May Flowers

I was accused yesterday of cursing us by my posting 2 weeks ago.

I was writing mid-April about how great it was we were having so much rain. It was great then. By now, May 8 we are all pretty sick of it and most of us gardeners are having a hard time doing any actually gardening. It's early May and the roses are on their way to a huge round of black spot. Spirea are looking very mildew-y which we usually see in July with all the heat and humidity. And it's almost too wet to be working in any beds. Yes I have to say I have had enough rain, thank you.

Powdery mildew wont kill the spirea, but over time it could be stressful. You may want to take care of the fungal disease on your roses. There are synthetic and permaculture products for rose care but I claim ignorance on the complete care of roses and refer you to http://www.nashvillerosesociety.com/GrowingBeautifulRoses.html



So here is a bit of a small garden to-do list for early May, what I have been doing in the garden on occasional less-damp days.


Fertilize, prune, plant.

If you haven't already given your flowering perennials a nice big dose of a high phosphate granular fertilizer, now is a nice time. All those summer bloomers (day lilies, coneflowers, Shasta daisies, butterfly weeds, butterfly bush etc. etc.) will put those phosphates to work now, forming blooms. I like an organic fertilizer or even straight bone meal. Ornamental grasses and hibiscus appreciate an all purpose or high nitrogen fertilizer (again an all purpose organic product will do, or cottonseed meal or blood meal).



Pruning: Trim or prune anything out of control like Euonymous Manhattans or any yews or laurels that are in your way. Be gentle but shear them back.

Dogwoods should be done blooming. Not much to do here, but you can prune out any deadwood or low hanging branches that are in your way while lawn mowing.

Daffodils... what to do, what to do...ideally you will let the foliage lay on the ground in their messy browning pool while they feed next year's bulb and store up for a fabulous February 2010 and eventually only mow them after they are all yellow/brown. But if you can't stand how they look, cut off about one half of the foliage. That will make them neater and they can still feed for the summer.

In general, prune your flowering shrubs...AFTER they flower. Only prune for health or beauty. Prune deadwood, prune crossing branches on certain specimen shrubs, prune away branches that impede your view, or are obstructing your path. Don't touch your crape myrtles or butterfly bushes or beautyberry right now!


Planting: You can still get a lot of great seeds and veggie starts at nurseries, garden centers, the farmer's market, hardware store. Put in some veggies and annuals if you haven't already. Fill in the empty spots of your shade borders with coleus and impatiens. Fill in any empty areas of your sunny areas with annuals: callibrachoa, vinca, petunias, sun coleus, marigolds, zinnias, cosmos, sunflowers, dusty miller....and so forth. Or better yet plant another perennial.



Blooms I am enjoying seeing this week: luscious peonies, climbing roses, and a few standout rhododendrons!