6 May 2015 - I Love May

While I do not have a favorite month, I find that each has its own beauty and charm, May holds a special place in my heart. No matter where I have lived, or what was planted in the gardens, in May they always looked fabulous.  

But May. May is the explosive month. Trees burst into magnificent works of art garbed in glorious reds, pinks or white.  Perennials erupt out of the ground then push up bloom stalks and buds. The oriental poppies and peonies are covered with huge buds just starting to open their sepals and show a little color. My old fashioned shrub rose is covered in buds. It will become a yellow waterfall very shortly.

And there is nothing quite like the fragrances of May. Lilacs, honeysuckle, chokecherries, lilies of the valley, and roses. Walk into the yard and you get an olfactory smorgasbord. The lilacs and honeysuckle are the two over-riding scents, but all you need to do is just walk under the chokecherry to move from sweet intoxication into almond infused air.  Heady stuff. 

With the rain helping the newly leafed-out trees and burgeoning posies,  my yard is looking green and park-like. In May the leaves are a new soft green and absolutely perfect. Take these aspen leaves, for instance. Not a single imperfection.

By July many of the leaves will have black spots, or black soot from different blights. But in May, they are simply beautiful.

I love this. Like fireworks, the explosion does not last long so you have to stop and enjoy every second of it. May is a season of its own, and it is laced with superlatives.

Here in Utah, May is historically the wettest month. Our forecast says we are in for a week of scattered showers. Our scattered shower yesterday produced 1.25" of rain. Our water reserves are at 30% of normal. This week of showers will help lessen our fire danger. It also makes weeding easier. Nothing quite like weeding after a rain.  Yesterday I dug up three trugs worth of crab grass. Felt really good. 

All this rain is making the grass grow. Way too fast, I might add. In May, I mow by hand and catch all the clippings to turn into my compost piles. I have four piles going. One is ready to use, and last weekend I put two of the piles through the shredder mixing in lawn clippings. I still have one more pile to go, but it got soggy over the winter and won't go through the shredder until it dries up. This job requires earplugs, dust mask and protective goggles. 

May also puts me into the mood for a flower buying frenzy. All the garden centers are open, flower stands pop up in parking lots, every hardware store and many grocery stores are busy selling bedding plants and hanging baskets that are already bursting with color. Wah wah wah. My want-juices try to take over.  Fortunately reason prevails. I have many pots in my yard that I like to fill with annuals. I don't have my plans together yet. Surprisingly, I do come up with a plan for the pots. It is different every year, but with some thought, the pots can harmonize without being all the same or just a mishmash of plants. 

May also sees considerable bird activity. In addition to mating and nest building, May is when many of the migrating birds return. Warblers, grosbeaks, gnatcatchers, hummingbirds and many more start showing up in my yard. During this first week of May, several of my favorites have found their way back. 

I have several of both Black-chinned Hummers and Broad-tailed hummers fighting over the feeders. Here is a Broad-tailed male with the light catching his iridescent throat feathers.

The Black-headed Grosbeaks showed up. Last year I had two pairs that stayed for the summer and nested. This week I have five males and three females busy at my feeder. 

In May, the Lazuli Bunting shows up for about a week before it continues on. They are a beautiful little bird albeit not very cooperative for the camera. 

Every now and then you get a surprise like this Yellow Warbler. There is a first time for everything, and I was so happy to have seen it in my own yard.

This is a tiny little Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. 

More birds will be showing up over the month. Life is good!