Pictures of the garden in May

The ajuga makes a beautiful green-bronze carpet in the bloom intense purplish blue which lasts three weeks. It is given for a plant of shadow, but blooms abundantly in the sun as here at foot of an apple tree.

At the beginning of May, the bloom of the gunnera of Brazil, by its size, lets augur the dimensions which it is going to take in two or three weeks.
Two weeks after this photo, the leaves of the gunnera can shelter us from the sun or from the rain, it's according to. Please, pass the cursor on the photo.

Doronics of Caucasus and kerria of Japan in the bottom of the garden.

The malus perpetu 'Everest' is given to reach 4 meters high, but after three years, it almost reached them. It's a shrub interesting almost all year because flowers succeed the small apples of the previous year. Please, pass the cursor on the photo.

The narcissuses of the poets arrive when all other narcissuses are removed the flower and moreover, they smell good.

They're the few tulips of my garden. These flowers need a dry ground in summer and that of my garden is rather heavy and wet. Then I guilde by having planting these under the cover of a birch and under a bundle of hardy geranium. These 'White Triumphator' survive so for four years.

These Darwin's simple tulips are in place for almost ten years and multiply slowly.

After a first failure, I finally thrived to keep and to see blooming the blue poppy of Himalaya. An incredible blue !

These scillas called also hyacinths of Spain are very sturdy. They resist for ten years in a ground dried out in summer by poplars and often soaking in the water in winter.

The scillas accompany oriental hellebores still blooming at the beginning of May.

The foliage of the bronze fennel has the same colour as the young leaves of the rosebush 'Baronne Surcouf'. A little later, it will well highlight the pink flowers of this rosebush. Please, pass the cursor on the photo.

A small jewel ! This geranium renardii. But I waited two years before seeing it blooming.

This viburnum plicatum 'Mariesii' set four years to offer us its so characteristic bloom.

The lilac in the big garden has some signs of weakness. His leaves are smaller than the normal and one of the main branches died this spring. I cut it , I 'd indeed see if buds appear. He is on borrowed time until the next year.

A sight of the small garden in mid-May.

This columbine 'Black and White' is the only 'sophisticated' variety of which I manage to keep. She is very sturdy.

I like very much plants in interesting foliage and particularly hostas of which I possess around thirty cultivars. During the shows of plants, I always crack for two or three specimens.

Hosta fortunei 'Antioch'.

Hosta fortunei 'Albopicta'.

The hosta sieboldiana 'Golden Frances Williams' becomes more yellow in the sun.

A magnificent grey-green adorns the hosta sieboldiana.

The hosta undulata univittata was my first one hosta. It's always one of my preferred.

Hosta sieboldiana 'Great Expectation'

The carex grayi, an original grass with its flowers in the form of mass of weapons. The white flowers in the side are those of the polemonium, hardy plant in brief life cycle but which resow it-self abundantly.

I like the thoughtlessness of these iris sibirica, so more graceful than germanica.

Iris germanica 'Colette Thurillet'. In spite of the beauty of their flowers and their incredible complexions, I'm not a 'fanatic' of the iris germanica; too much maintenance, to clean their foot non-stop, to divide them every two years in my heavy ground and I don't appreciate too much their unsightly foliage.

Iris germanica 'Flamenco'.

Ornithogalums or 'lady of eleven o'clock' or still 'star of Bethlehem' are small very brave bulbs. Wherever in the garden, they're faithful every year.

Lupin 'Les Pages' with a hybrid geum 'Blazing Sunset'. The double flowers of the geum keep easily one month.

THe ceanothus thyrsiflorus repens grows fast. It'll be necessary to cut it after the bloom for not that it invades the small picea glauca albertiana 'Conica'.

The geranium sanguineum var. striatum adopts a port rather crawling. Its pale pink streaked flowers are a little discolored in the sun, but it's an ideal cover ground at foot of rosebushes.

The loose stones along the descent of the garage.

The remarkable foliage of the ligularia 'The Rocket'.

Azalea d'Exbury 'Gibraltar'.

The azalea 'Exbury 'Persil' has flowers smaller than the precedent, but very fragrant.

Shrubby peony 'Spring Carnival'.

Two following years, this clematis 'Mme Lecoultre' having started in spring disappeared completly. This third year seems to be maid. Here in the shade of a big birch, its flowers in a spotless white has lasted one month.