7 perennials to plant in May for beautiful summer flowers – including elegant aquilegia
May is the perfect time to establish these
May is an exciting time in the gardening calendar, with early summer blooms starting to flower, the end of the frost risk and plenty of planting activity.
"If there's one job worth doing in the garden this month, it's plugging perennials into gaps in your beds and borders," Charlotte Denne, an award-winning horticulturist and co-owner of Kent Wildflower Seeds, explains.
"The soil has finally shaken off the cold and warmed up properly, which means plants can get their roots established comfortably before summer arrives, setting them up to flower reliably year after year."
But Charlotte has a word of caution when it comes to wildflowers, advising: "One thing worth knowing if you're going down the wildflower route is don't fuss too much with the soil.
"Most native perennials actually thrive on neglect, they actually prefer nutrient-poor conditions so piling on compost and fertiliser can do more harm than good."
Whether you're opting for underrated flowers to bring something more unusual to your space or classic blooms, here are 7 perennials to earmark for planting in May.
Aquilegia (Columbine)
One of the most elegant wild plants, aquilegias offer delicate bonnet-shaped flowers in purples, pinks, yellows and creamy whites, says Charlotte.
She adds: "Long-tongued bumblebees find them irresistible. Perhaps best of all, they self-seed freely, so a single plant will gradually colonise a border with very little effort on your part making them perfect for a naturalistic planting scheme."
Oxeye Daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare)
This is a quintessentially British wildflower that is far more versatile than people realise, according to Charlotte.
She says: "Oxeye daisies are tolerant of clay, loam and sandy soils alike, flower from late spring through into early summer, and draw in bees and butterflies in numbers.
"They work beautifully at the front of a border or scattered through a lawn meadow patch, and once established they largely look after themselves."
Betony (Stachys officinalis)
"Betony is a long-lived perennial that rewards the gardener who gives it a chance. Its upright spikes of pinky-purple flowers appear from late spring through midsummer and are particularly loved by butterflies and bumblebees," explains Charlotte.
"It prefers a reasonably well-drained soil and some dappled shade making it a natural choice for a woodland edge or under a tree canopy."
Ragged Robin (Lychnis flos-cuculi)
With its distinctive feathery pink petals, ragged robin is one of Britain's most characterful native plants, and one that has become increasingly rare in the wild as wet meadows have been drained over the decades.
Charlotte adds: "Growing it in your garden is a great way to broaden the range of habitats you offer damp-loving species like marsh beetles, hoverflies and the caterpillars of certain moths that rely on plants like this that are increasingly hard to find.
"It thrives in damp or moisture-retentive soil, flowers from late spring to early summer, and looks wonderful planted beside a pond or in a bog garden."
Hardy Geranium (Cranesbill)
Few perennials offer better value for money than hardy geraniums.
"Plant them in May when the soil is warm and they will establish quickly, rewarding you with months of bee-friendly blooms. For a long season, Geranium 'Rozanne' is hard to beat," explains Charlotte.
"For a more naturalistic feel, and a foot in the wildflower camp, try the native meadow cranesbill, Geranium pratense, whose violet-blue flowers are a staple of British roadsides and riverbanks from early summer onwards."
Red Campion (Silene dioica)
"If you have a shaded border that feels difficult to fill, red campion is your answer," Charlotte tells us.
"Its vivid magenta-pink flowers light up dark corners from late spring onwards, and it will grow happily in loamy, sandy or chalky soils. It's a plant most of us know from hedgerows and woodland edges, and it brings exactly that sense of relaxed, natural abundance into a garden setting."
Scabious (Knautia arvensis)
"The pincushion flowers of native scabious are among the finest things you can offer visiting butterflies and bees, and the plant has the added distinction of being a key food source for the marbled white, chalkhill blue and meadow brown butterflies." explains Charlotte.
"Sow hardy varieties like field scabious in pots in May, grow them on and plant out later in the season. The flowers come in soft shades of lilac, pink and blue, and will carry on well into autumn if deadheaded regularly."
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