May 2016 in the Northern Hemisphere

[meanie]

Rehmannia elata.................

[François Lambert]

A nice surprise in the vegetable garden where the common salsify is now flowering.  Nice flowers, but they only open during the day.

[Maggi Young]

We see  Salsify (Tragopogon porrifolius)  growing in hedgerows quite often - but here it usually flowers a bit later in the summer .

[François Lambert]

We see  Salsify (Tragopogon porrifolius)  growing in hedgerows quite often - but here it usually flowers a bit later in the summer .

Belgium is so much more to the South 

[Maggi Young]

Belgium is so much more to the South 

Almost in the tropics!! 

[David Nicholson]

Meanie, looks as though West Oxon has warmed up a bit now

[Robert]

Meanie,

I have to agree with David, it appears things have finally warmed a bit for you.

.....and looking very good.

I am sooooo busy now. I wish that I had more time to follow along with this and other threads. Our Salvias have been blooming for months now (we are almost tropical here in the Sacramento Valley of California    ). So far my garden photographs have been terrible and not worth posting. We get a lot of wind in the valley making photography difficult, at least for me. 

Anyway, looking forward to more interesting plants from your garden!

[Roma]

Campanula thessala.  It usually flowers as a biennial but this one didn't flower last year so is bigger than I usually manage to grow it.
Tulipa 'Estella Rijnfeld'.  It's been there a long time and still flowers occasionally.  Not sure about the colour combination 

[Maggi Young]

Cracking Campanula, Roma

[ian mcdonald]

Solomons seal in the "shrub garden." img. 1010421. I thought the tall pink flowers were Lychnis alpina when I planted them. They are L. viscaria. Although too tall for a "scree" the stems are thin and the rest of the scree can be seen through them. The stems are sticky, hence the name Sticky Catchfly. img. 1010419. I saw two plants of Paraquilegia at a show. Both were labelled P. grandiflora. The leaves were different, see img. 1010422 as an example. I wonder why the show plants were given the same name when there was a marked difference in leaf shape? Is P. grandiflora an "umbrella" name. Or would that be Gamp, before someone else suggests it, or perhaps brolly.

[Robert]

A few photographs from our garden today.



Collomia grandiflora looking grand. 

This is the first season for me with this California native annual. I have been very impressed. They have been blooming for weeks now with many flowering stems. From the looks of the plants they could very well keep blooming well into the future. The weather has been cool. We shall see how they preform when the big heat arrives.



West Coast native lilies.

They have been star preformers in our Sacramento, California garden for years now.



Codonopsis

The seed was labeled as C. forrestii. Not sure about the species, however I am very pleased with them in the garden.

[meanie]

Meanie,

I have to agree with David, it appears things have finally warmed a bit for you.

.....and looking very good.

I am sooooo busy now. I wish that I had more time to follow along with this and other threads. Our Salvias have been blooming for months now (we are almost tropical here in the Sacramento Valley of California    ). So far my garden photographs have been terrible and not worth posting. We get a lot of wind in the valley making photography difficult, at least for me. 

Anyway, looking forward to more interesting plants from your garden!

Meanie, looks as though West Oxon has warmed up a bit now

It had. Today it is 9°c out as I type 
The first Salvia should be out in the next week or so and it looks as if it will be S.gesneriiflora. It's a winter bloomer for Pete's sake and it has taken until June for it to feel like blooming!

My Echeveria on the other hand seem happy enoughj. E.setosa ssp minor was in the greenhouse over the winter and still spends the odd night in there if frost or wind threatens but it seems happy enough outdoors most of the time now.................

[shelagh]

I think that's what they call an architectural plant Meanie.

[meanie]

I think that's what they call an architectural plant Meanie.

My tidy obsessive sister said nice but too messy!

[johnw]

A couple of interesting Epimediums from PMcD's seed.

1-2 Epimedium 'The Giant' x maybe wushanense, very stout stalks and I'd not be surprised if these eventually soar well above 2m like 'The Giant'.

3-4 Epimedium wushanense or a hybrid if it. I like the red new growth but P. has some with exquisitely mottled, red & green, foliage.

johnw - +19c but fog rolling in and out & temps plummeting accordingly.