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What flowers in May

The perennials, bulbs and shrubs in flower in May, which of them start this month, and how the dates move with your zone.

May is the turn from spring to summer: tulips and alliums, the first peonies and irises, and blossom on the shrubs.

449 of the planner's plants are in flower at some point in May in zone 5, and 314 of them start this month. Spring flowers move with the zone: in zone 7 expect them about two weeks earlier than the dates here, in zone 3 two weeks later.

449 plants: 276 perennials, 48 bulbs, 7 grasses and 118 shrubs.

The dozen to start with

  • Bleeding heart

    Bleeding heart

    2½ ft · early May to early June · starts early May

    An old-fashioned favourite with arching stems of heart-shaped flowers in late spring.

  • Calla lily

    Calla lily

    2½ ft · mid May to mid July · starts mid May

    Pure white, funnel-shaped flowers of great elegance, each wrapped around a yellow spike, above glossy, arrow-shaped leaves.

  • Common lilac

    Common lilac

    11½ ft · early May to late May · starts early May · host plant

    The lilac of old farmyards: large, heavily scented flower trusses in lilac, purple, white or pink in mid-spring, on a tall, suckering shrub that can live for a century.

  • Rosemary

    Rosemary

    4 ft · early March to early May · until early May

    The kitchen herb: a dense, aromatic, evergreen shrub with needle-like leaves and small, pale blue flowers from late winter into spring.

  • Mountain laurel

    Mountain laurel

    8 ft · late May to late June · starts late May

    A native evergreen with crimped, sugar-icing buds that open into cup-shaped flowers of white, pink or red in late spring, in clusters that cover the plant.

  • Lady's mantle

    Lady's mantle

    18 in · late May to early July · starts late May

    Scalloped, velvety leaves that hold beads of rain like mercury, under a froth of tiny chartreuse flowers in early summer.

  • Sweet woodruff

    Sweet woodruff

    8 in · early May to early June · starts early May

    Whorls of bright green leaves make a soft, even carpet under shrubs and trees.

  • Hyacinth

    Hyacinth

    10 in · mid April to early May · until early May

    Dense, waxy spikes of intensely fragrant flowers in blue, purple, pink, white or soft yellow, in mid-spring.

  • Polyanthus primrose

    Polyanthus primrose

    8 in · late March to mid May · until mid May

    Large, bright flowers in almost every colour, most with a yellow eye, in clusters on a single stout stalk above a rosette of crinkled leaves.

  • Mock orange

    Mock orange

    10 ft · late May to late June · starts late May

    A big, old-fashioned shrub covered in white, four-petalled flowers in early summer, with a scent like orange blossom that carries across the garden.

  • Grape hyacinth

    Grape hyacinth

    6 in · mid April to early May · until early May

    Tight spikes of cobalt-blue beads that make a river of colour under taller spring bulbs.

  • Ornamental onion 'Purple Sensation'

    Ornamental onion 'Purple Sensation'

    2½ ft · late May to early June · starts late May

    Violet globes float on bare stems in the gap between spring bulbs and summer perennials.

A bed at its best in May

The planner was given only the plants on this page that suit zone 6 and full sun, and designed this 16 × 8 ft (4.9 × 2.4 m) bed from them when the page was made. It is a bed for May on purpose, so its design check marks it down for the rest of the year: a real border would add plants for the other seasons.

