In partnership with Claire Jones Gardens
- Plant Summer bedding now the weather has warmed up, but keep an eye on the weather forecast to avoid being caught out by a late frost.
- Look after your spring bulbs for next year. Once they have gone over resist the temptation to cut back foliage. Instead let it die and break down on its own and add a liquid fertiliser around the clumps. This will give you a more impressive display next spring. Lift and divide congested clumps.
- Feed and water container plants. Water early or late in the day to get the most out of your water.
- Top dress permanent pot plants to refresh the compost.
- Prune Penstomons cut all the old shoots back to the base providing there is new growth at the bottom of the plant. If there are no new shoots at the base cut back to the lowest pair of leaves. This will keep the plants much neater and prevent them from becoming floppy.
- Prune spring flowering shrubs, once the flowers have faded. Aim to remove approximately a third of the old wood from the base along with any crossing or diseased stems as opposed to tip pruning. This will help to regenerate the shrub over a number of years and prevent the bun cut effect.
- If you haven’t fed your roses do it now, they are hungry plants and will perform better if fed.
- Continue to weed beds and borders to prevent competition for water and nutrients.
- Mow your lawn regularly and feed with a high nitrogen fertiliser to encourage healthy green growth.
- As the season progresses dead head roses, perennials and annuals to promote more flowers.
- May is a good month for cutting evergreen hedges such as Lonicera and Yew, but check for nesting birds first.
Plant of the season Viburnum opulus ‘Roseum’
Also known as Snowball bush this is a great foliage plant for late spring and early summer picking. It is a relative to our native Gelder rose, but being a sterile cultivar it will not produce berries. From early May the branches of this vigorous deciduous shrub are smothered with large, snowball like clusters of white or green tinted flowers which sometimes age to pink. The maple like fresh green leaves become purple tinted in autumn. An excellent ornamental plant for a sunny shrub, woodland or mixed border with fertile, moist well drained soil. It is happy in full sun or semi shade. If cutting for the house, sear the stem end in boiling water for 45 seconds and it will last for up to two weeks in a vase. It forms the best backdrop for tulips and wallflowers in the garden.
