May, the month when even more life springs from the ground. Plants at rest in the winter are refreshed and ready to provide beauty and shade.

Late April my tulip and narcissus bulbs sent up stalks and leaves and then bloomed gloriously. And those little grape hyacinths also, springing up all over the place, are like life renewed.

April 2024 tulips

Narcissus April 2024

Trees have budded and leaves open even now. We will soon have that shade again that they provide.

One late April morning I was out in my garden moving a perennial to a place that will give it more room to spread and grow. And while I was out there, I couldn’t resist doing a little more work, edging the large bed in front edge of our lawn. There’s always more work for another day, and this was the case, lest I feel the pain of too much at once.

Mariam Pirbhai wrote in Garden Inventories: Reflections on Land, Place and Belonging, how plants from other countries have made a home in North America, trees she knew in India have been planted here, courtesy of early traders and immigrants, and fruit her husband was familiar with in Guatemala are also available here. It’s quite an interesting book written in scholarly fashion since Pirbhai is herself a scholar.

May is also the month when the nurseries gear up for our planting season. I might remind you here to choose native varieties of perennials as often as possible. Native species will fare better in our climate.

In my own flowerbeds, where native plants outnumber hybrid species, the plants survive heat so much better. Choose wisely what you plant, whether it’s for sun, shade, or some of each. Watering will still be needed in extreme heat, but not so much as the more fragile annuals that also brighten the garden.

2023 echinacea and Black-eyed Susans

Enough choices exist in perennials in colour, size and height, that can keep a garden looking attractive from spring to fall. Rain barrels are a good addition for the serious gardener.

We don’t do it all though. The plants were given life by the Creator. We are the caretakers, lest we take all the credit. Let’s work with what we are given.

And if you’re not a gardener, you can still admire the beauty of gardens around you.

“God, my shepherd! I don’t need a thing. You have bedded me down in lush meadows, you find me quiet pools to drink from.”  Psalm 23:1-2, The Message Bible