It’s so hard to choose
my favourite plant
to win May’s first prize.
As soon as I have
chosen one it dies
away before my eyes
Winners of my May POM awards in most previous years before the garden revamp would have been Clematis Montana ‘Rubens’ simply because the two massive plants I used to have just covered most of the left hand side of my garden in pink blooms, where one trailed across the roof of the dog run and my garage and the other trailed across and beyond the wooden arch I had connected to the end of the dog run halfway down the back of my garden.
In 2015 I awarded the POM prize to ‘Little Fairy’ Geraniums because of the contribution they made to my garden with their delicate pink, purple and white flowers popping up everywhere.
Contenders for my May POM award this year are Dicentra, Erysimum, Knopfia, Lilac, ‘Little Fairy’ Geraniums and Solanum.
The two Clematis Montana plants, ‘Elizabeth’ and ‘Rubens’, and Clematis ‘Nelly Moser’, that have been horrendously butchered since they were in their prime in 2013, deserve a prize simply for their determination to survive. ‘Rubens’ is trying its best to improve my view by climbing up next door’s grotesque Leylandii, along with its later flowering companion Polygonum, both self sets from my old plants. ‘Elizabeth’ has been cut back to the ground so many times I have lost count, to allow new fence panels to be erected and this is the first time she has flowered well in years. ‘Nelly Moser’ was pulled up by the garden landscapers and plonked on top of concrete further along the trellis, and has finally managed to recover enough to send out five flowers, albeit almost at ground level, with more to come.
Likewise an improvement prize should also be awarded to my 21 year old Magnolia, in a pot for most of her life until 2014. She started flowering in mid April and incredibly still has flowers, albeit dying off now. The amount of flowers have certainly increased since last year. Both Choisyas, Sundance and Aztec Pearl, are much better than last year, but they are new plants establishing themselves so that is to be expected.
Dicentra has been in flower all month, struggling to be seen between the two Fuchsia plants that I did not trim back last year. Erysimum of course is in a dominant position in the foreground of my vision and is simply always in flower. Knopfia spikes continued to vie for top position in height, although there is a foot to go before the one in winning position reaches the top of the trellis like one spike did last year. They are not my favourites by any means but they certainly add interest to the garden. The Lilac is now on the wane now, but she has charmed me throughout May with her perfume and her beauty. Last May’s POM winner, ‘Little Fairy’ Geraniums have dotted a lot of the garden with their dainty little purple, pink and white flowers again this year. Solanum has also been in flower all month and has increased in size and stature since last year. Valerian is flowering tidily at the moment, even though it is blocking two pathways through to the back of my garden, but I do like the splashes of pink.
Out of all those, simply for her interest sake, I really think I should choose Knopfia as plant of the month for May 2016, although my heart goes to my Lilac, Syringa Josée. So they get joint my POM award. But let’s see what happens if I give all my May plants points for each aspect of their contribution to my garden.
POM Points system – top 10 points for each:-
- Aroma
Lilac 10, Wallflowers 9 - Beauty
Tulips 10, Lilac 9, Pear Blossom 8, Oregano 7, Erysimum 6, Pansies 5, Knopfia 4, Azalea 3 ‘Little Fairies’ 2, French Lavender 1 - Colour
Tulips 10, Photinia 9, Pelargoniums 8, Knopfia 8, Pansies 6, Erysimum 5, Lilac 4, Little Fairies 3, Pear Blossom 3, Pieris 1 - Dominance
Photinia 10, Knopfia 9, Fuchsia Genii 8, Erysimum 7, Oregano 6, Lime Conifer 5, Lilac 4, Phormium 3, Bamboos 2, Aubretia 1 - Improvement
Magnolia 10, Clematis Montana ‘Elizabeth’ 9, ‘Nelly Moser’ 8, Knopfia 7, Variegated Grass 6, Solanum 5, Ceanothus (front) 4, Pieris 3, Lilac 2, Choisya Sundance 1 - Interest
Knopfia 10, Lilac 9, ‘Little Fairy’ 8, Solanum 7, Clematis ‘The President’ 6, Pear Tree 5, Pieris 4, Choisya 3, Peony 2, Erysimum 1 - Longevity
Dicentra 10, Erysimum 10, Aubretia 10, Pansies 10, Saxifraga 10, Photinia 10, Magnolia 10, Knopfia 4, Lilac 4, Solanum 4, ‘Little Fairy’ 4 - Butterflies and bees
I am not going to award a score for this in May as there was not a lot of activity, but if I were to it would be top score of 10 for the ‘Little Fairies’ which have attracted the bees. - My actual Favourites
Tulips 10, Lilac 9, Little Fairies 8, Erysimum 7, Oregano, 6 Pansies 5, Aubretia 4, Pelargoniums 3, Knopfia 2, Solanum 1
The winners were Lilac and Knopfia equal until I awarded a score for my actual favourites which just goes to prove that my heart and my head are in conflict as usual.
Total:
Lilac 51, Knopfia 44, Erysimum 36, Tulips 30, Photinia Red Robin 29, ‘Little Fairy’ Geraniums 27, Pansies 26, Magnolia 20, Oregano 19, Solanum 17, Pear Blossom 16, Aubretia 15, Pelargoniums 11, Saxifraga 10, Dicentra 10, Wallflowers 9, Clematis Montana ‘Elizabeth’ 9, Clematis ‘Nelly Moser’ 8, Pieris 8, Fuchsia Genii 8, Clematis ‘The President’ 6, Variegated Grass 6, Lime Conifer 5, Ceanothus (front) 4, Choisya Sundance 4, Azalea 3, Phormium Jester 3, Peony 2, Bamboos 2, French Lavender 1, Valerian 0
It will be interesting to award my POM scores like this in June. I would imagine that once her flowers have opened up properly Valerian will score much higher scores on dominance, colour, butterflies and bees attraction alone.
My Garden Transformation 