GARDEN May garden sampler905-374-7100
GARDENING
Did you visit a garden centre this weekend?
I couldn’t resist stopping by several local garden centres just to see what was new and exciting for the coming season —the shelves were brimming with fresh ideas.
I’m a little cautious when it comes to bedding out the annuals and tropicals on the Victoria Day weekend — I prefer to hold off the planting until early June when the summer weather is just around the corner.
The promise of warmer temperatures is not the only reason I hold back on planting my tender annuals, tomatoes and basil. I want to enjoy the last of the May-flowering bulbs and perennials that paint my garden in pastel shades and delicately perfume the air. I thoroughly enjoy watching the garden evolve as summer approaches: the early daffodils and tulips fade and make room for showy late tulips, Spanish bluebells, airy forget-menots, cushions of sweet woodruff, columbines, geraniums and old fashioned lily of the valley. In the background, peony, iris and rose buds offer the promise of a beautiful June show — it’s hard not to be optimistic at this time of the year.
Just in case your home garden could use a little helping of selfsufficient colour, let me introduce you to a few of my favourite May flowers.
Sweet woodruff (Galium odoratum) is a delicate looking, but very hard working ground-cover that loves shade. Give it a patch of shade and it will carpet the space with handsome whorled leaves and tiny clusters of white flowers with scent reminiscent of freshly mown hay. The foliage is surprisingly sturdy, despite its delicate appearance. Sweet woodruff blooms in sequence with Spanish bluebells, columbines and forget-menots, that all enjoy the same semishaded garden under our magnolia tree. Variegated hosta and July blooming bee-balm also keep company with the sweet woodruff.
Bigroot geraniums (Geranium macrorrhizum) are the most forgiving plants, they accept sun or shade, but really earn their keep in the dry shade under deciduous trees. Brush against the velvety, serrated leaves and their citrusy scent will perfume the air. Bevan’s Variety has bright pink flowers in May. The blooming period can be brief, if the weather suddenly turns hot. The flowers are attractive to bees. Bigroot geraniums will form a solid mat of evergreen leaves that serve as a living mulch beneath trees or in the shade along the side of a building. The leaves take on shades of red and orange when they are kissed with frost.
Our vegetable garden had backdrop of trees, shrub roses and lily of the valley when it was first planted. The trees have now filled in to the degree that I’ve revamped the once sunny space to accommodate woodland shrubs and perennials. In downsizing the bed, a patch of lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis) was scraped clear and the roots buried beneath a thick layer of topsoil and mulch. I was sorry to see them go, the original plants had been saved from my mother’s garden some 20 years ago. Fast forward to Victoria Day 2017 and I’ve just cut a handful of lily of the valley flowers for my kitchen windowsill — they managed to push through the soil and mulch in time to bloom — talk about a tough plant.
Lily of the valley make a droughtresistant, spreading patch of waxy green leaves for full shade. They are slow to establish (my patch took several years), but they spread quickly once they settle in. They can get ragged looking once the dog days of summer roll around, but they are a sentimental favourite. I can’t resist their spikes of fragrant white bells. As soon as the flowers appear, usually mid-May, I cut the flowers and bring them inside to enjoy — they smell like home.
With all of the flowers blooming at home, and a greenhouse filled with an expanding collection of seed-grown zinnias, calendulas, butterfly weed, gloriosa daisies (2 kinds), basil and flats of lettuce, and dahlia and caladium tubers, you might wonder why I was roaming around the local garden centres this past weekend. I was on the lookout for heirloom tomato plants, cell-packs of parsley and basil, and annuals for my containers — I am a frugal plant junkie.
What does this mean? I buy annuals in cell packs and then pot them up in larger containers and hold them in the greenhouse. When a spot opens up in the border, I will shoehorn the annuals and herbs in place. Similarly, tender tomatoes, eggplant and basil have been moved to larger containers so they can bulk up before putting them in the garden in early June. Seedlings are less expensive to purchase than large plants, they grow quickly once the weather settles down and the best selection is available early in the season. Come July, I may need a spare shoehorn. — Theresa Forte is a local garden writer, photographer and speaker. You can reach her by calling 905-351-7540 or email theresa_forte@sympatico.ca.