A 16 × 8 ft (4.9 × 2.4 m) bed at eye level in mid May: Cheddar pinks 'Tiny Rubies', Verbena 'Homestead Purple', Italian bugloss 'Dropmore', Deutzia 'Chardonnay Pearls', Foxglove beardtongue, Chives, Lanceleaf coreopsis, Arkansas bluestar, Oriental poppy, Grape hyacinth, Grecian windflower, Greigii tulip.
A 16 × 8 ft (4.9 × 2.4 m) cottage garden in zone 6, full sun, seen from the path in mid May.
3. Italian bugloss 'Dropmore'33. Italian bugloss 'Dropmore'33. Italian bugloss 'Dropmore'35. Foxglove beardtongue55. Foxglove beardtongue55. Foxglove beardtongue58. Arkansas bluestar84. Deutzia 'Chardonnay Pearls'42. Verbena 'Homestead Purple'22. Verbena 'Homestead Purple'22. Verbena 'Homestead Purple'21. Cheddar pinks 'Tiny Rubies'11. Cheddar pinks 'Tiny Rubies'11. Cheddar pinks 'Tiny Rubies'11. Cheddar pinks 'Tiny Rubies'11. Cheddar pinks 'Tiny Rubies'12. Verbena 'Homestead Purple'21. Cheddar pinks 'Tiny Rubies'11. Cheddar pinks 'Tiny Rubies'11. Cheddar pinks 'Tiny Rubies'11. Cheddar pinks 'Tiny Rubies'13. Italian bugloss 'Dropmore'33. Italian bugloss 'Dropmore'33. Italian bugloss 'Dropmore'33. Italian bugloss 'Dropmore'33. Italian bugloss 'Dropmore'33. Italian bugloss 'Dropmore'33. Italian bugloss 'Dropmore'37. Lanceleaf coreopsis77. Lanceleaf coreopsis77. Lanceleaf coreopsis79. Oriental poppy99. Oriental poppy99. Oriental poppy96. Chives66. Chives66. Chives66. Chives66. Chives66. Chives66. Chives66. Chives61. Cheddar pinks 'Tiny Rubies'11. Cheddar pinks 'Tiny Rubies'11. Cheddar pinks 'Tiny Rubies'11. Cheddar pinks 'Tiny Rubies'11. Cheddar pinks 'Tiny Rubies'11. Cheddar pinks 'Tiny Rubies'11. Cheddar pinks 'Tiny Rubies'11. Cheddar pinks 'Tiny Rubies'112. Greigii tulip12. Greigii tulip12. Greigii tulip12. Greigii tulip12. Greigii tulip12. Greigii tulip12. Greigii tulip12. Greigii tulip10. Grape hyacinth10. Grape hyacinth10. Grape hyacinth10. Grape hyacinth10. Grape hyacinth10. Grape hyacinth10. Grape hyacinth10. Grape hyacinth10. Grape hyacinth10. Grape hyacinth10. Grape hyacinth10. Grape hyacinth11. Grecian windflower11. Grecian windflower11. Grecian windflower11. Grecian windflower11. Grecian windflower11. Grecian windflower11. Grecian windflower
From above, to scale. Each circle is one plant, as wide as the room it needs.

The plants

  1. 1 Cheddar pinks 'Tiny Rubies' × 17, pink
  2. 2 Verbena 'Homestead Purple' × 4, purple
  3. 3 Italian bugloss 'Dropmore' × 10, blue
  4. 4 Deutzia 'Chardonnay Pearls' × 1, white
  5. 5 Foxglove beardtongue × 3, white
  6. 6 Chives × 8, purple
  7. 7 Lanceleaf coreopsis × 3, yellow
  8. 8 Arkansas bluestar × 1, blue
  9. 9 Oriental poppy × 3, pink
  10. 10 Grape hyacinth × 12, blue
  11. 11 Grecian windflower × 7, blue
  12. 12 Greigii tulip × 8, red

Planned as a cottage garden: 43 of the 50 plants (86%), bulbs aside, stand alone or in groups of no more than five, small enough for the kinds to mingle. The front edge is finished with verbena 'Homestead Purple' and Cheddar pinks 'Tiny Rubies'. Verbena 'Homestead Purple' flowers longest, for 21 weeks.

The planner's own design check: 10 Excellent, 7 Good. It flags one thing to watch: Nothing on this plan is highly poisonous or an aggressive spreader.

Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.

All 449 plants

Show all 449, by where they go in a bed

Front of a bed 223

Middle of a bed 120

Back of a bed 106

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