WHAT'S LOOKING GOOD IN MAY 2018

[DeborahJane]

My maple Shishigashira is about 7 years old. A slow grower and I think a stunner with its golden leaves.

] I'm not sure of the specific name of the red maple nearby but they do look great together I'm sure you'll agree. What a pleasure, ain't gardening grand[/ATTACH]

 

[MaryMary]

 

[KKosy87]

Peonies opened up!!

 

[KKosy87]

@MaryMary are those Shirley Temple peonies? They are the same ones i have. Gorgeous!
This is their first year in my garden. I only got one bloom, which I read is normal. Should I cut it as soon as it blooms, or wait for,it to wither?

 

[MaryMary]

Oh, @KKosy87, I don't know!!

They tore down an abandoned house across the alley from me, which meant that all those beautiful flowers were going to be mowed because it was now a "vacant lot."

My neighbor knows the man that got hired to mow it, and gave me a head's up two days before he mowed everything down. I grabbed my shovel and gave in to my scavenger instinct! . I got tulips, lilies, irises, and those peonies.

The root system was pretty big, I wound up splitting them into two patches, so I really don't know what "new" peonies do! I would cut off the flower after the bloom. I usually put some wood ash on them in the fall. (I don't know if that is the right time for doing it, that just happens to be when we have wood ash!! )

 

[Sean Regan]

Our Stella cherry arrived today. "Small but perfectly formed." Put into a fairly big tub. It's gone a bit limp but it'll recover by the morning. It's had plenty of water. It'll probably be a couple of years before it does anything.

The Morello cherry is "on probation." We've really no room to put it anywhere.

Had a knock on the door from a tree "surgeon," he said he'd noticed our big conifer when hew was passing and wanted to know if I wanted it taken down.

So I said he could have a look at it. This seemed to perk him up a bit.

So taking him into the back garden I asked him, "Why would anyone want to get rid of that?"

End of conversation.

Mowed the lawn, a ten minute job, one small patch of dead moss, it'll be gone in a couple of weeks.

 

[BigC]

Love the brick edged borders @Sean Regan

 

[Sean Regan]

Love the brick edged borders @Sean Regan

Thanks for that. They're dead easy to lay. They're just block paving bricks I got from B & Q. They're about 4" X 4" X 2"

"Edging" is just a memory.

Just dig a gully with a straight edge to the lawn. a bit of hardcore and then not too wet concrete on top. Tap them down with a straight bit of 3" X 2" .....Then stand back and check they're level! If they aren't then it's easy enough to move them. Let them go off overnight, then point them up with barely wet mortar the next day.
Circles are trickier, but not too difficult as the bricks are small.

Anyone contemplating something similar, I'd advise getting all the bricks in one go even if you're going to part of it in a few month time, as the ranges in builders suppliers, sometimes change. I decided to do the circles a few weeks later, but couldn't get quite the same size bricks, one side being 5" instead of 4" but it doesn't notice.

 

[BigC]

Brilliant Sean..many many thanks for that overview...appreciated Regards C
Nice Acer dissectum btw

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Yellow Star Grass has begun to bloom.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Now I found one of my Blue-eyed Grass plants blooming.

 

[Daren]

Saved this rhododendron from being cut up and burned last year as one of my customers was convinced it was dangerous.... poisonous. Crazy I know But Believe me I did my best to convince her it was safe but some people just don't listen & well I told her husband Id put it in my garden & I Did & now its Flowering

 

[Upsy Daisy]

Gorgeous @Daren ........what a save!!

 

[Sean Regan]

It is the best time for rhododendrons, but such a short flowering season.

Our big tortoise shell one which dominates the back end of the garden, is making its presence felt.

Our new clematis from Taylor's are making the effort.

This rose on the patio gives good value, three stages of colour before it completely fades.

These Phlox on the rockery have been in flower for over a month now.

When I built this rockery I arranged the rocks like strata, lines of them in more or less parallel a few inches apart. Trouble is you need an awful lot of them.

My wife doesn't like this rose, she says red roses remind her of funerals. But I like it so it's in a tub against the party fence of our drive, with other roses which are out of favour.

 

[Sean Regan]

This is our Sambucus.,

We've had it a number of years, but it always lived on the patio. It's pruned right back each year.
It was getting a bit crowded on the patio as we'd bought four more roses to bring the total in ceramic pots to over a dozen.

But in March we moved it here to replace a little Salix tree that inexplicably died.

It's shown its appreciation by coming on in leaps and bounds, it's now over six feet tall. The flowers will follow soon.

As anything we put here now is always in a tub, (anchored to stop any wind blowing it over) we can ring the changes if we choose (and if I can lift the tub!)