunny and I have more open border space with good drainage I think I might think about adding some more varieties for next year.
Iris Pacific Coast Hybrid
By contrast the Pacific Coast Hybrids are fairly new to me. The one above I grew from seed and I thrilled it has two flowers this year. I think they should be know more in the UK as they do very well in dry and shading conditions such as under decidious trees or around conifers.
The Dutch Florist irises are also coming into their own. I add a pack of two each year and have learnt that you need to plant them amongst the late summer perennials so the new foliage of the perennials hides the long gangly stems. They are like rockets of color emerging from the undergrowth.
Miss Saigon is this years new addition and I am really pleased as it appears most of the 20 odd corms I planted will flower.
There is a lot of blue in the garden at this moment and this Aquilegia is the most amaze azure blue, it really is a vibrant as the photo indicates. All of my aquilegias come from various seed packets from various seed exchanges so aren’t named varieties and you get some amazing ones but also some not to good. Another couple of favourites below.
I’ve previously shared my sea of blue camassias which have just gone over but now the cream ones are flowering. They aren’t as prolific at multiplying and are more elegant than the blues; I like the contrast of the cream spires against the foliage.
Sweet Cicely is another plant that looks fabulous at this time of year. A wonderful confection of frothy white flowers above the sweet aniseed smelling foliage.
This Centaurea plant sits quietly on the corner of a border but at this time of year is awash with vibrant lilac flowers – so pretty.
In the front garden, which I am trying to remember to include more, the Libertia is drawing attention to itself with its papery white flowers. The only trouble with Libertia, as far as I am concerned, is that the flowers translate into seeds which translate into a mass of seedlings which get everywhere and are a pain to extract but there are worse problems in the world.
And finally, my first Alliums to flower this year. I have quite a few types of Allium flowering all through the summer. I can’t remember the variety of these but they are good doers and come up year after year and the leaves aren’t too large to cause a problem in the border.
Those are my May highlights – for more Garden Blogger Bloom Day posts visit Carol at May Dream Gardens.
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