Valley Gardens: May moves to June in a South Amherst garden

By Cheryl Wilson

Published on June 08, 2007

It was transition season in our South Amherst garden last week. The splendors of early May, with the wealth of primroses complementing tulips and daffodils, had faded and the next landscape drama of peonies, iris, daylilies and roses was just beginning to emerge.

It is during such transition seasons that my penchant for collecting plants rather than concentrating on garden design is most evident. I need to focus on creating larger vignettes in late May.

There were isolated flowers in bloom in each of my four perennial gardens, with blue the predominant color, but nothing that made a real impact from afar. There were wallflowers and columbine grown from seed in the front garden; poppies and bluebells in front of the garage; clematis on the trellis; bluebells in the "old" garden; and false indigo and anemone sylvestris in the "white" garden. The best garden design was on the north side of the house, where wild flowers and hosta enjoyed the shade.

By the time you read this column, all will have changed. Early daylilies will be joined by peonies and Siberian iris. Roses will soon be blooming along with perennial geraniums and catmint. A real design will be evident.

The late May garden

Last week, however, the most dramatic flower was the clematis 'General Sikorski' on the trellis in front of the garage. It is a gorgeous, deep blue, large-flowered variety. When photographer Gordon Daniels asked if the plant was named for Igor Sikorsky of helicopter fame I couldn't answer for sure. Plant names have always fascinated me, so I decided to research the origins of the clematis. Turns out it's not named for Igor, but rather a WWII Polish general.

The plant is among 18 clematis varieties bred by the famous Polish hybridizer, Brother Stefan Franczak in 1965. The Jesuit monk was featured in a fascinating 1998 article in The Garden, the magazine of the Royal Horticultural Society. I learned that General Wladyslaw Sikorski was a hero of Polish nationalists during World War II. After a distinguished military career he became prime minister of Poland's government in exile. He died in 1943 in a plane accident, which many Poles believe was an assassination by the Soviets.

Another bold blue in flower last week was a columbine I grew from seed. The seed mix produced primarily pale pinks, dusky roses and two double, purple grannies' bonnets, most of which don't excite me. The lone blue plant, however, is stunning. I want to save some seed and see if I can get more plants of the cobalt variety. And, I would like to have some of the named columbines like 'Blue Jay' and 'Cardinal'.

My columbine is attacked every year by little green "worms" that devour the leaves. They aren't caterpillars but larvae of another insect, the columbine sawfly, so insecticidal soap rather than Bacillus thurengiensis is the correct pest control. Frankly, I just ignore them.

Wallflowers were my other seed success in bloom last week. In 2004 I bought seed in England but didn't plant it until the following summer. The biennial was supposed to bloom with daffodils and tulips but failed to flower last year. I transplanted it from my nursery to the front garden last fall and covered the half dozen plants with salt marsh hay for the winter. This spring I was rewarded with vigorous plants with golden yellow flowers which really stand out in the garden during transition season. Biennials are a lot of work - one reason they aren't very popular - and wallflowers need the protection of a cold frame or deep mulch to survive in our climate. I may not try again but the experiment certainly was successful.

Bulb season

Bulb season at my house begins in March with snowdrops and crocuses, and reaches a peak in late April and early May with tulips and daffodils. The season isn't quite over yet, however. Camassia blooms in mid to late May, and I now have three varieties in my gardens. Camassia was "discovered" by Lewis and Clark on their expedition to the Northwest in 1804. I have the deep purple species, C. esculenta or quamash as well as the more dramatic C. leichtlinii 'Caerulea' and the pale blue C. cusickii.

Alliums or ornamental onions flower in June. This year I have yellow A. moly in several gardens as well as A. christophii with large purple globes. And, finally, I have A. caeruleum with tiny heads of blue flowers.

Years ago I planted bulbs said to be A. caeruleum, but they turned out to be bluebells. The woods of England are carpeted in bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) in the springtime. I don't have woodlands and my bluebells are the hardier H. hispanica, but they now grace several gardens and I plan to order more this fall. They flower for several weeks.

Soon my latest bulb experiment should bloom: foxtail lily or Eremurus 'Lemon Chiffon'. It is expensive - $3 to $10 per bulb - and marginally hardy here so I covered my three splurges with salt marsh hay for the winter. They have emerged, although one plant looks sickly. The others have flower buds. They should produce very tall stalks with bottle brush flowers in deep yellow. We shall see in a few weeks.

Blue false indigo is blooming now in two gardens. Baptisia australis is a native plant that becomes nearly a shrub. Its pea-like, deep blue flowers are great for cutting and the foliage smells like edible peas. This spring I also planted a yellow variety, 'Carolina Moonlight' which should bloom next year. In one garden the blue baptisia is underplanted with white Anemone sylvestris, a real invasive which I keep tearing out of some areas. The anemone does look lovely with the baptisia, however.

The shady garden on the north side of the house was the best garden in terms of design in bloom last week.

The white bells of Solomon's seal towered over the tiny bells of Epimedium niveum, which was flanked by two hostas, one with blue leaves and the other with yellow-and-green variegations. The latter variety came from Eleanor Lachman, who hybridized award-winning hostas and daylilies with her husband, William, in Amherst. Near the blue hosta is a stand of crested iris with light blue flowers and a new plant of Corydalis lutea with small yellow flowers. The entire vignette was very pleasing.

June garden unfolds

By the end of last week, the June garden was unfolding. White 'Festiva Maxima' double peonies were starting to bloom beside the blue baptisia. 'Laughing Brook' blue Siberian iris and 'Butter and Sugar' iris in white and yellow were opening their buds. The blue variety was bred by Ken Waite, former president of the American Iris Society, who lived in Westfield. 'Butter and Sugar' was created by the late great Currier McEwen of Harpswell, Maine.

Daylilies bloom early in my garden. The old Hemerocallis dumortieri with yellow-orange flowers came from my mother's garden in Rhode Island. In another area I have the old-fashioned lemon lily, H. flava, with scented pale yellow blooms. The real daylily parade starts later in the month, but these early varieties add greatly to the early June display.

June is poppy season, with the scarlet Orientals stealing the show. But I also love the Papaver atlanticum with small apricot flowers that blooms sporadically all summer if I deadhead it, no easy chore.

Now that I am semi-retired (I only write the garden and home column instead of being a daily reporter), my gardens are in much better shape. Still, as transition season proves, the gardens are those of a collector instead of a designer. Perhaps I can conquer that challenge in the next few years and make the "down" time of late May more like the glory of primrose season or high summer.

Cheryl Wilson can be reached at valleygardens@comcast.net.