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Kicking off the month of may, we have a daylily (Hemerocallis) - I think this one is "Stella D'Oro".
Daylilys get thier name because although pretty, each flower lasts for a day and then falls off. Luckily you get many buds per plant, giving you a succession of flowers over several weeks.
This must normally be considered an April plant, because I have seen them all over town for some time now, but evidently due to my brown-fingered care (as opposed to green fingered) they have taken longer for me.
I must say that in its ordinary form, this flower is very over-used around here.
Next stop- Another Daylily.
Unfortunately I do not know the common name of this variety - but I am very pleased with it - the colour is terrific...
Not too much to say about this familiar plant- the Gladiolis.
Note to self: they dont look so good as solitary plants; remember to group them next time...
Another Asiatic (tiger) lily -
I now realise why last months tiger lily was way ahead of the others - it was a different variety (red).
I prefer this speckled yellow variety though!
This is another variety of Calla lily - I dont know too much about it, but the leaves are quire different from the one which appeared in February, even if the flowers are the same
A real blaze of colour in the summer comes from the Canna lily. The plant loves the heat and humidity, and will grow like a weed if given enough space, and, is not related to a lily in any way!
We have some friends that tried to dispose of a Canna colony by hacking through the plants, digging them up and throwing them on the compost heap. They now have two colonies, the original one (which completely recovered in a couple of months) plus a new one at the edge of thier compost, which is almost as big as the first...
Another plus of these plants is thier tropical foliage, which might make an appearance in a later month, when there isnt much else going on in the world of bulbs!
Crinum "Ellen Bosquanet". Crinums are considered one of the old "heritage" plants of the south. Reading between the lines, this means that they tolerate conditions which few other plants can (tempertatures from freezing up into the triple digits - or 40 degrees C, if you are from europe!) , and can needs virtually no care.
Another plus is that is is big - the bulb is about the size of a grapefruit, and will grow a lot larger. I read somewhere that Crinums should be treated as a shrub due to thier size...
In Houston, you cant dwell on other bulbs for too long before you end up returning to Daylilies - They are everywhere at this time of year, including my garden.
This is a different species of daylily, the so-called "Lemon" daylily. Unlike the others it actually has a fragrace, which is issued from the enormous (8 inch) flowers
"Miss Amelia" daylily - Flower size is small (2 inches) but worthy of mention because I can actually remember it's "trade" name!
Yep, you are probably starting to detect a trend here... Daylily (unknown variety, even though I only planted it 8 months ago!)
You will recall from last month that I had a "name the 4 lilies that can be grown in Houston" competition. Mrs A. Weggies of Plymouth correctly identified that this lily will grow here, namely the "Easter Lily" or Lilium Longiflorum.
These are just scraping by in plastic pots, due to laziness on my part last year when I bought them. While driving around a few days ago I was stunned by some growing in the bare earth - with room to spread around they grew to be about 5 feet high, as opposed to the 1 foot that mine grew...
Pobably my favourite summer bulb is this one, Heamanthus "Catherine wheel" - Not only can it take the heat, but it also likes a little bit of shade too!
Before the leaves emerge, a stalk pops up with a globe of bright orange-red flowers, about the size of a cantaloupe. This picture does not really do justice to how good they look!
When the flowers have started to fade the leaves emerge with a glossy, tropical look to them, while a few of the red flowers actually turn into little black berries. If I get a harvest of berries this year, I will try to photograph it to illustrate.
The last flower for this month is Hymenocallis "Sulphur queen" - Since this flower opened while I was in the hospital attending the birth of our baby, I didnt get an opportunity to get a really representative photo. The plant is actually pretty nice, looking a little bit like an exotic ellaboration on the common garden daffodil
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