What's Looking Good in May

Nicked this idea from one of the forums I go onto......

I can highly recommend the forums I've got links to on the right. So far the good people on them have sorted out -
* Why one of my clematis was getting a bit crispy and brown at the bottom (answer - turns out it was the heat, and maybe a bit of windrock)
* Solutions to breaking up the rock hard clay lumps I've got due to no rain to try and get the ground ready for the new lawn section I want to lay (solutions - adding soil improver and raking it all over)
* Why I don't seem to have many broad beans coming even though there are lots of flowers (answer - the weather again affecting them)
* And they've identified 4 unknown plants that I got small cuttings of without knowing what they were.

The experience on those forums is massive, so there tends to be someone that knows about the problem you're asking about.

Anyway, back to the point of the post, a quick post with things that are looking good in the garden at the moment -

The geranium in the woodland border has some really intense purple flowers on it. It's doing really well in the shade, putting on loads of new growth.

 
The fern in the woodland border has put out loads of fronds and they are a really nice, bright, lime green colour which shows up well in the shade.

This is an oriental poppy that I've got in a long, thin, border in my front garden. This is another of my small seed successes. The Iceland Poppies I've got in the go in pots are still going strong, so I would recommend gowing poppies from seed, they seem to be really easy. Even for a blackfingers, when it comes to small seeds, like me. I always thought oriental poppies needed full sun, but I've got 3 or 4 of these in the front garden which is North East facing. They get, in the summer months, a few hours of sun before they are shaded by the fence and house shadows for the rest of the day. They've been there for over a year now, so they came through the winter, and they have put out multiple flower buds this year, which is more than last year, so they seem to like their position.

The clematis Warsaw Nike (the one that's got a crispy bottom) is still flowering well. It seems to only want to open one or two flowers at a time, but there are loads of buds to open up yet.

And finally, as mentioned in the veg bed special, my mangetout Golden Sweet has come into flower. The flowers are purple with a crimson centre, and they look really great. So, the varieties I picked for the veg bed especially because they have flower interest have delivered. These mangetout flowers with the crimson centre pick up the Crimson Flowered Broad Bean flowers which are still going strong. The Warsaw Nike clematis planted on the fence behind the veg bed matches these colours too. And the Boltardy beetroot stems pick up the crimson when the sun shines through them. It's worked out very well.

I must try and find some more ornamental/edible next year to add to the effect. I'll update with what I find to add to this display.