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May 15th, 2010
GBBD 201005: May, 2010

Papaver rhoeas Angels Choir
Papaver rhoeas ‘Angel’s Choir’

Carol at May Dreams Gardens invites us to tell her what’s blooming in our gardens on the 15th of each month.

May 15, 2010

Spring wanes and May ushers in the early summer flowers as well as early summer temperatures which soared into the 90s a few times. Although we’ve had little rain until last night’s downpour of more than 2 inches, cloud cover has kept temperatures in the 80s. Unfortunately it’s also kept the humidity very high so May has made gardening uncomfortably sticky work.

The height of the flowering season at Zanthan Gardens is over. About half of what was flowering in April GBBD is gone but there are almost as many new flowers. The palette morphs from blues and purples into yellows, oranges and reds.The bluebonnets have completely gone to seed. The poppies and nigella last only a couple of weeks, a very short bloom season given that their growing season is almost as long as the bluebonnets and larkspur.

The big difference this year compared to earlier years is that some flowering bushes and small trees that usually flower dependably in May (such as duranta and oleander) were frozen to the ground in our uncharacteristic January freeze. They are alive but they haven’t started flowering yet.

Between GBBDs

A couple of flower bloomed and faded in my garden between GBBDs and so didn’t show up in the inventory for either April or May.

  • Amaryllis ‘Black Pearl’.
  • Lonicera japonica
  • Louisiana iris ‘Full Eclipse’
  • raspberries

Complete List for May

This is the list of all plants flowering today, May 15th 2010, at Zanthan Gardens. I’ve also noted if the plant was blooming this month in previous GBBD years, 2007, 2008, and 2009.

  • Abelia grandiflora (2009, 2010)
  • Antirrhinum majus (2010)
  • Aristolochia fimbriata (2010)
  • Commelinantia anomala (a few flowers revived by rain) (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
  • Consolida ambigua (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
  • Crinum bulbispermum (2007, 2009, 2010)
  • Engelmannia peristenia/pinnatifida (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
  • Eschscholzia californica ‘Mikado’ (2008, 2009, 2010)
  • garlic (2010)
  • Gaura lindheimeri(2010)
  • Hesperaloe parviflora (2008, 2009, 2010)
  • Hibiscus syriacus (full bloom) (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
  • Lavandula heterophyla ‘Goodwin Creek Grey’ (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
  • Lilium longiflorum, Easter lily (2010)
  • Lupinus texensis (a couple of fading flowers) (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
  • Mirabilis jalapa pink (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
  • Nandina domestica (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
  • Nierembergia gracilis ‘Starry Eyes’ (2009, 2010)
  • Nigella damascena (2007, 2008, 2010)
  • Oenothera speciosa (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
  • Oxalis triangularis (2007, 2008, 2010)
  • Papaver rhoeas ‘Angel’s Choir’ (2010)
  • Papaver somniferum (a couple of fading flowers) ‘Lauren’s Grape'(2010)
  • Parkinsonia aculeata (2008, 2009, 2010)
  • Phlomis lanata (2008, 2009, 2010)
  • Polanisia dodecandra (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
  • Portulaca grandiflora (2010)
  • Pyrrhopappus multicaulis (2007, 2010)
  • rose ‘Mermaid'(2007, 2010)
  • rose ‘New Dawn’ (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
  • rose ‘Red Cascade’ (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
  • rose ‘Souvenir de la Malmaison (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
  • Rudbeckia hirta (2008, 2010)
  • Sedum album (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
  • Setcresea (both purple and green) (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
  • Thymophylla tenuiloba ‘Golden Fleece’ (2009, 2010)
  • tomato (2007, 2009, 2010)
  • Trachelospermum jasminoides (starting to fade) (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
  • Verbena canadensis (lavender wilding) (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
  • Viola cornuta (one selfsown plant) (2007, 2008, 2010)
  • Zexmenia hispida (2007, 2008, 2010)

by M Sinclair Stevens

6 Responses to post “GBBD 201005: May, 2010”

  1. From Dorothy @ Gardening with Nature:
    May 15th, 2010

    Wow! That is an impressive list of bloomers. Your garden must be a paradise of blossoms.

  2. From Nell Jean:
    May 15th, 2010

    I planted some Angel’s Choir, too. One came up on the floor of the greenhouse. It was a deep red, like I’d never seen, with that picotee edge. I liked the pale pink ones best.

  3. From Annie in Austin:
    May 15th, 2010

    Is everything off schedule?

    My garden is always later than yours, so I have a few poppies that are just budding, my duranta is still looking dead, but the double yellow oleander is pretty hardy – no branches lost and in flower right now.

    The pink poppy is so delicately lovely, MSS.

    Annie at the Transplantable Rose

  4. From Mr. McGregor's Daughter:
    May 16th, 2010

    The Poppy is just lovely. I’ve never tried to grow P. rhoeas (I’m still on a learning curve with the peony-flowered ones). I hope your set-back shrubs manage to bloom for you this year.

  5. From Carol:
    May 16th, 2010

    Once again, your record keeping amazes me. It sounds like even with the sticky weather, your garden is recovering from last year’s drought.

    I look at your poppy and wonder why I don’t have any in my garden? I need to add some!

  6. From Linda Lehmusvirta Austin:
    May 16th, 2010

    Fabulous poppy picture. And wow, what a long list of bloomers. I do like to watch the seasonal colors change, too. Wouldn’t it be boring to have just the same thing all the time? A lot less work, but not nearly so rewarding.