13 hours a day, in a car, in the rain, grocery store food, cheap motels for five guys, all who love plants, is a blast. Even with a may garden checklist that needs to get done.

From Saturday 1 p.m until Tuesday 1 p.m., we saw 12 gardens, botanical wild sites, garden centers, specialty nurseries, private gardens and lots of each other. We packed the minvan with two coolers, for cuttings and piles of quart plants. Fantastic plants. You have to go to great sources, be that your Grandmother or a nursery, for fantastic plants I found a long the way: www.verygoodplants.com and www.petalsfromthepast.com.

Two of the most progressive, coolest, most filled to the brim with great plants nurseries in the South!

May Garden Checklist

Transplant those seedlings of annuals that came back from last year. So far this season I’ve transplanted Nicotiana, Amaranthus and Zinnias.

When you plant bare bulbs of CALADIUMS, pinch off the mail sprout. That will encourage the other, less dominant, bulbs to grow, and you get a lot more leaves for the same money.

I did a really hard pruning on some ROSES that finished blooming and that were damaged by salvia farinacea growing up and into them.

Cut and pull perennials that are too vigorous! Watch those Four O’Clocks as this old pass-along favorite seeds A LOT and pulling them now will keep them in place. Pull the young seedlings before they get too big.

Looking Good Now

Crinum bulbispermum, Jumbo

This is starting to set seeds now, and you can use them to start your own. It takes about 4 years from seed to flower. If you prefer, you can leave the seeds where they fall, and the seedlings will emerge in June just about anywhere the seeds land. This is a great example of plant movement. In Moore Farms, the wild and crazy meadows surrounded by box hedges have lots of grasses mixed with this. This strain often flowers with colors not found in the wild, and often with flowers 50% larger than C. Bulbispermum.

Its strong scape holds beautiful blooms that may be striped, rose-colored or even white with a pink blush that darkens to a soft rose color the second or third day. As with all Crinum, the key is to top dress with a 4-6-4 Manure-based fertilizer in August and soak with fertilizer again in late March or early April. The foliage itself is spectacular and hardy. One December when the temperature reached 19 degrees in Lake City, we had foliage burned back to the ground.

Sisyrinchium palmifolium (Yellow-eyed grass)

This is a tough but elegant evergreen with blue-green foliage. At the farm I divide and replant it as plugs in winter as it seems to crowd itself out otherwise. It is easy to divide, share or move around. Plus, it can grow 20 wide and 20 high or more and blooms on tall spikes with bright yellow flowers. It has very strong roots, and the foliage holds up to frost in Lake City.

Drimiopsis maculata

VERY drought-tolerant and really just blooms forever! Its hard not to love this plant. I had a little trouble when I first planted it in 2005 with about a 15% survival rate, but the second season that had increased to 70%. This is an extremely vigorous plant with leaves that have little liver spots. In fact the plant itself is so little that youll need a big mass to have any impact. Buy a pot and divide and plant a few inches apart. In November you may notice golf ball-sized bulbs above and below ground.

Lilium-asiatic (LA hybrids)

Relatively new hybrids that flourish in the south. Ive had some for three years and they are really robust growers, and I love the fragrance. They are exceptionally vigorous and disease resistant and the large flowers are usually delicately freckled. The 6 to 12 blooms top stalks that are 36-48 high and range from white or near white to stripes to pinks and rose. Order by color next fall from www.terraceiafarms.com.

Spigelia marilandica (Indian Paintbrush or Indian Pink)

Another plant whose foliage and flower contrasts are a dramatic combination up close and from 15 feet away. Its supple dark green foliage in the front or middle of a border will be topped with pink to red tube-shaped flowers that open to reveal a brilliant yellow interior. This plant is highly adaptable and will thrive in moist shade or even moist sun. It grows almost anywhere, and it is a great attraction to hummingbirds. Its difficult to propagate but the seeds germinate easily. It clumps to about 12 and usually stands 12-24 high.

Indigofera decora (false indigo groundcover or Chinese indigo)

Well surely you didnt think I’d get through an entire blog post without bringing up ONE thug. This remains high on the May garden checklist.

Yeah, it can cover an acre in a year but it has the sweetest, hanging chains of soft pink flowers and the most elegant leaves. Some call it spreading; some call it invasive; I call it remarkable, AND, in the right circumstances and with the proper attention, it can be controlled relatively easily. It is heat and drought tolerant, thrives in sun to part shade in moist, acidic soil, It grows about 1-2 feet high and 2-3 feet wide and spreads by underground runners. The _ bright rosy-pink wisteria-like flowers top 4-8 racemes. I used this near a clients pool so when she swims she looks up into the flowers. From above, when youre walking by, the flowers are hidden.

Look at the websites I mentioned! I order great plants all spring and summer – a healthy new quart will make a show with just a little heat.