We’ve had heavy rain and hot sun this past week in Norfolk, and everything is growing at a rate of knots. The hawthorn is blossoming, the lilacs are blooming, and the perennials are beefing up nicely. No wonder the Romans named this month after the Greek goddess Maia, representing growth and fertility.

However, May can be a depressingly barren month in the garden. The May gap traditionally refers to the vegetable growing calendar - overwintered crops are finished but the summer harvest is a way off. The same is true of flowers – Spring tulips and anemones are nearly over and the hardy annuals (cornflowers, nigella, sweet peas, alliums…) are yet to bloom. But all is not lost…here’s a long list of what’s happening right now in my garden.

Bulbs and corms

Ranunculus – divine focal flowers featuring whorls of delicate petals come in a range of delicious colours from cream to deep purple. Add these to a bunch of bluebells and forget-me-nots, and the whole look is elevated. They are decidedly tricky little blighters to grow. It’s taken me four years of grief to get a decent crop and the lessons learnt require their own blog post – watch this space.

Ranunculus bed on tier three. I stare at these flowers every day in wonder. I’m not kidding. Their growth is a sign that I’ve made it.

Camassias - wonderfully exotic spires of stars. They come in white, sky blue, deep blue/ purple and lilac. Mine are thriving in the heavy clay under trees. They are less keen on the sandy sunny spot near the greenhouse, so I’ll replant them where I know they love life – some are growing to 70 cm.

Alliums – an underrated cutting garden flower as they look fantastic at every stage of life. They can be a bit chunky for bouquets and table arrangements but right now, the dainty Allium Cowanii is having a moment. She’s a perfect flower to work with as her stem is thin and bendy but strong enough to support her head. An arrangement looks ethereal when she gets involved.

Admittedly this picture doesn’t do the flower justice. I’ll have to point it out in a bouquet. Excuse the utility area in the background.

Perennials

Viburnum Opulus ‘Roseum’ – commonly referred to as Snowball Tree due to its delicious white puffs. I bought five little plants three years ago and they are finally getting to a decent stem length. They’ve been very easy companions and have taken the strong winds, mild clay and full sun at the top of my hill in their stride.

Lime sorbet snowballs admiring the view. I may specialise in growing this shrub as it does not need me to do anything at all to make it happy.

Tellima Graniflora – commonly known as Fringed Cups, probably because they look like dainty little thimbles on sticks. Mine are flourishing next to a bank and my neighbour’s look great under a tree against a wall. Clearly they liketh shelter and shade.

Fringe cups gradually change from lime to red

Bleeding Heart – a bit of a dramatic name for a plant with gently arching stems of little hanging hearts but I’ve got the white version romping away in my shady bed and I think it’s a lot nicer (and less gruesome) than the pink.

Alba is a new plant in my garden so I haven’t actually tested it out as a cut flower - looks pretty though. She can stay regardless of use.

Geranium phaeum – also called Black Widow! A stunning dusky mare of a geranium on a long stem. I’d love more of this gentle diva in my garden as she looks wonderfully dramatic pirouetting over an arrangement. I’ve bought a few plants as plugs and will harvest the seed as they love a woodland bank and I have plenty of those. (Later edition – a rabbit or deer has eaten the flowers! I will reorder and plant inside the rabbit proof fencing. I naively thought geraniums where rabbit resistant). Zero photo evidence.

Aquilegias – dainty little fairy hats dancing on long tall stems. The RHS website says aquilegias are easy to grow. In my experience, nothing is easy to grow (except perhaps the Snowball Tree but I seemed to have unwittingly placed the right plant in the right place first time) and hilariously, the growing description says – ‘Thrives in rich, moist but free draining soil (not too wet or too dry).’ Who has this mythical soil? Please write to me and describe it as I find this description baffling and suspect it is taken from the fairy tale The Princess and the Pea. I’ve grown and raised many an aquilegia from seed to plug and when planted out, they disappear. Mice eat the leaves and I have plenty of mice. One type of aquilegia – a deep dark purple – has sprouted in two places in my garden and I can’t work out why. The pinks, whites and yellows have clearly been too fussy and delicious.

Aquilegias a few days away from flowering. Beetle working hard in the background as ever.

Annuals –

Cerinthe – get this bad boy sown in autumn and you’ll be rewarded in May with heavenly dark flowers on silvery foliage… there’s not much silvery/green about at this time of year so grow it in abundance!

Long lasting sturdy stems making this a very useful foliage.

Biennials – (which need to be sown now for next May).

Honesty – white or purple clusters of dainty blossom on tall stems. I don’t cut my honesty for the flowers as I prefer the pods, but I definitely would if I had spare. In fact, note to self – sow white honesty seeds (I grow the purple for pods) as the white blossom is more versatile and prettier than the purple.

This honesty is definitely on the turn from flower to pod and does not look its best! Trust me - the pods are divine, especially when peeled to reveal their pearlescent skins.

Iceland poppies – chuffed to have these gently nodding papery spectacles in my garden right now. I’ve grown them for a wedding in two weeks’ time so I’m hoping I’ll have more than just this one flower to show for the time and effort it’s taken for them to get going. Just read that they prefer sand, and I’ve planted them in clay loam, so that’s a tad annoying. Learning point for me. Will plant up this year’s batch further down my hill in the sand.

My one and only flower in a whole bed of yet to bloom poppies - nervous times!

Which brings me onto other biennials to sow…

Sweet Williams and Sweet Rocket are on the precipice of blooming – one more week and they’ll be off – well other people’s will be. I have about three plants in total. Last May / June was my busiest wedding season yet and the few biennials I did manage to sow died in their trays during the heatwave. Hopefully I’ll get the seedlings in the ground before the insanity of summer. As ever, may goddess Maia forever be in my favour.