May is a transitional time when spring turns to summer.  The cool weather bedding plants are finished and have been replaced with heat loving annuals;  perennials, shrubs and bushes are blooming all over the garden.  

Agapanthus africanus

Bulbs, lilies and iris are blooming. Lily of the Nile, Agapanthus africanus,  Oriental Lily, Lilium ‘Triumphator’, Blood Lily, Scadoxus multiflorus, Society Garlic, Tulbaghia violacea, many crinum, Crinum x ‘Hannibal’s Dwarf’ and Crinum ‘White Queen’, Walking Iris, Neomarica gracilis.  You might even see the rare bloom of the Voodoo Lily, Amorphophallus bulbifer.

Blue Butterfly Bush, Rotheca myricoides

The Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardens are full of color.  Coreopsis lanceolata, Blue Butterfly Bush, Rotheca myricoides, Firecracker Bush, Cuphea ignea, Starfire Cuphea, Cuphea lanceolata ‘Starfire’, Fountain Bush, Russelia equisetifolia.

Desert Rose

Good things continue happening in our Cactus and Succulents Garden.

Carolyn Whorton Caladiums

Caladiums have just emerged and are adding color to shady areas.

Ginger Costus barbatos

Gingers are coming out of dormancy; Asian Crocus, Kaempferia rotunda, blooms appear before the leaves.  After a mild winter other gingers are blooming as well: Shell ginger Alpinia zerumbet, Red Tower Ginger, Costus barbatus.