May in the Garden

May is generally what I call a "transition" month here in North Central Texas. The blooms of spring are fading and the beginnings of summer are emerging. The leftover violas and pansies don't look their best any longer but they still have enough blooms left on them to extend their stay just a little longer. The time to pull out spent tulip foliage is far overdue...but I'm just now getting to it. The last of the cool season residents such as fennel, parsley, chard and the like are beginning to flower and bolt but still look too pretty to pull. Cool season weeds left un-pulled have taken up a firm residency by now and are quickly being flanked by the warm season invaders - dandelions, wild carrot, Bermuda grass (yes...it's a weed in my book). Being a professional horticulturist, I don't get much time to work in my garden in spring. So I let them all run a muck! Why not.

Come May I look around and say "oh jeez, what must the neighbor's think of me!" They all claim to be fascinated by and enjoy my garden chaos, but at some point you've just got to get to clean up! Today I'm having all my trees trimmed...long overdue. Heavy branches were encroaching upon the precious sunlight for the veggie garden, not to mention the overall poor condition of most of my trees...Ashes, hackberries and the like. Full of trash.

So today they've all gotten a haircut. It's like I have a whole new back yard...twice the size. The veggie plants are squealing with thank yous..I swear I can hear them. I spent the day cleaning in the front garden, pulling weeds and such while the crew worked. Still have some things to pull and new color to plant, which is overdue, but will hopefully get to that in the next week or so. Right now I'll post some photos of things blooming in the garden. Later, after the tree crew is done and cleaned up, I'll post some veggie garden updates.

Gorgeous Spring Roses in Bloom

The transition from spring to summer begins...it's sad but also exciting for me. I'm such a bulb fanatic and my spring garden is always so pretty that I hate to see the season fade. The Dutch Iris were stunning and my bearded Iris bloomed gangbusters this year. The tulips and daffodils put on a great show. I believe there is one last lone white tulip still holding on to its petals, but I'm sure after last night's heavy rainstorm, it has expired. I wish I'd had time to get photos up of all the lovelies, but just didn't get to it quickly enough. Sigh. Ah well....ON TO THE ROSES!!!

For those of you who've read my blog in season's past, you may know I'm obsessed with peach colored roses. Now most varieties that fall into that color category are not always the best types for growing in my area (lots of English Austin hybrids, etc.). The Texas climate, with its heavy clay soil, scorching sun, but lots of spring and fall humidity, doesn't really suit these daintier specimens. But what does any professional horticulturist do? Well, we break the rules of course! Now there are a few better suited antiques that fall into my favored color range, so I have a fairly decent mix of the dainties and the hardies at this point. They've all started popping into bloom in the last two weeks.

The garden has smelled just lovely...here are a few photos 1. 'Abraham Darby' 2. 'Abraham Darby' 3. 'Perle d' Or' 4. 'Mutabilis' 5. 'Mme. Fraziska Krueger' 6. 'Pegasus' 7. 'Pegasus' 8. 'Tamora' 9. 'Pat Austin' 10. 'Ebb Tide'

Rose 'Abraham Darby'
PC: Leslie F. Halleck

Rose 'Abraham Darby' on Trellis
PC: Leslie F. Halleck

Rose 'Perle d' Or'
PC: Leslie F. Halleck

Rose 'Mutabilis'
PC: Leslie F. Halleck

Rose 'Mme. Franziska Krueger'
PC: Leslie F. Halleck

Rose 'Pegasus'
PC: Leslie F. Halleck

Rose 'Pegasus' Flower Close Up
PC: Leslie F. Halleck

Rose 'Tamora'
PC: Leslie F. Halleck

Rose 'Pat Austin'
PC: Leslie F. Halleck

Rose 'Ebb Tide'
PC: Leslie F. Halleck

I took a quick trip down to Independence, TX last week to the Antique Rose Emporium. Was there to pick out an un-named seedling to be the new 'Ebby Halliday' Rose. I wish I could have spent more time, but did my work part of the trip and then a quick whirl around the nursery. It's a lovely independent garden center and wholesale growing operation that specializes in antique roses. Mike Shoup, the owner, is rose wrangler and breeder.

So fun to see all the pretty new un-named varieties he's working on. Of course a nursery devoted to roses smells pretty good this time of year...intoxicating. It was a gray windy day, so not the prettiest of days, but still nice. Problem is...when you go to a place like this...you want to plant one of everything in your garden! So many roses...so little time...and space...

Just a few more shots of the progression of spring color...

Just a little blurry shot of some of the front beds and their color..

The ornamental peaches 'Peppermint' are blooming. I planted three of them last summer. So they're still small, but they have lots of blooms. The flowers are double and are mixed white, white/reddish pink stripes and red. Pretty! Also got the first flower on the 'Ranger' fruiting peach I espaliered on the back fence.

As it warms up, the garden is really starting to pop (as are the weeds....)
I usually plant mid- to late- blooming daffodils, so they are just now starting to come into bloom. 'Thalia' my favorite white triandrus narcissus has just put out its first two blooms. They are also fragrant. 'Tete a Tete' is a great little fragrant jonquil. I love working edibles into the ornamental garden for the cool season. Curled parsley, bronze fennel and Swiss chard are great for this - and you get to harvest. Summer snowflake, Leucojum aestivum, is in full bloom. Anemone 'Mr. Fokker' is blooming in a few places in the garden as well.

I'm a sucker for Iceland Poppies. But you know, they so pull their weight in the spring garden. And you get the most lovely photos. Here in Texas, plant them in the fall and they'll bloom gangbusters for you in spring. Just a few new photos from today.