Welcome to my zone 9 garden. My roots are deeply planted in the sandy soil of sub-tropical central Florida, where the summers are long and hot, but the rest of the year is paradise!

Monday, May 24, 2010

My Favorites...this month!

FloridaGirl at Peace in the Valley said it so well in a recent post..."May is the Month of Garden Perfection!" How true that is. So true, that I had a difficult time limiting myself to 4 or 5 picks.  All of my choices are truly favorites.

(Click on photo to enlarge for better viewing)

The daylilies have been outdoing themselves. I only have two varieties in my garden...a solid yellow and a red with a yellow center. Both of these are "old-timey" tried-and-true varieties given to me by my stepfather. The plants grow tall (2 feet in height) and multiply like crazy. They're the only varieties that thrive for me.

Two of my favorite roses blooming this month are Double Pink Knock-outs ‘Radtkopink’ and the vintage Seafoam Rosa 'Seafoam'...a white rose with small but plentiful fragrant blossoms.

Caladiums are emerging all over the garden, and while it's hard to pick just one favorite...actually quite impossible...I selected 'Kathleen' because it sports my favorite colors...pink and green. ;-) I had to include a stalk of the gorgeous pink and white gladiolas. They are a real treat as a cut flower.

The white seahorse is a new favorite. It's actually the bottom of a birdbath that belonged to my late Aunt Erna. The water basin must have broken, but she kept the base in her garden as a decor piece. I immediately fell in love with it.

And, two very pretty purple flowers...Stokes' Aster  Stokesia laevis 'Omega Skyrocket' and Mealy Cup Sage Salvia farinacea 'Victoria Blue' are outdoing themselves.

What are your favorites this month? If you'd like to join me in posting your favorites for the month, please do...they don't have to be in collage form...but do leave a comment, so I can drop by and see your favorites.

10 comments:

Kimberly said...

Your may garden is beautiful, Susan! Your daylilies are fantastic...mine haven't sent out blooms yet (I think they're later bloomers but I can't remember). Your roses are spectacular too! I really like your seahorse. It's wonderful to have such a lovely memory of your Aunt! I've posted my May faves too! Happy gardening!

NanaK said...

You have so many great choices in your faves this month. Your garden must be distractingly beautiful. I wouldn't know where to look first! You have a lot of memories in your garden. Including reminders of loved ones is such a nice touch. Come see my favorites...this month!

FlowerLady Lorraine said...

Oh my, what wonderful colors, and shapes of blooms. I need to work on adding more color to my gardens. To me, they seem overly green.

I love your sea horse.

Have a great day ~ FlowerLady

Jean Campbell said...

Your favorites are my favorites, too. I didn't include Salvia farinacea and Stokesia in today's post, but they are wonderfully showing off. Maybe I should combine them.

Your seahorse reminded me of the old plainer birdbath base I have. A recycled acrylic round on top makes it a table.

See some of my favorites at Dotty Plants. Thank you for the invitation to share.

Ami said...

Susan: Your daylilies are beautiful, especially the red one with the yellow center. Love both your roses. I saw the double pink knock-outs once in a nursery center. I should have bought it!!!

I also have mealy cup sage in my garden, it has been blooming prolifically for almost 6 months now. But it started showing some fade-away, I should have taken some cuttings when they are on their peak. Hope it is not too late... Yours looks very vigrous!

For some reason, My garden in May is a little slow, I almost can not find anything new to post for this month, except some caladiums... I guess I have exausted my limited resource in my new garden...

Floridagirl said...

Hi, Susan! Looks like we share some favorites in those daylilies. I think I have those same two that you posted. They are quite vigorous for me as well. Love that 'Kathleen' caladium. I don't have that one! It's so hard to find the unusual varieties. I always miss the caladium festival in Lake Placid, even though it's not too far away, because we work on weekends. Yep, I live pretty close to the caladium capital of the world, yet have never been. Ugh. Anyway, I too love that seahorse! I was reading the list of plants before checking out your collage, and when I came upon "Seahorse," I thought it was some plant I'd never heard of. My excited eyes immediately started searching that collage. LOL. Thanks for hosting this meme!

Susan said...

Kimberly...It would be great to have some early and late blooming daylilies to keep the show going a bit longer. Hhhmmmm, I'll have to find some late bloomers. :-)

Kay...Some of my most favorite plants are those passed on to me from family members and friends. I cherish those and keep them going no matter what.

FlowerLady...A green garden can be beautiful too, especially when it has lots of texture. I just happen to be a "flower child!"

NellJean...The stokesia are new to my garden this year. I've had some in the psst...not sure what happened to them...but there have a great "blue" flower.

Ami...Looks like you'll have lots of flowers to look forward to next month. It always seems as though the blooming slows down during the hottest months.

FloridaGirl...Haha, sorry to have fooled you with the mention of the seahorse. I'm surprised there's not a tropical flower...perhaps a heliconia...named seahorse.

Meems said...

Susan,
Your May garden is alive with so many special blooms. It truly is a month of glory! All your faves are delightful and colorful... I like the seahorse base, too.
Meems

CIELO said...

In our little "Paradise" June is the perfect month. Spring comes late around here and the land awakening makes its own statement around the second to third week of June... so come and see! Our roses will be in full bloom soon! ;)

Nice meeting you

Cielo

Susan said...

Meems...May is really a great month for blooms...not too hot. But our VERY warm days are just beginning.

Cielo...Welcome and thanks for visiting. I visit your House in the Roses regularly and enjoy your magical garden and zest for life.

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