There’s a special place in most gardeners’ hearts for the flowering plants of late spring, which have a newborn grace and freshness all their own. Many of the loveliest are edge-of-woodland perennials, whose fine-boned beauty belies their resilience and ability to flourish in cool, damp shade.
By blooming and setting seed in this way, before their summer counterparts, these species gain a distinct advantage when it comes to competing for available light, nutrients and water. These early-to-the-party perennials are also typically very hardy, another good reason to make space for them in the garden.
Usefully for Irish gardeners, that spot doesn’t have to be in shade. Most will also happily grow in sun just so long as they’re given a humus-rich, free-draining, cool, moist soil that doesn’t ever fully dry out or heat up in summer. For this reason, annual generous organic mulches are key to making them happy.
Examples include Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum x hybridum), with its tall, elegantly arching stems, softly pleated leaves and dangling clusters of tiny, green-and-white bell-shaped flowers. Exceptionally long-lived once established, it also makes a magnificent, long-lasting cut flower, as do its close relatives, the purple-stemmed, purple-flowered Polygonatum mengtzense f tonkinense, and the unusual, violet-flowered Polygonatum curvistylum.
For something similar but somewhat smaller, seek out the exceptionally graceful, late spring-flowering perennial known as bleeding heart (formerly Dicentra spectabilis, recently renamed Lamprocapnos spectabilis), especially the exquisite white-flowering form, “Alba”.
These hardy perennials’ natural bedfellows are equally refined. They include epimedium or barrenwort, another late spring-flowering woodlander prized for its sprays of delicately pretty flowers and low, dense, spreading clumps of heart-shaped leaves. Often suffused with tints of bronze when they freshly emerge in spring, these also colour up prettily in autumn.
Another of its common names is “bishop’s mitre” (or “bishop’s hat”), a reference to the distinctive shape of the small, long-spurred flowers, which are carried on short, slender, wiry stems. Many species of epimedium are also semi-evergreen, offering valuable ground cover throughout the year. They will even tolerate dry shade, making them suitable for those particularly tricky areas where other species struggle.
Garden-worthy varieties to seek out include Epimedium x perralchicum “Fröhnleiten” (semi-evergreen; bright yellow flowers); Epimedium × versicolor “Sulphureum” (semi-evergreen; pale yellow flowers); Epimedium × youngianum “Niveum” (deciduous; white flowers) and Epimedium x rubrum “Galadriel” (semi-evergreen; light red flowers). Recommended stockists include Dublin-based Mount Venus Nursery
Aquilegia, or columbine as it’s also known, is another late spring-flowering, shade-loving perennial with a hat-related common name – “granny’s bonnets” or “granny’s nightcap”– that’s descriptive of the shape of its pretty, nectar-rich flowers. A slug-resistant cottage-garden favourite that readily hybridises and self-seeds where it’s happy, it’s also classed as a native Irish plant.
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The easiest way to cultivate this exceptionally beautiful perennial is by collecting the freshly ripened seed in summer and sprinkling it gently around paths and beds. Keep an eye out for the tiny seedlings, which generally emerge the following spring after winter’s colder temperatures help to trigger germination. Alternatively, pop the seeds in the fridge for a week before sprinkling them, which will also do the trick.
Named cultivars are widely available, some with large, colourful, long-spurred flowers. Examples include the lemon-flowered Aquilegia chrysantha “Yellow Queen”, the bicoloured purple-and-white Aquilegia “William Guinness”, and wine-coloured Aquilegia “Ruby Port”. But as lovely as these are, they inevitably die out over time, while their numerous offspring are also likely to be more typical of the species, with smaller, more subtly coloured flowers in shades of violet, lilac and dusty pink.
Many very ornamental species of shade-tolerant, damp-loving primulas also come into bloom in late spring, including lots of candelabra types (Primula japonica, Primula pulverulenta, Primula bulleyana) and our native cowslip, Primula veris.
