Choice plants in May
'May is one of my favourite times on the nursery since all our hard work earlier in the year is coming to fruition. Recent mild weather means that most gardens are now full of colour, but you can still improve displays by filling gaps with new additions. To help you choose the right plants, I've picked a few of my favourites that are looking their best right now.'
- Nick Coumbe
Nursery Manager
One of the best ornamental onions available offering great purple globes held hip-high on erect stems above clumps of strappy, pale-green leaves. For best effect, group in 3s or 5s in a large pot on the patio, or dot in a sunny border among ornamental grasses, or as part of a Mediterranean scheme. Simply sensational!
Enjoy a succession of cool pink daisies with bright yellow centres set off against ferny bright-green foliage, by planting one or two of these lovely marguerites. Great value for money, the long-lasting daisies will provide masses of interest from spring to early autumn. Ideal for a container on a sunny patio, or to place on sentry duty either side of an entrance.
Wonderful lavender with a clipped English accent that looks great planted alongside a sunny path or in a gravel garden. Its dense spikes of fragrant, deep-violet, late-summer flowers shoot out from a dome of aromatic, silvery-grey leaves. Loved by bees and other nectar-loving insects. Right now, plants on the nursery are budding up nicely.
This handsome, towering thistle is now showing real potential on the nursery as the emerging buds of the deep crimson thistles are starting to shoot from clumps of spiny, dark green leaves. Perfect for adding to a wildflower area or dotting in groups among other perennials. Buy now for a spectacular show in July and August.
A real head turner on the nursery this month as visitors try to locate the source of the delicious scent. Pale lilac flowers are now showing and will last for many weeks to perfume the air on warm evenings. Sweet rocket is also loved by bees and other beneficial insects.
Followers of flower fashion will love this elegant purple form of cow parsley. Grown mainly for its lacy, deeply cut, dark purple foliage, it is now looking its best as pretty clusters of tiny, creamy-white flowers emerge for an early summer display. Looks great in a wild garden or planted alongside ornamental grasses. Groovy!
Just coming into flower, this dwarf form of the popular garden pink, makes neat hummocks of blue-grey foliage studded with sprays of small, single magenta flowers that last until July. Ideal for edging paths or for planting in pots on a sunny terrace where their delightful fragrance will perfume the air.
This nostalgic granny's bonnet, bears distinctive, nodding, single white flowers that are just opening now above attractive mounds of leaves. A popular and easy-to-grow cottage garden plant, that looks great in the middle of a sunny border or can be used to light-up a shady part of the garden.
Drop-dead gorgeous purple flowers will be standing on parade in the Crocus nursery over the next month or so. Buy them now to get full value from their stunning, emerging flower-spikes. Great for the middle or back of a garden border, or can be used in pots on the patio.
Cats go mad for this lovely perennial and its pretty popular with nursery staff too. Over the next month or so tubular, lavender-blue flowers held in clusters on upright stems will emerge from the attractive, aromatic, light grey-green foliage. It looks wonderful in the middle of a sunny border alongside other blue- or silver-leaved plants.
Lovely scrambling variegated stems carry large, blue-violet or dark violet flowers from now until early autumn. The dark green leaves with creamy-white margins make attractive groundcover throughout the year, ideal for sloping banks. This versatile plant is in flower now on the nursery.
Deciduous azaleas are unassuming in their beds on the nursery until they explode with sweetly scented, funnel-shaped blooms at this time of year. This one has yellow flowers that are budding-up nicely. There's a colour bonus of fiery foliage tints in autumn too.
