THE WEATHER -

A cool start to the month, but warming up considerably by the 4th. Still beautiful on the 5th, but becoming a bit cooler on the 6th. The 7th was quite dull, but still warm. Heavy rain all day on the 8th - miserable, but very welcome as this filled up my water butts again! Thunderstorms on the 12th and 13th. High winds on the 19th. A lot of rain for the next week or so, and turning very cold with a north wind on the 27th, which persisted until the end of the month. According to the weathermen, this has been the wettest May since 1973! We certainly seem to have had a lot of rain, and the ground is still very soggy. Still, there has been no frost this month for the first time in years! Hopefully, the weather will warm up next month and give us some summer at last. Maximum temperature 26°C (80°F), minimum temperature 3°C (36°F).

The lovely uncomplicated flowers of Arum species are appearing this month. Usually, they are well hidden by the foliage, but because of the high winds and heavy rain we have had this month, the foliage surrounding these flowers on Arum italicum 'Chameleon' has been flattened, exposing the flowers nicely to my camera! I love this plant, as it has beautiful marbled foliage, lovely flowers, and wonderful bright red spikes of berries in autumn. It's very easy to propagate from the berries, and in fact, this self seeds all over the place!

Here's a plant which I saw in a local garden centre earlier this month, and just had to have! It's called Clianthus puniceus 'Red Kakatoo'. The common names for this plant are Lobster Claw or Parrot's Bill, and you can see why from the shape of the beautiful red flowers. It is an evergreen shrub, which is generally tender or half-hardy, but the label on this says it is hardy to minus 8° Celsius. I shall plant it in a bed on my patio, which is quite sheltered, and hope that it will survive the winter - I would hate to lose it!

Every year in May, my Pieris 'Forest Flame' displays its fiery red new foliage, and every year, a late frost comes along and destroys it so that it has to start all over again! However, for the first time I can remember, this year we haven't had a frost in May, which means that both this Pieris and my Magnolias have escaped being damaged, which is brilliant! This plant makes such a wonderful show with its new leaves that from a distance, it looks like it is in full fiery flower! It actually has lovely waxy white bell shaped flowers, which are followed by interesting green berries, so being evergreen as well, this is a plant which gives excellent value!

This is a lovely herbaceous perennial called Thermopsis caroliniana. It is a member of the pea family, Leguminosae, and its flowers are rather like a Lupin. When the new growth appears in spring, it is very dark, almost black, and covered in silky hairs - very unusual. The stems turn green as they mature though, and go on to bloom with bright yellow flowers, which really brighten up the spring border. It flowers at about 2 feet tall, but after flowering, grows about a foot taller, so needs to be in the middle of the border. Being herbaceous, it dies away to nothing in winter, so needs to have its position marked. I grew this from seed quite a few years ago, and it's now a good sized clump. I must split it up in September I think, as it's getting a bit too big for its position now.

Trochodendron aralioides is a rarely seen evergreen shrub, which enjoys semi-shady conditions in neutral or acid soil. Considering my soil is tending towards alkaline, my plant is doing well, although maybe it should be a bit greener! The thing I like about this plant is its unusual green flowers, each individual flower having a little green fringe around it! I've had this shrub for many years, and it never flowered very much until this year. I'm sure this was due to the fact that I've pruned back a lot of the trees around it, allowing much more light to reach it, which it obviously needed!

That's all for this month...... Happy Gardening!!

Blackbird, Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Collared Dove, Crow, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Greenfinch, House Sparrow, Long-tailed Tit, Magpie, Robin, Rook, Seagull, Starling, Thrush, Wood Pigeon, Wren.

MAYTIME
Ursula Prout

Cool waters murmur as they flow
Beneath the flowering chestnut trees,
While butterflies flit to and fro,
Like petals wafted on the breeze.

Bright sunbeams gild the earth with gold,
The Maytime scene is bathed in light;
Bird-songs resound from glen and glade,
From early dawn to dusk of night.

The quietness of the countryside;
Its beauty and tranquillity,
Acts like a balm upon the heart
In search of true serenity.

So deep a peace pervades the mind;
So many anxious cares take flight,
As through the Maytime days we tread
A world of wonder and delight!