Today is Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day, a meme hosted by May Dreams Gardens in which gardeners worldwide share what is blooming in their gardens. May on the Lot is when the garden beds really kick it into gear and the plants take off. Though we’ve had less rains than previous Springs, everything is looking good and growing well.
In a northern backyard bed this Sweet Woodruff (Galium odoratum) is coming back with a vengeance and just starting to bloom. It is beginning to gobble up the poor Coral Bell. The little Labrador Violets are have been blooming for awhile now.
In one of the back alley beds Mt Airy Fothergilla is doing its Spring thing. It survived the winter with only a couple of snapped limbs.
Blooming for its first time on the Lot is this dainty barrenwort (Epimedium grandiflorum ‘Lilafee’) along the Eastern side of the house. The crocus leaves illustrates the small size of the plant.
Another barrenwort I brought home with me from the 2014 Portland Garden Bloggers’ Fling has reappeared and is right at home as well on the Eastern side. Where the previous plant’s blooms remind me of little sprites, these flowers look like small spiders or crabs.
The fuzzy pasque (Anemone patens) flower is in bloom, looking soggy here as I snapped photos between rain showers.
The dwarf irises are blooming…
… as are the bluebells which snuck under the fence from the neighbor’s property. The foreground gives a glimpse of some of the Forget-me-nots (or rather “if you plant me once you’ll be rid of me nots”) blooming around the backyard.
The foamflower (Tiarella) is in bloom.
The bleeding heart (Dicentra spectabilis alba) is as huge and beautiful as ever.
Both cranesbill plants are brightening up the pathway back to the compost bin.
The Sweet Tea Coral Bell is beginning to bloom. Hmm, I didn’t notice until this photo I forgot to clean up those old leaves at the base.
The brunnera is blooming. I much prefer this well-behaved version of Forget-me-not.
Huzzah! I did not kill the Jack-in-the-Pulpit I brought back from the 2014 Nursery Crawl. At the beginning of the season it received too much hot, afternoon sun. It seems happier here. 
By the way, this is Jack. He’s a pretty dapper fellow.
This is a Geum triflorum ‘Prairie Smoke,’ the prize find of the 2014 Nursery Crawl. I picked it up when it was already done blooming, only able to enjoy the seed heads (which admittedly is why I purchased the plant). This season I am able to enjoy the blooms as well.
Loki’s bed is looking great with the lenten rose (Hellebores) and solomon’s seal (Polygonatum odoratum Variegatum) blooming.
Here is a brand new bloom for this season. Our west-side neighbors have a beautiful strawberry patch growing against the fence. I’m wondering what these stowaways will get up to on the Lot.
Another shot of the Eastern side of the house shows the rock foil (Saxifraga) and the dwarf bugleweed (Ajuga x ‘Chocolate Chip’) in bloom.
And for the very first season in bloom is our lilac. This shrub was given to us by Miss A after she received it from the Arbor Day Foundation. We placed it in the ground as a mere twig. It was mowed over not once but twice by the neighbors (oh the challenges of urban gardening)! It smells heavenly.
The last of the tulips are fading, and the Sweet William is full of buds in the South bed. The carpet flox is still full of color in the Southwest bed. That is all for the Lot this May! What is blooming in your garden?
