Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May

We’ve had just about every sort of weather over the past few weeks.  Early April brought mixed fortunes, including a snow shower that battered a lot of the daffodils, breaking quite a few stems.  Later in the month it was warm and sunny, T-shirt weather, the sort of conditions that tempt you into planting out all your tender plants too early, but I didn’t and it’s just as well; April ended with strong winds and some chilly temperatures, although there was some sun that allowed me to lunch outdoors one day.  We’re now into May with a polar low bearing down on us; yesterday brought wind, rain, thunder and a heavy hailstorm which was particularly unwelcome as I had a lot of seedlings and young plants hardening off outside the greenhouse.  Not too much damage done to them, I think, though the darling buds of May on the outdoor plants are being well and truly shaken by the Shakespearean rough winds.

Mixed day-to-day weather notwithstanding, the general trend has been mild and the growing season is ahead of where we usually are at the start of May.  May 1^st brought the first rose of the year (‘Mary Queen of Scots’ as usual, despite my having started a programme of cutting back her rather rampant growth), the first flowers on the cistus and a posy of lily-of-the-valley to scent the house.  There’s also a couple of borage plants, a nigella, the blue camassias and the wisteria in flower.  Doronicums and honesty are ruling the roost down near the summerhouse; the plum blossom is long past but the apples are now in bloom, and the buds on the aquilegias are starting to show colour.

May Day lily-of-the-valley

Rosa pimpinellifolia 'Mary Queen of Scots'

Tulip 'World Friendship'

The daffodils are gone, except for a rather lovely smallish-flowered white one (variety unknown, it came with the garden) which is toughing it out.  It’s now tulip time.  Nearly all of these are in pots on the patio, although I have a few bulbs saved from previous years’ plantings dotted around in corners, and these have provided a couple of vases for the house (‘Cairo’ and ‘Couleur Cardinal’, I think).  Some of the pots have bulbs from last year, but they haven’t done well; ‘Exotic Emperor’ doesn’t seem to be reliable for a second year, and ‘World Friendship’ came up with just a single bloom, suggesting it isn’t worth keeping either, but shapely and lovely enough to make me want to buy some fresh bulbs for next year.  Another potful of ‘year 2’ bulbs threw up a wonderful combination of the lovely orange ‘Ballerina’ with a dark pink tulip which I think must be ‘Ronaldo’; it’s the sort of colour pairing I would have avoided a few years back, but Sarah Raven is making me appreciate strong colour combos and this one was a winner.  

Ballerinas with Ronaldo

Tulip 'White Valley'

Tulip 'Orange Emperor'

Of this year’s tulips, ‘Havran’ has done well again, with a few ‘Prinses Irene’ for contrast; and the new bulbs of ‘Exotic Emperor’ and ‘Orange Emperor’ also made a good show.  ‘White Valley’ ran ‘Exotic Emperor’ close, though; the flowers were less full, but loose and graceful, on a taller and sturdy plant, with attractive green sepals that held to the petals and almost created the effect of a viridiflora tulip – and it’s even earlier than the Emperors.  ‘Ballerina’ was out at much the same time as ‘Orange Emperor’ and might make a good, and better behaved, alternative.  ‘Black Parrot’ isn’t out yet, and looks as though it’s not going to do much, and sadly ‘Uncle Tom’ hasn’t shown (unless it’s going to be very late) so I may have to dispense with that one in future.  The two varieties that were supplied to me by mistake have surpassed my expectations.  ‘Catherine’ is a lovely, demure pure white, with a classic tulip shape – though I suspect that there are other similar varieties with a better track record.  I was doubtful about ‘Fontainebleau’ from its description; it’s a dark reddish-pink with (supposedly) a white edging, a contrast that doesn’t quite appeal, and it doesn’t have that lovely tulip sheen to it, being quite matte.  However the edging – actually more of a pale pink – is feathered quite nicely into the darker colour, which is very dark in the centre, and a potful of them make a bold statement (though I don't think I'll have them on my wishlist for next year).

Tulip 'Fontainebleau'

On the patio

The pot display on the patio has been particularly good this year, not least because back in the autumn I bought a few winter-flowering pansies from the garden centre and planted them in the bulb pots; they’re doing extremely well (still flowering strongly) and have been excellent value, especially as they were discounted when I bought them.  Some smaller bulbs also went in around the tulips, and have been a mixed bag; the puschkinia and scillas, and the few crocus that survived their summer dormancy, did well, as have the new ipheion (though they’re a bit swamped by the pansies), but Muscari ‘Valerie Finnis’ did nothing.

The season is racing ahead, with the spring flowers nearly over and the early summer ones still to come; I just hope that the rough winds and cold temperatures let up soon!