Favorite Spring Garden Blooms Around The Potting Shed: Clematis, Roses & More

Happy Wednesday!

I’m sharing a garden update and spring blooms around The Potting Shed

Mother Nature brought us a rainy month of May, putting me behind

with my garden chores and photographing,

so I’m just now sharing our first flush of roses and spring blooms!

 Warning: Photo heavy post ahead, so grab a drink and get comfy!

May is my favorite spring month as it brings the first flush of flowers here in North Carolina,

enticing the bees to buzz around collecting pollen and nectar. 🐝

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Our single peonies are the first peonies to bloom in mid-April,

with my favorite double bloom variety, ‘Sarah Bernhardt,’

peaking around the first week in May.

The short peony season was even shorter than usual as blooming coincided

with a week of heavy rain and wind.

No matter how they’re staked, the fluffly petals and large blooms

can’t withstand heavy rain showers . . .*sniff*

Find a growing guide and tips for the long-lived and beloved perennial, the Peony, HERE.

You’ll also find Peony floral and table inspiration.

An Amethyst Falls American Wisteria vine was planted

a couple of years ago and is reaching new heights!

I used some green metal fencing  with a scalloped top (hung upside down)

 to support the vine and encourage it to sprawl.

I bent the bottom 3-inch legs of the fence and tucked them in the gap

between the fascia board and the metal overhang of the porch roof to hang the fencing.

American wisteria is better suited for smaller spaces and grows at

about a third of the rate of Asian wisteria, which can be invasive in the Southern U.S.

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 zone 8a with the updated map).

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.

You can see a few trumpet honeysuckle blooms, planted for the hummingbirds,

that have intermingled with the wisteria vine.

We have several varieties of clematis that are blooming. . .

Clematis ‘Bernadine’ is a rebloomer variety, flowering in late spring or

early summer and then again in August.

The expression about clematis’ growth rate certainly holds true for Clematis ‘Henryi’ :

‘the first year they sleep, the second year they creep, and the third year they leap’.

In our case, its first year, the bunnies ate it to the ground! 🐰🐰🐰

We planted Henryi to climb a garden gate and bottle tree.

Clematis ‘Henryi’ should be pruned moderately in late winter to early spring before blooming begins.

Remove dead wood and cut the remaining stems 6 to 8 inches, to the topmost pair of large green buds,

trimming just enough to encourage new growth without losing promising buds.

The first bloom of Pink Double Knock Out Rose is the most floriferous!

They’re fast-growing, long-blooming and drought and heat tolerant.

‘Mother of Pearl’ is a type of Grandiflora rose, introduced in the United States in 2007.

Its winter hardiness and high resistance to black spot make it a popular rose

for both cooler and hot and humid climates.

The buds open to peachy-pink blooms that are approximately

3.5” in diameter with medium to large, full petals.

‘Mother of Pearl’ Rose was planted in 2016.

It was a gift from friends sent in memory of my dear mother-in-law, Betty.

The roses are a little bedraggled and leggy from all our rain.

They’ll get pruned back by one-third to shape them and a dose of

fish emulsion organic fertilizer

encourage a second flush of blooms.

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.

Tea Clipper is a David Austin Rose that’s apricot in color and fragrant with 3 1/2″ flowers.

And last but not least,

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.

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

It’s a perennial in the blue-purple range that’s a bee-attracter.

Fun fact: Bees actually see color in the blue-violet spectrum better than other hues so growing

blue flowers is a good way to attract them. 🐝🐝🐝

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 and is deer resistant.

Endless Summer Hydrangeas are just starting to bloom!

Endless Summer Hydrangeas are a re-blooming bigleaf variety of hydrangea

(Hydrangea macrophylla), blooming on old wood and the new growth of summer.

They can be blue or pink depending on your soil’s pH level,

turning blue in acidic soil and pink in alkaline soil.

Hydrangeas need sun to bloom, preferring morning sun with afternoon shade,

 especially in the hot and humid South. . .just like me. ;)

When fertilizing Endless Summer Hydrangeas, give your reblooming hydrangeas the fuel they need!

You want to use a slow-release granular fertilizer that is labeled ‘bloom boost,’

which has a higher level of phosphorus, the nutrient that promotes flower formation,

like Schultz Bloom Plus Slow-Release Plant Food (12-24-12).

(Phosphorus is the middle number in the N-P-K nutrient label.) 

Fertilize your hydrangeas when you see green foliage begin to emerge from the bases of the stems

in the spring, and again after the first set of blooms fade.

To make way for the new flowers, snip off the faded blossoms,

pruning away each flower head down to the first set of leaves.

You can amend your soil to become more acidic by adding composted oak leaves,

pine needles and coffee grounds. For quicker results,

use a soil acidifier product with Aluminum Sulphate,

following the directions on the package to produce blue flowers.

Garden lime will increase soil alkalinity and keep hydrangeas pink in color.

Whew. . . that was a long post!

If you’re still here, you deserve an award. :)

“The kiss of the sun for pardon,

The song of the birds for mirth,

One is nearer God’s heart in a garden

Than anywhere else on earth.”

~ Dorothy Frances Gurney

Details:

 “Kiss of the Sun” Garden Plaque

Favorite water soluble fertilizer summer annuals and containers: Miracle-Gro Bloom Booster Flower Food

Garden Trellises and Obelisks for Climbing Vines

Copper Dovecote Birdhouse, The Birdhouse Chick / Similar, HERE

What’s blooming in your garden?

Thank you for your visit, sharing with:

 Metamorphosis Monday