May 2021 in the Northern Hemisphere

[Andre Schuiteman]

The worst of the cold and rain seems to have passed here. Some sunshine today and you can almost sense that the following are enjoying it.

1. Dianthus tymphresteus. A Greek species with prostrate inflorescences (don't be alarmed, it just means that the inflorescences lie flat on the ground). Sown from AGS seed 22/12/2019, germinated 17/1/2020, first flowered early April 2021. Seems to be easy and floriferous so far.

2. Dianthus sternbergii. Sown from seed ex Michal Rejzek 24/2/2019, germinated 3/4/2019, first flowered 6/5/2020. This species from the southern Alps has a delicious sweet-spicy scent that can be noticed from meters away.

3. Veronica oltensis. This Turkish species is one of my easiest plants. Just pull off a piece, stick it in the ground, and you have a new plant.

4. Phlox stolonifera 'Fran's Purple'. The previous three are sun-lovers, this Phlox prefers half shade. Once established it is quite drought tolerant. The creeping stems can become invasive but as they take some time to root it shouldn't be a problem.

[Yann]

not so far away the home i know a wood with few orchids, as in the whole country bloomings are delayed.

[cohan]

Gabriela-- once things get started, it goes pretty fast! Now I had 4 days at work with no time to look at the garden, other than passing by a couple of beds, and today is all rain, so it seems many things have come along, and especially the weeds! tomorrow may be my only chance to do any garden work this week, if it doesn't rain...  I'm more behind every hour...lol

nice Clematis, everyone!
Shelagh-- nice colour on the T batalinii- I have just one form, yellow with some red streaks; it is the latest of my several tulips

Claire- that last Aquilegia is esp nice

Andre-- cute little Dianthus tymphresteus and nice Veronica too

Yann-- nice woodland views of orchids!

[cohan]

Still a lot of things from May I haven't shown! Oh well, a few anyway...
A couple of Hepatica nobilis  and Anemone blanda from mid month







Anemone ranunculoides and Anemone nemorosa later in the month

[cohan]

A couple of native Androsace-
Androsace septentrionalis is not exactly showy- tiny flowers in airy umbels-- it can be showier when the monocarpic plants are in seed and drying out, when they become reddish and taller-- and if there are many plants it can be interesting... these plants are just getting started.. late May (first shot shows that rock gardening for me is also very much about rocks!)





Androsace chamaejasme - a shot from mid May, then looking a bit more mature May26; the rosettes are not as tight and almost succulent looking as they often are in the wild (often harsh exposed sites) even though I thought of this as a Xeric bed... if I get seed, should try in some tougher spot..