May is the epitome of perfection in the garden. Of course, April is always a close second, and March was glorious, but May bursts out in more varieties of blooms. Only because of what I have planted over the years in my yard, May is my favorite month. But that’s today. Ask me again in the fall.

This week, the wide shot above shows mostly white blooms in the Southeast corner. Left to right, you can see the dwarf gardenia, English dogwood, and high above, a tall, fragrant ligustrum blooming. Then you see the white variegated blooms from Frosted Orange azaleas, and finally, on the right is an oakleaf hydrangea. We’ll take a closer look at some of those and more.

The two dwarf gardenias are Klein’s Hardy Daisy. Their pure white blossoms fade to yellow as they age, but I’m not too crazy about that aspect. They have a light scent, similar to the big gardenia’s powerful fragrance. That one should be opening a little later this month.

The ligustrum is a well-behaved tree-like shrub, unlike its thuggish cousin Chinese privet. To be sure, there is plenty of privet growing wild in the woods behind the fence. The blooms and leaves are similar, but the privet spreads rapidly by its root systems or berries. I have to be vigilant to yank it out of the yard wherever I see it shoot up. If you care to know more, here’s an article about it:  Everything You Need To Know About Privet | Southern Living 

My favorite plant this week is the oakleaf hydrangea. It started blooming recently and will be pretty all month. The blossoms fade nicely and add interesting texture into the fall and winter as they dry out. I think those big leaves look similar to fig leaves.

You can’t see the little blue dwarf walking iris in the top picture, so it gets its own portrait. You have to look closely to see them as you walk around the yard. I was thrilled to find this one open on Friday morning, the first of many that I hope to see blooming this month.

Finally, daylilies are blooming. I’m adding a couple of new varieties to my garden; however, I’m not sure if they will bloom this year. I’ve heard the buds are edible, but I wouldn’t want to sacrifice those beautiful flowers for a meal. I’d have to be pretty hungry to try them.

Flowers are a joy to most people who have eyes to see and noses to smell. I think they must be a joy to the God of Life who rejoices in His creation.

“1 Thirsty deserts will be glad; barren lands will celebrate and blossom with flowers.   2  Deserts will bloom everywhere and sing joyful songs. They will be as majestic as Mount Lebanon, as glorious as Mount Carmel or Sharon Valley. Everyone will see the wonderful splendor of the LORD our God.”  Isaiah 35:1-2

Shalom, Dottie

I want to credit the guy who founded this fun Six on Saturday idea. He lives in Great Britain, and his Twitter handle is @cavershamjj  You can find his blog at:https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/