What's Catching My Eye | May Garden Tour

A May 1st walk through the garden with a closer look at individual plants—what's in bloom, what's emerging, and what's holding the scene together right now. Plants are called out on screen as the video goes.

A container-grown Acer palmatum 'Lilleeanne's Jewel' leads things off—new this season, and already earning its spot with fantastic foliage. Growing Japanese maples in containers is the workaround after too many losses to what's likely verticillium in the back garden.

Rhododendron 'Coral Mist' makes its case that flower color still matters—beautiful in bloom right now, and setting up a color thread that connects to the foliage of nearby heucheras and back to the mist of pink from Weigela florida 'Verweig' My Monet. My Monet has been in this garden for years and stays modest—exactly the right scale. Its variegated foliage and soft pink bloom look especially good paired with the blue-toned leaves of Hosta 'Halcyon'.

Clematis 'Asao' and the Weigela are making a color connection worth stopping for. Spring isn't just about bloom—emerging foliage is its own reward, and Cotinus 'Grace' is being cut hard this year to push bigger, bolder leaves at the expense of the smoke. For this garden, that's the right trade.

Along the path: Heuchera 'Amber Lady' is proving itself a real doer—unmarred foliage, strong growth. Nearby, a Carex 'Island Brocade' brings warm color, and Athyrium otophorum earns its place with those red-veined fronds. Polemonium pulcherrima 'Golden Feathers' is light and bright right now, with sweet lavender flowers just arriving. And Syneilesis acontifolia is doing what it does in spring—emerging fuzzy and strange, aging into something genuinely handsome.

Two heucherellas are worth your attention right now: Heucherella 'Kimono', having a renaissance after gaining some light and air, and Heucherella 'Hopscotch', which is simply looking exceptional. If your heucheras have been struggling with root weevils or rust, heucherellas are worth a second look—the foliage tends to hold up better.

Rhododendron pendulum is a rare one—small, compact, fuzzy indumentum, grown primarily for foliage. It's flowering now in a small way, and looks exactly right next to Astelia nivicola 'Red Gem'.

The clematis collection is hitting its stride. Clematis 'Carnaby' is having its first really big bloom, growing in a container and climbing a dividing screen. Along the south fence, Clematis 'H.F. Young' and Clematis 'Pink Champagne' have been going strong together, now joined by the fading white of Clematis 'Early Sensation'. More are queued up.

Lewisia longipetala 'Little Peach' in a small container has been making the garden happy for weeks—succulent foliage, non-stop bloom, looking great next to a division of 'Amber Lady'. Rosa OSO Easy Honey Bun is trained along the fence and almost in bloom.

Abutilon 'Nuabtang' Lucky Lantern 'Tangerine' has wintered over in this garden for many years—compact, generous with bloom all summer, and worth a try even if you grow it as an annual.

Heuchera sanguinea 'Firefly' doesn't have the showy foliage of the cultivated heuchera types, but it's tough—weaving through the garden as ground cover, easy to divide and establish, and reliable where the fancier ones struggle.

Rosa chinensis 'Mutabilis' is doing its thing—the full range of flower colors visible at once, from peachy to soft pink to deep magenta, red stems, vigorous but manageable. A long-time garden resident and a genuine recommendation.

In the front, Globularia cordifolia holds its own year-round as a tough evergreen edger—and right now it has a sweet bonus bloom in a hot, reflected-heat spot. Arenaria montana 'Winter Lemon' is full of flowers nearby and shows no sign of stopping. Erigeron pulchellus 'Meadow Muffin' is being used as a polite colonizer—easy to divide, evergreen, good weed suppression without getting out of hand. Same logic applies to Stachys byzantina 'Helene Von Stein'—grow it fast, yank it when it gets too big.

The Itoh peony 'Kopper Kettle' at the corner is about to open. With warm weather moving through, it'll be spectacular and brief.

Rhazya orientalis and Sedum 'Blue Pearl' are making a color echo worth noting—the Rhazya's unopened buds are a near-perfect match for the sedum's blue-grey. Rosa 'Ringo All-Star' is in the mix nearby, along with a Diascia Piccadilly Dark Red that wintered over.

Wulfenia schwarzii is in bloom—worth growing for its evergreen foliage alone, but the bloom moment is a nice addition. And Thalictrum ichangense has made itself at home, self-seeding politely through the ground covers with delicate lavender flowers and no ambitions to take over.

The video closes with Woodwardia—one of the best ferns for containers, grown for the drama of its emerging red fronds aging to bronzy green. A blood root rounds things out: flowers impossibly fleeting, foliage genuinely handsome while it lasts.