Happy May Day!  It’s the scent in the air that signals the true arrival of spring… the soft, rich perfume of soil and rain and plants. The earliest flowers are blooming and the lilacs are adding sparks of color as well as perfume. Fragrant flowers can stop you in your tracks in a spring garden, but be sure to cut a few for the house, too—they smell even better in a vase on your desk or on the kitchen table. If days are cool, their blooms last for weeks. Basil and parsley are my favorite fragrant herbs; I often plant them among the flowers and pinch them every time I walk by.

Now’s the time to put up birdhouses and hummingbird feeders. Don’t fill the Hummingbird feeders until you see several hummingbirds. Here is a recipe to make your own Hummingbird food:  Put one cup of sugar and four cups of water in a pan on the stove. Turn the burner on “high” until the mixture comes to a boil. Stir a couple of times and turn off and let the mixture cool. This makes one quart of HB food. Once the mixture is cool, put some in the feeder. Don’t fill the feeder until you see that hummingbirds have found your feeding station. Clean the feeder with hot, soapy water once it is empty and before you put more food in. We want our fine feathered friends (remember that they eat the bugs that eat our gardens) to build nests and have families in our neighborhoods. Offer orange and apple slices to fruit-eating birds such as orioles, tanagers, and buntings. Watch for migrating birds like tanagers, warblers, thrushes, and vireos. Always have water for the birds to drink and bathe in. 

If your lilac trees are growing in direct sun, when they are in full bloom the wild mushrooms that grow in the woody areas around us will be ready to hunt and pick. Prune your spring flowering shrubs right after their blooms fade. These annual blooming flower seeds can be put in anytime this month (follow the directions on the back of the seed packet ). Angelina (summer snapdragon), celosia, cosmos, lantana, marigold, pentas, petunias, and zinnias) will bloom all summer. I often put some of them in my window boxes. Before I plant in my window boxes or pots I buy a box of cheap diapers and put some in the mix with the potting soil to help hold on to some water. These annuals are good in pots (plus the ones mentioned above) geraniums, mealy cup sage, lavender, thyme, basil, verbena, and mandevilla. In the spring  I add pansies and in the fall I add mums. The Farmer’s Almanac reports that the average final frost for our area is May 10…So watch the weather forecast and Happy  Planting!

I cannot leave the month of May without talking about peonies.. I always think of Peonies as associated with graduation and Memorial Day, definitely a mid to late May bloom time. Peonies bloom robust and heavy in cool Midwestern springs. Their frilly flowers may smell like honey or roses. Peonies are ready to be cut when their buds are soft; cut them early in the morning. After cutting, put in water and leave outside for 20–30 minutes (so ants will leave). Cut stems at any angle, and add a spoonful of regular sugar to the water. Replace the water and the sugar every two days and recut the stems. Put fresh flowers in the refrigerator at night. If you want your blooms to open faster, put warm water in the vase and set it in direct sunlight, checking it periodically.

Enjoy your spring yards and gardens!