The Garden in May
A little garden full of hope
So far one of my favorite things about having this blog is getting to see the photographic evidence of how much the garden changes from one monthly update to the next. I know it’s only May and that the real flowering hasn’t even begun yet, but watching these tiny little seedlings that I started on a shelf in our apartment grow full and green is bringing me joy and certainly giving me hope.
It’s been a tough month for me emotionally. A lot of times when I’m dealing with scary situations I just want to crawl inwards. I have trouble concentrating. I want to listen to music but struggle picking something out. The same goes for movies, shows. Even reading isn’t as fun as it usually is. But gardening is the one hobby I don’t lose interest in. There’s too much to do, for one thing, and the very best thing I can do at this moment is to keep busy. Especially now in May, when the sweet peas are growing so quickly that they have to be tied to their posts every other day. And everything needs fertilizing (I don’t fertilize the cosmos though!), and something is bound to need replanting—maybe in a larger pot I find on some front stoop on my runs that, honestly, I’m struggling through at the moment. Run, run, walk-walk-walk-walk. (This heat’s not helping, either!)
It’s not just the work of it, though. Every morning when I go out to give the garden a wellness check I find something new to marvel at. The sun has been so hot these last few days that the plants are growing faster than I thought was possible. I took these photos in the morning, and a few hours later found that the geranium ‘Rozanne’ had flowered. And I have a feeling that more plants will have bloomed by the time I post this on Thursday.
These last few years, gardening has helped me through some tough times, and I know it will this time, too. Because the whole cliche about gardening being a metaphor for hope really is true. In late winter I sowed seeds in our kitchen, and some of those seeds grew into whole, entire plants that produced flowers that bees are currently buzzing in. It’s amazing. There’s so much beauty now, whether it’s in this garden or the gardens I see every day in Brooklyn, and I know that there’s so much beauty to come. Beauty, and goodness, and hope, too.
Sowing
Nasturtiums: Yes, you know I went ahead and got a pack of the new ‘Tip Top Pink Blush’ nasturtiums. I figured that it can serve as a replacement for the ‘Ladybird Rose,’ which has never grown well for me, anyway. The Ladybird Roses look puny—small-leaved and sad, so maybe I’ll just pull them up.
Verbena: So technically I sowed this ‘Verbena Bonariensis’ a few months ago, when I was randomly scattering seeds in the raised beds. This seed packet is a few years old—I don’t know if it’s viable, and I don’t know if the verbena-looking seedlings that eventually came up actually are verbena, but I do have a couple of them transplanted into the big grow bag with one of the dahlias, so fingers crossed. Wouldn’t they look great together?
Lace Flower: Drew and I saw some of these blue lace flowers for sale at the Tin Building, and they were so pretty that I had to try growing some of my own. Mine germinated well in the raised bed, but then fried yesterday in the heat, so maybe I need to rethink how I sow them.
Planting
So many things this month. Drew drilled holes in all of the window boxes along with the big galvanized tub that I found on the street, so last week I finally got around to planting some seedlings that really needed to be planted out. So far the window boxes are loving the ledge that they’re sitting on, and I’m hoping the plants grow big and help cover up that bare wall a little more. In the end I went with three plants per box since I really do want them to have enough space to do their thing. I planted some cosmos ‘Rubinato,’ the gaura and agastache I had from last year, and two angelonia plants I bought last week. And for spillers, I went with the ‘Purple Emperor’ nasturtiums and the ‘Amythyst Falls’ origanum.
After my dream garden post I was determined to get a hollyhock, but in the end I went with a verbascum, which seems maybe simpler and better suited to the terrace. I picked up a ‘Southern Charm’ at Union Square Greenmarket, and I don’t know why I never grew verbascums before. They’re just the sort of flower I love, so old-fashioned looking and sweet. Also a very fun plant to carry home on the subway.
Two other recent plant purchases that are happily flowering away at the moment: a salvia ‘Bumblesky’ and a blue lobelia.
Growing
Our May was pretty rainy, but this last week has been hot, and all of a sudden little buds are forming and shoots are shooting up. I only got my nicotiana plants planted out a few weeks ago, but they’re loving their new homes on the shadier side of the garden. I’m not sure why I was ever worried about the light levels being too low on the terrace, because half the space has turned out to be a real sun trap. One side is sunny most of the day, while the other side gets afternoon shade, so I might be moving more plants to join the nicotiana once it gets even hotter.
Blooming
I was determined to not do my May post until I had blooms from at least something I grew from seed, so I’m happy that we have not one, but two plants flowering. The cerinthe was the first, and it does flop a bit in the sun, so I usually give it afternoon shade. The ‘Apricot Lemonade’ cosmos is blooming, too, and other plants are close. The Chantilly snapdragons are getting tall and look like they want to start making flowers soon, especially since they’re group one early bloomers. The sweet peas are almost at the top of their teepees and finally have little buds on them. And the ‘Carding Mill’ rose has a bud that’s so close to opening. I’m not sure what happened to the plant—there were so many buds on it before, but all but two dried up and fell off. Oh well—at least I’ll get one rose, very soon.
Planning
I think I’d get bored if I didn’t have some kind of garden scheming going on, so right now I’m planning on what to do with the big teepee pots once the sweet peas go over and dry up. I’m probably going to sow some celosia and tall cleome soon that can eventually be planted to fill out one of the pots. Last year when I was in the South I planted some around this time, and I couldn’t believe how quickly they grew, and how tall, too. And I already have thunbergia seedlings growing for the other teepee. Right now they’re in mini pots outfitted with mini trellises to help train them up. We’ll see how this goes, because last year it didn’t work at all for me; the plants stayed tiny, flowered, and died. Was it too hot? I’m not sure. I’ll have to do some research.
We also got a ‘Sweet Autumn’ clematis that’s small now, but hopefully will be growing tall soon so it can help cover the open lattice of the privacy fence that separates our terrace from another. I mentioned it in the last post already, but we don’t want to be rude and put up tall fencing, so we’re hoping that this will be a good, pretty solution that makes everyone happy.
Garden Notes:
My favorite garden podcast Let’s Grow Girls is back from a hiatus. A fun podcast to listen to if you love growing flowers and love hearing people (with British accents!) chatter on about them.
Keeping up with the flower theme, I’ve been enjoying watching all the RHS Chelsea Flower Show coverage this week. I know there’s been a lot of talk lately about the future of the show in light of climate change and sustainability, and it all definitely needs to be taken into account and considered. But I guess that this year, and especially at this moment, I’m grateful to be able to watch it. The beauty and sometimes over-the-top frivolity of it is a much-needed escape for me right now, and I’m sure it is for lots of other people, too.
Great article! Love seeing your seedlings growing & starting to Bloom!
Cant wait to see what’s to come 😊