The bulbs are done, the native spring ephemerals are finishing up, and the perennials are going great guns. It’s May!
In bloom:
- Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum biflorum)
- strawberry
- (wild) columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)
- Dutchman’s pipe (Aristolochia macrophylla)
- wild geranium (Geranium maculatum)
- Celandine poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum)
- violets: both ordinary and Labrador
- prairie trillium (Trillium recurvatum)
- ornamental allium
- lilies of the valley
- blackhaw viburnum (Viburnum prunifolium)
- shooting star (Dodecatheon meadia)
- Jacob’s ladder (Polemonium reptans)
- bishop’s cap (Mitella diphylla)
- Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica)
This is roughly where we were a year ago, although I swear the columbine are particularly huge this year. Coming soon: peonies, irises, baptisia (for the first time ever) and even more from the Celandine poppies and wild geraniums. The forsythia never bloomed this spring despite loads of buds.
Feed
Nice natives.
My baptisia bloomed for the first time, earlier this year. It takes a while.
Yep, it’s been 2 or 3 years since I planted it, and I was wondering if it was too shady of a spot. I was so glad to notice it budding the other evening.
Your garden looks so nice and summerlike! I forget sometimes that as green as it is here, it’s still spring.
So many lovely plants! The Solomon’s seal photo is great.
That columbine looks so tall. Everything looks fantastic – I love any kind of blue flower so the bluebells are my faves.
The columbine is really huge this year (I had a picture of it in my May 2008 bloom day post – it wasn’t half this size), as is the Solomon’s seal.
I was happy to see the bluebells this year. I planted them last year, and they didn’t bloom at all. I was a little afraid that they weren’t even going to come back, even though I know they’re supposed to die back in the summer.
Glad to hear your columbine is larger this year than usual–I’ve never seen them that tall. I also love bishop’s cap–the cutest little flowers.
Yeah, bishop’s caps are about the teensiest little flowers I’ve ever seen, which is why I resisted getting any for a couple of years. But they love shade, so I eventually capitulated. Funny how having a bunch of dark corners will get you buying anything that might grow there.
You have lots of lovely little woodland plants. The Solomon’s seal shot looks good in front of the the vertical stems. the wild geranium looks like it enjoys the spot next to the pond. I like your white shooting stars. I have some pink ones that haven’t bloomed in awhile. I think the spot might be too shady, and I should probably move them.
The wild geranium likes its spot by the pond a little too much – I need to trim it back a bit. I’ve never seen pink shooting stars before!