All partner very well with geum, or avens as it’s commonly known, another remarkably resilient, long-lived, shade-tolerant, damp-loving perennial that starts into flower at this time of year. From cottage garden favourites such as the jaunty, yellow-flowered Geum “Lady Stratheden” and scarlet Geum “Mrs Bradshaw” to the growing number of new, long-flowering varieties whose slender-stemmed, buttercup-like flowers come in fruity shades of apricot, rose-pink and peach (Geum “Mai Tai”, Geum “Pretticoats Peach”) as well as spicy shades of vermilion-red and mandarin-orange (Geum “FireStarter”, Geum “Blazing Sunset”, Geum “Miss Clementine” and Geum “Totally Tangerine”), there’s a variety to suit almost every colour palette. Many of these repeat-bloom throughout the summer months, making them a great choice for smaller gardens.
Other popular, late spring-flowering, shade-tolerant perennials are prized as much for their ornamental foliage and ability to provide ground cover as they are for their flowers, including heuchera, tellima, x heucherella, tiarella, pulmonaria and brunnera. Examples include Heuchera “Marmalade”, whose orange-amber-apricot-pink, semi-evergreen, wavy leaves and red flowers are wonderfully decorative; Heuchera “Silver Scrolls” (semi-evergreen silver and plum foliage, pink and white flowers); Heuchera “Green Finch” (semi-evergreen, chartreuse-green leaves and flowers); x Heucherella “Solar Eclipse” (semi-evergreen, lime and chocolate brown leaves, sprays of small white flowers); Tiarella “Sugar & Spice” (acer-like green and maroon leaves, pink and white flowers); Pulmonaria “Silver Bouquet” (large, silvery, mottled leaves, pink and blue flowers); Brunnera “Mr Morse” (silver, heart-shaped leaves and sprays of white flowers); and Brunnera “Jack of Diamonds” (dramatically silver leaves with green veining, and blue flowers).
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Again, they all share a fondness for a cool, humus-rich, free-draining but damp soil that doesn’t ever completely dry out or warm up too much in summer. Excellent for the edges of a shady border or under the damp, seasonal shade of deciduous shrubs, these low-growing, clump-forming hardy perennials also associate very well with many kinds of ornamental ferns, grasses and late spring-flowering bulbs including narcissus, tulips, fritillaria and anemones.
This week in the garden
Late April to early May is always a pressure point in the Irish gardening year, with plants in very active growth but variable weather conditions and the threat of late spring frosts making it tricky to protect young, tender transplants. All it takes is one icy night to cause extensive damage, so hold off planting out half-hardy and frost-tender species until late May. If that’s not possible, then be ready to protect them on any cold nights with several layers of horticultural fleece or crop covers.
This is a great time to sow seed of certain fast-growing, heat-loving vegetables such as courgettes, pumpkins, squash and French beans into modules or individual small pots, for planting out into the garden in late May/early June. In the meantime, make sure to give them a warm, bright sheltered spot undercover where they’ll be protected from cold breezes and cool night temperatures. Seed of hardier vegetables such as beetroot, carrots, parsnips, chard, turnips, peas, spinach, runner beans and radish can all be direct sown outdoors.
Dates for your diary
Howth & Sutton Horticultural Society Spring Show and Plant Sale St Nessan’s Community School, Baldoyle, Dublin. Saturday, April 26th (2.30-4.30pm). With exhibits, plants, and repurposed garden tools for sale. hshs.ie
Festival of Gardens and Nature, Ballintubbert Gardens & House, Stradbally, Co Laois. Saturday & Sunday, May 3rd & 4th. With a host of guest speakers. festivalofgardensandnature.com.
Rare & Special Plant Fair Mount Congreve Gardens, Co Waterford. Sunday, May 11th. With up to 40 specialist nurseries from all over Ireland taking part. Admission free. mountcongreve.com
