In April Spring is in the air
But in May Spring is on the ground
And May is also on my bookshelves too, with the first of the recently found plates out of the cupboard plus fresh flowers. The tiny Narcissus are late flowering from the garden. The tulips have been cut from two pots of tulips bought from the boot sale on Saturday. Instead of buying bulbs to plant in Autumn I'll plant these pots "in the green" instead. They were £2 each which I thought seemed quite a good buy. Quite late flowering too.
(the small pot is the final something for the plant stand)
If months were colours then surely May would be green as it always seems to me to be the month when everything becomes bright fresh green - in so many shades.
The best known country saying for the month, although no one has ever decided for definite if it means
May the month or May the flower of the hawthorn is..................
Ne'er cast a clout 'til May is out.
So keep your woolly
vest on for a while longer!
Most old sayings prefer a wet and cold month, we need the wet bit - especially for the farmers fields but a bit of warmth would be good too.................
May damp and cool fills the barns and wine vats
Water in May is bread all the year
A cold May is kindly,
And fills the barn nicely.
A wet May
Makes a big load of hay.
In the middle of May comes the tail of the winter
And a warning for shepherds
Shear your sheep in May,
And shear them all away.
Although we have had a very dry April and lots of sunshine there have been some very chilly nights here and I was sad to find the growing tip of my young fig has been nipped off, luckily there are new shoots further down. The Hydrangeas have also been caught but they are not my favourite things here anyway. How do I make this garden less of a frost pocket? that is the question.
Back Tomorrow
Sue
Mayflower is one of my favorite features of May.
ReplyDeleteIt hasn't appeared yet here - some cold nights have slowed things down
DeleteFor the first time since i moved it here in 2014, my fig tree has one tiny figlet!
ReplyDeleteHooray! I don't have the warm sheltered spot I had at Clay Cottage - the one there fruited after just 2 years. Here it will take much longer I think
DeleteI think to make your garden less of a frost pocket you should move it down to the Canary Islands. Sorry! Our previous garden was not prone to frost damage. We were surrounded by very tall trees so I don't know if that made a difference?
ReplyDeleteCanary Islands sounds very good! My garden is too small for huge trees but I'm going to try and squeeze in one or two more
DeleteJayCee is right, I believe Portugal is nice 🤪 . . . but if you have the space then hedges which will break up air flow are good frost protection and (this will sound daft but bear with me) you need a 'hole' for cold air to escape.
ReplyDeleteFrost pockets form by cold air flowing down from somwhere warmer and if that cold hits something it cannot get through, it lingers and frost will form. If the barrier is your house obviously you cannot move anything, but a hedge 'upwind' of it may help however if the barrier is something like a panel fence then changing that for something which does not trap the cold may help.
However, if you are at the bottom of a hollow no amount of permeability is going to overcome gravity, sorry.
Portugal sounds even better than the Canary Islands!!
DeleteI'm halfway up a hill so it's not a hollow but fenced with panels on 3 sides and the bungalow on the 4th - can't do anything about those though. I shall just have to live with it and fill up the spaces with more plants.
A Roman superstition is that May is unlucky for weddings and is referred to by Ovid. In this month were held the festivals of Bona Dea (the goddess of chastity) and the feasts of the dead called Lemuralia. Also May-day used to be called Robin Hood's day as Robin Hood and Maid Marion presided as Lord and Lady of the May and Robin Hood plays became an integral part of festivities. Old superstitions and folklore are always fascinating.
ReplyDeleteI'd not come across that info about Robin Hood - how fascinating - thank you
DeleteSpring is late here in New Hampshire this year. No leaves on the trees yet but buds are finally showing. Grass is incredibly green and daffodils doing their thing.
ReplyDeleteMost trees are leafed up now just a few late ones left - daffs have all finished
DeleteLovely Tulips and a good buy too. Love all the May sayings.
ReplyDeleteLike you, my Fig had a nip from Jack Frost, only I lost all the growing tips and so I am hoping it will recover soon. We are half way up the hill, so just got nobbled. As did several early flowering clematis. I clearly missed the weather forecast that night.
All the trees are suddenly bursting into leaf here - it is stunning to see them.
I thought the tulips were a good buy - they are so late flowering and will give me another bunch to bring in before I plant them
DeleteIt's been cool in Massachusetts as well. Just last week my flowering trees burst in to bloom. I hope your fig tree recovers. Will you move the fig tree? My sad peach tree is not thriving with only two tiny sets of flowers. I'm thinking about moving the peach tree but have no real expertise on what is best. .
ReplyDeleteI hadn't thought about moving the fig as there 's no where else for it really although it would be better up against a brick wall for warmth
DeleteThe trees are at their best this month, everywhere is so green.
ReplyDeleteAll the different shades of green are beautiful
DeleteAll those May sayings are so true!
ReplyDeleteOur first days of May have been a bit grey and cloudy - we could do with more rain
DeleteLovely flowers you have. I have some tulips in my area at home. We had alot of rain in Oregon in April. More dry last April than this year. 1st time in 80 years it's been so wet. I read that online newspaper.
ReplyDeleteApril showers bring May flowers, remember that?
I like what you shared about May!
Have a blessed day,
Becky L.
grandmabeckyl.blogspot.com
Our April in this country has been the dryest for many years - very odd
DeleteI've been looking forward to seeing the May plate on the bookshelf! Your flowers go perfectly with it—the colours are gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteWith love from,
Kelly (Mrs. Kiwi)
It will be fun to see a different plate each month
DeleteLovely decorations. I'm definitely keeping my woolies out! I have needed gloves and hat most mornings while I'm out for my walk. I have the feeling we will skip over spring here and just go from cold to hot in one jump!
ReplyDeleteWe need some rain here - and that's not something we often say!
DeleteYour May plate is beautiful! I love how you have it arranged with the flowers and other Spring items.
ReplyDeleteI think I will enjoy getting a different plate out each month and finding some flowers
Delete