May in a small garden

A leafy tapestry of colour and texture

Everything grows so fast in May. The flowers of early Spring are over; the main floral display of summer is yet to come. The stars of my garden in May are the leaves.

The perennials I grow, herbaceous plants that come up each year, have differing shapes, textures and shades of green. Most flowers I buy as plants or grow from seed have to work hard in my small space so I will always look at the leaves as well as the flowers. These are some of my favourites.

This part of the garden gets sun between April and July. It stays wet in winter. All of these plants thrive although I may have to water the Hydrangea ‘Annabelle’ (top right corner) in times of prolonged spells of dry weather. A bowl of washing up water does the trick.

I had one plant of Tanacetum pathenium. I left it to self seed; now it pops up all over the garden. The lovely bright foliage is scented; the flowers are good for cutting.

I grow many hardy geraniums. They are such good easy to look after plants. Nearly all of them have good foliage. This one G. ‘Brookside’, is possibly my favourite because of its finely cut leaves.

Blechnum spicant opens out bright yellow before turning dark green; the grass Molinia caerula ‘Moorhexe’ is a nice contrast. Both grow in a shady border that doesn’t dry out.

Not all the leaves in my garden are green. Acer palmatum ‘Suminagashi’ was bought on a whim many years ago. I love it.

I’ll share more foliage with you later in the year.