May is nearly over. What a busy month. I spent the second week in California, saw most of my family and attended my son Galen’s college graduation. My first to graduate! I put together a PowerPoint presentation about fabulous containers, which I gave last night to a group of gardeners and will deliver to another group tonight.
It still feels more like early April. Chilly, rainy and too cold to put the tomatoes outside. Yet the garden is full and lush, running on its own timetable. A few days ago, the sun made an all-day appearance and the Helianthemum ‘Henfield Brilliant’ exploded into bloom worthy of its name. It brought me to my knees – literally – to get in position to photograph it with the small pale apricot tulips, gold Euonymus and purple Heuchera in the background.
My little Japanese maple that I planted last spring in a pot on the part-shade side of the deck, along with the Ligularia and Hosta, came back robustly. I had been a little worried about the maple, called ‘Brocade’, last fall when only one branch of leaves turned color and the rest shriveled brown. I’m so relieved that I worried needlessly. I love its delicately divided leaf and subtle red and green color variations, very like a brocade.
And the peas in both soil mixtures continue to grow at the same rate! They’ve reached 15 inches tall, but no flowers yet. I’ve enjoyed quite a few tender, tasty salads of bib lettuce, arugula, Mizuna and red mustard greens from my pots. The little pak choi cooks so much faster in a stir fry than store-bought – one stir in the pan and it’s done. It’s begun to flower, and very soon I’ll harvest the rest and plant the tomato in that pot. Soon, very soon!
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