Gardening Guides
Northeast Gardener's May Checklist
Tiptoe through the lupines or dance under a flowering tree; warm weather brings abundant garden wonders to behold in the Northeast U.S.
The long wait is over — long days, warm temperatures and wet ground are bringing a riotous symphony of colors, new greenery in the forests and endless tasks that have me moving through my garden beds wondering how I'm ever going to have time to tackle everything on my wish list. Here's what to do in your Northeast garden in May.
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Admire lovely lupines. One of the most beautiful wildflowers, purple lupines dot roadsides and grow happily in ditches and fields with reckless abandon. They're a biennial, so if you want repeat blooms, choose a perennial hybrid; I planted 'Gallery Blue' (Lupinus polyphyllus) and love its compound leaves and spiky habit.
Look for mayapple in the woodland. This rhizomatous denizen thrives in the acidic soils of Eastern deciduous forests, spreading slowly to form large colonies. Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum, zones 3 to 9) isn't common — you won't find it at garden centers — so look for it at native plant sales this month.
Discover more lovely Northeast natives
Discover more lovely Northeast natives
Thin rock garden plantings. Some sun-loving alpines push out blooms early, so try to divide overgrown clumps before the flowers emerge to limit damage to buds and stems, and keep other plants in check, making sure there's room to move about easily. Snip or prune rampant growth, so plants don't compete for limited water.
Add mulch to garden beds. When I begin my spring cleanup, I usually apply 2 to 3 inches of mulch around perennials. I have several gardens, so I buy a natural pine-spruce mulch in bulk and keep a pile by the garage. It's easiest to get this job done early, before bulbs and perennials fill out, so that by the time they're ready to bloom, the beds look fabulous.
Pamper peonies with a top-dressing of compost. The queen of garden flowers likes to be rich — no surprise there, I guess. When peony crowns push out of the ground, I add compost from my bins around the base of plants and gently mix it into the topsoil to form a friable, acidic loam that the plants love. While the wheelbarrow is out, I transfer compost to the vegetable beds, so they're prepped and ready for seedling transplants from the cold frame.
Plan for early color. If you have a lot of summer bloomers, like daylilies, roses and hydrangeas, think about adding plants that peak early. For a soft spring combination, try growing the wonderful ‘May Night’ salvia (Salvia x sylvestris ‘May Night’, zones 4 to 8) with ornamental onion (Allium ‘Globemaster’) and softly textured, fragrant Walker’s Low catmint (Nepeta x faasenii ‘Walker’s Low’, zones 3 to 8). Shear the salvia to the ground after it flowers, and it will rebloom.
Dig and divide hostas. Keep hostas looking their best by dividing them every three to four years. Look for tightly rolled leaves that emerge from the soil looking like cigars — if you can divide clumps at this early stage, you're on top of your game. Get a wheelbarrow for moving clumps around, plus a sharp spade and a serrated knife for digging through the root mass. If leaves get torn or crushed in the process of making divisions, just snip them off; hostas can tolerate abuse.
Add flowering trees to woodland edges. How about planting a tree on Mother's Day this year? Instead of paying a restaurant tab, go shopping at your local nursery and pick out a tree to add to your landscape. Ornamental trees like flowering dogwood (Cornus florida), eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis) and shadbush (Amelanchier spp) look great massed along the edges of woods and herald spring with their ephemeral beauty.
More regional gardening guides
More regional gardening guides