Petal’d Poetry and May Garden Blooms Around the Potting Shed

 Happy Wednesday! Come along for a little walk with me to see what’s in bloom around the Potting Shed. This is a photo heavy post, so grab a drink and get comfy!

Welcome to the Potting Shed garden, I have some flowers that would like to meet you!

I shared this plant tag organization tip before, but it’s worth repeating in case you missed it!

I picked up some book rings at Dollar Tree and used a hole punch to add the tags to the rings. Some of the tags already had a convenient hole at the top.

I organized my tags by climbers/roses, perennials, and shrubs/trees so I can refer back as needed.  .  .

Depending on the size of your garden, you may need 3 ring notebooks instead of rings like my friend Jain :) but this is so easy to do rather than having them loose and thrown together in a messy heap in a box or drawer!

We planted an Amethyst Falls American Wisteria vine a couple of years ago to climb one of the posts of the Potting Shed.

The American wisteria is better suited for smaller spaces, grows at about a third of the rate of Asian wisteria. The twining stems quickly reach 8 to 10 feet long and over time may reach 30 feet.

 The lightly fragrant purple blooms are heaviest in late spring, repeating lightly in summer in full to partial sun. It grows in USDA zones 5 – 9 (we’re 7b here in North Carolina). For new gardeners, a USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map is the standard by which gardeners and growers can determine which plants are most likely to thrive at a location. You can look up your hardiness zone by zipcode, here.

A lot of what is blooming now is in the blue – violet color palette.

Did you know that bees prefer flowers in the violet-blue range? Bees actually see color in the blue-violet spectrum better than other hues so growing blue flowers is the best way to attract them.

We have a couple of salvias that are blooming. Salvia ‘May Night’ and ‘Caradonna’ Salvia. These easy-to-grow perennials thrive in full sun! The deep purple flower spikes attract bees and butterflies and are deer resistant. Deadheading and a little extra watering help ensure re-blooming.

This is the first year for Clematis ‘Diamantina’ to bloom!

I was smitten with the purple-blue, double flowers!

They start out more pinkish-purple in color, with the blooms unfurling from a tight central ball to multi-layered pom-pom, fading to a bluish-purple.

I was amazed at the number of blooms and how long they have lasted. . .up to a month!

Clematis ‘Diamantina’ prefers full sun to part shade. For best results keep consistently watered, especially during blooming.

It’s hardy in USDA zones 4 – 9, and a Group 2 clematis for pruning. Deadhead spent blooms and prune right after first flush of blooms to encourage second bloom in late summer to early fall, pruning back some stems one-third to one-half by cutting to large buds or a strong side shoot immediately below the spent blooms.

Diamantina is also a good clematis for containers which might you might want to consider if you live in an area with hungry bunnies -> I’m looking at you Peter Rabbit! We were lucky that the bunnies stayed away from this clematis as they ate another variety to the ground last spring that didn’t recover.

Popcorn Drift Rose starts out yellow and fades to creamy white, reminiscent of buttery popcorn.

It’s comparable to the family of Knock Out Roses in disease resistance and low-maintenance, but smaller in size so ideal for small gardens or containers.

Pink Double Knock Out Roses have been especially floriferous this spring!

They’re fast-growing, long-blooming and drought and heat tolerant. While Rose Rosette Disease (RRD) can infect Knock Out Roses, they themselves did not spread it. You can read about it here.

(A favorite flower variety that grows in any soil or light conditions ;)

The window box on the Potting Shed front porch is planted with caladiums that enjoy the shade. They remind me of my dad who loved them for the showy foliage in his shady garden.

The foliage stays colorful throughout the summer up until fall until Miss October makes an appearance, when gourds and pumpkins replace them in the window box.

Common white and pink single petal peonies are the first varieties to bloom.

It was particularly blustery a couple of weeks ago and most of their petals were quickly blown away in the wind. Here’s a video of them in the breeze with the garden spinner whirling away.

I’m a fan of kenetic garden spinners! You can find them online or at garden centers. I found this one online from Home Depot last year.

The birds love to perch on it when it’s not in motion.

I’m anxiously awaiting the bloom from the other peonies in the garden. They’re a little bit later than normal this year with our cooler spring and late frost.

‘Sarah Bernhardt’ is one of my favorite peony varieties with pink double blooms that resemble old-fashioned roses.

As well as ‘Festiva Maxima’ with white double flowers with crimson flecks.

The first flush of blooms of Earth Angel Rose is always a sight to see and smell!

Earth Angel Rose is a fragrant old-fashioned rose with blooms varying in color from white to soft pink.

It takes several bloom cycles to produce peony-shaped flowers.

We planted Decadence® ‘Blueberry Sundae’  Baptisia (False Indigo) a couple of years ago.

It’s another perennial in the blue-purple range that’s blooming now.

It blooms best in full sun to part shade and is hardy in zones 4 – 9. The deep blue-green foliage forms a more compact, upright mound to 3 feet tall at maturity.

It’s drought tolerant once established, needs no deadheading, is deer resistant and an excellent choice for a lazy gardener like me. :)

Last but not least is Royal Jubilee Rose. It’s new in the garden, planted a year ago and is a David Austin shrub rose.

If you’re still here thorough this very long post, thank you, you deserve a prize.:) I’ll leave you with another favorite in the blue family, a blue bottle tree!

Bottle trees have evolved as garden art and you can find them at garden centers and online. The Southern tradition of the bottle tree is thought to have arrived with the slave trade from Africa, with the superstition that the bottles would trap and repel evil spirits. Blue bottles were most often used, thought to lure the evil spirits with their bright color. Once the spirits were lured inside the bottles at night, they were believed to be trapped there, destroyed by sun in the light of day.

We’ve had the most gorgeous weather recently, with cool crisp mornings with low humidity and highs in the low to mid 70s . . .

Otherwise known as bird-chirping weather! We’re warming up daily this week with temperatures in the low 90s by the end of the week.

“Flowers rewrite soil, water, and sunshine into petal’d poetry.”

-Terri Guillemets

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 Between Naps on the Porch