There are many beginnings in a garden, from the first snowdrops to first fruit, but May is that lovely time of year when everything is about to pop, new plants are ready to go out in the garden and the risk of frost is almost past. (Ne’er cast a clout till May is out.)
Every Saturday The Propagator invites his many followers to share six things that are happening in their gardens, so here are mine.
- Tagetes cinnabar seedlings
A big thank you to The Propagator for sending me these Tagetes seedlings by post. You can see they are looking exceedingly healthy. Just after they arrived, I found a few old Tagetes seedlings which I bought from Great Dixter a couple of years ago, so I decided to sow the two sets side by side for comparison. The Prop’s seedlings have come up nicely on the right of this tray, but hardly any of the Dixter seeds have germinated on the left. I think The Prop’s seeds also came originally from Great Dixter, so I conclude that Tagetes seeds do not do well after the first year. A question – should I pot these on, or can I be lazy and plant them out directly?
2. Rosa Gertrude Jekyll
Here she is, blooming once again in my garden, one of the nation’s favourite roses and rightly so for her glorious colour and divine scent. Can’t beat her.
3. New bed
I planted up the front of a new bed this week, where the box and Choisya Ternata used to be (the Choisya had been relying on the box for support, so collapsed after I took it down in the winter winds). It doesn’t look much at the moment, what with that scrappy patch of lawn in front, but I am hoping that in a month or so it will come into its own. The planting is a bit of a mish mash – two Scabious, a red Asiatic lily, a Geum, lemon balm and sedum – the last two bought at a doorstep plant sale round the corner, added to the existing irises and red hot poker.
4. Persicaria amplicaulex
I bought this Persicaria from Marchants Hardy Plants in the autumn and it is now coming back. It has been under a bit of a attack from molluscs, but hopefully it will pull through and produce those lovely red spires later in the year.
5. Aconitum
Aconitum, or Monkshood, is very beautiful, but deadly poisonous, so I do worry about having it in a garden with children. I didn’t plant it, it was here when we arrived. I think I will let it flower and then cut it down (making sure to wear gloves).
6. Alliums
The alliums are back in town, offset well by the Ceanothus behind and the Bleu Aimable tulips – both just going over. In front, the pink peonies are about to pop.
Carrots and Calendula 
The monkshood is beautiful..glorious colour and shape. what a pity it is poisonous!
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Lovely rose and loving the return of the alliums.
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Love Alliums. I am definitely getting more next year. I have planted my tallest variety Summer Drummer way to close to a rose and I have a fantastic mishmash.
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After seeing a few photos of Gertrude Jekyll roses I’m really looking forward to our new one flowering. Great alliums.
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Oh, dear… are you SURE you want your lemon balm to be free range? In a bed with other plants? They don’t like to share! I had one in a pot (still do) and it seeded (the seeds are so inconspicuous) and now they have their own area. I let them stay because it was an unplanted place, but now they are popping up yards and yards from there!
I love lemon balm, and underestimated it!
I actually grew lime balm from seed this year. I am not turning it loose! I also planted golden lemon balm seeds, but the plants have disappeared. My labels were wrong I think, what said “golden” smells like lime.
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Hi Lisa, it is tiny at the moment – my son chose the plant and he wanted to put it here so I went with it. Hope I won’t regret it but bed is so bare at the moment I could do with a rampant lemon balm.
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What elegance this aconitum! Too bad it’s dangerous …
Beautiful rose and pretty healthy foliage without black spots. Great !
I’m fighting with rose diseases right now ( oidium and black spots) but I’m going to win( I hope)
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Stunning roses.
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Yes, a fabulous rose indeed. Lovely alliums.
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I think I have a monkshood but it has never flowered, the leaves look the same. I also have Gertude, but mine only has one flower open at the moment, but several buds. She is gorgeous! And are you sure that is a persicaria? I swear I pulled out something similar thinking it was a weed. Oops!
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Nice to see your tagets doing well. That cinnabar variety is often called ‘great dixter variety’ so should be similar to the others. You can sow tagetes direct so i guess you could plant out as they are, although watch out for slugs. I have my mum a few and they got eaten. I potted mine on in 7cm pots and grew them on for a while. Good luck!
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Not to change the subject, but that Ceanothus behind the aconitum and allium still looks great. I just pruned some yesterday, since it stopped blooming a long time ago. They do not work so well in the landscape for us, but I to like them in the forest outside of the landscape.
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