May is the ideal time to plant your spring favorites and prepare your garden for our Texas summer. As the weather starts to warm up, remember that it is still springtime and May is the essential month to focus on transitioning your garden for the upcoming season.
Looking for tips and tricks on what to do in your landscape this month? Here is a helpful to-do list for your Texas garden so you can grow with success!
The Best Annual Flowers for Vibrant Color in Your Garden
Annual blooms provide a quick and colorful impact in your landscape and container gardens. They are a cost-effective way to update the look of your home and they fill each season with bold color. In May, it is important to refresh your flowerbeds with annual flowers that bloom all summer. Summer annual flowers provide vibrant blooms throughout the season until the first signs of frost.
Choosing heat-tolerant and sun-loving summer annuals for our hot and dry climate is ideal. Marigolds and Cora® XDR Vinca are low-maintenance annual flowers that thrive in full sun throughout the day. The bold blooms add a pop of color with a sunny appeal.
Zinnias are drought-tolerant summer annuals that love our Texas heat. They are fast-growing summer annuals that provide quick results and bursts of vibrant color.
Pentas are summer annuals that are great for attracting pollinators to your garden. They are known for their clusters of star-shaped blooms in shades of pink, red, white, and more! Pentas are low-growing annuals, making them a good choice for flowerbeds and mass plantings.
To explore more summer annual flowers, click here to view our collection of annuals!
Low-Maintenance Perennials and Vines for Busy Gardeners
Perennials and vines provide gorgeous color and blooms year after year in many different areas of your garden. You can create a vertical garden with climbing vines and trellises and use perennials for year-round interest. Perennials last for many growing seasons and are typically cold-hardy plants that return every spring, with proper care.
Salvia and Coneflower are low-maintenance perennials that perform well in our Texas climate. They are heat and drought tolerant plants that add beautiful color and texture to garden beds. Salvia and Coneflower are a favorite to our friendly pollinators, making them an ideal choice for attracting wildlife to your garden.
Add life to the shady spots of your landscape with shade-loving perennials like Hosta and Heuchera! As they grow, they form round mounds of striking foliage in a spectrum of shades. There are many different varieties of Hosta, each with different green hues.
Heuchera, also known as Coral Bells, produce small bell-shaped flowers that butterflies and hummingbirds love.
Perennial flowering vines put on a spectacular display with masses of fragrant flowers in the spring. They are best when planted with a support fence or trellis. Carolina Jessamine is a native vine that creates a whimsical outdoor setting with long, majestic foliage and bright yellow flowers.
To learn more about our selection, click here for perennials and click here for vines!
Designing with Ornamental Grasses and Groundcovers
Ornamental grasses and groundcovers fit into many areas of your yard and serve many different purposes. Ornamental grasses can work as a border plant to define your garden bed or walkways, they add height and fill empty spaces in your landscape design, and you can even create natural-looking privacy screens with tall ornamental grasses. Pink Muhly Grass and Ivory Feathers® Pampas Grass feature large plumes that tower above the green, grassy foliage. These perennial ornamental grasses add dynamic, year-round interest and graceful elegance to any home garden.
Groundcover plants are incredibly useful and beneficial to our homes and local ecosystems. They provide year-round interest, fill in gaps and thrive in tricky growing areas, and they help stabilize the soil to prevent erosion. Many gardeners are using groundcovers for low-maintenance lawn alternatives. They don’t have to be mowed like typical turf grass, and they add lovely color to problem or confined areas of your landscape. Dwarf Mondo Grass is stunning, sleek, and unique. It grows mounds of narrow, thin, dark-green foliage that creates a relaxed and natural look. It is ideal for lining borders, in between pavers, or planted as a pathway.
Big Blue Liriope is a perennial grass that works best as a groundcover plant because it works well in tight spacings, and the foliage is dense and low growing. Liriope and Mondo Grass look very similar and they are both low-maintenance groundcover plants, except Liriope produces spikes of blue-purple flowers that transform into berries during the cooler months!
At Calloway’s and Cornelius, we have a vast selection of premium groundcovers and gorgeous ornamental grasses that will thrive in your Texas garden. Check out our collection here!
Choosing the Right Trees and Shrubs for Your Garden
Planting trees and shrubs can benefit your home and landscape in many ways. They can save you money on utilities by blocking wind and reducing sunlight on your home and cooling equipment. They provide shelter to wildlife and help minimize flood damage by absorbing rainwater instead of allowing runoff.
Shumard Red Oaks and Southern Live Oaks are tall and stately shade trees that create vertical interest and as an impressive focal point in your landscape. Southern Live Oaks are native trees with a slow growth rate and massive, horizontal limbs that transform into a deep shade canopy. A mature Shumard Red Oak will have a tall, cone shape similar to a pyramid with intriguing leaves that turn red in the fall.
Japanese Maples are a popular choice, ideal for small areas in your landscape. They have attractive deep purple foliage which emerges as a crimson color in spring. It does best in partial shade during the day and it makes for a great accent plant that provides color and texture.
Boxwoods are low-maintenance evergreen shrubs. They are great for smaller areas, as it grows slowly into a rounded, dense mound. Boxwood shrubs are extremely versatile and are also ideal as formal hedges or topiaries.
Kaleidoscope Abelia and Sunshine Ligustrum are colorful evergreen shrubs admired for their brilliant foliage. Kaleidoscope Abelia has yellow and green variegated foliage that produces white flowers in the summer for added flower power in your landscape. It is resistant to leaf fade and sun scorch. Sunshine Ligustrum is an outstanding variety that produces dense foliage that matures to a bright golden mound. The color performs best in full sunlight.
Click here to explore our selection of fantastic plants and start planning for your garden now!
Lawn and Garden Care Tips for Beginners: Where to Start
Watering is extremely important to your plants, especially as the weather warms up. New plants will need more frequent waterings than established ones; water is essential for good growth and the overall health of your plants. Water deeply to encourage deep roots in preparation for potential summer restrictions.
Lawns and gardens should be watered in the morning which allows the water to soak in before the sun rises and causes evaporation. Give your grass a good drink, about one to two inches per week. Be sure to water effectively and efficiently with quality watering tools. At Calloway’s and Cornelius, we have a variety of watering cans, wands, and sprinklers for every area of your garden.
Maintain a healthy lawn and garden with proper fertilization. Prepare your plants for the impending summer conditions and give them an extra boost with premium plant food. Apply another application of feeding with Calloway’s Premium Lawn Food for a happy, green lawn. Feed your annual color, trees, and shrubs with Calloway’s Premium Flower Food and Calloway’s Premium Tree & Shrub Food. Nourish blooming shrubs with Calloway’s Premium Flowering Shrub Food when the flowers have faded. For Azaleas, apply every 45 days after the initial bloom drop.
Remove any remaining weeds and apply another application of pre-emergent. This will help prevent the weeds from producing seeds that could invade your landscape. Spray established weeds with Bonide® Weed Beater Southen or Bonide® Ultra Weed Beater. Check your plants for any fungal diseases, nutsedge and other grassy weeds, and pests. Aphids, whiteflies, and spider mites can be a problem. Consider releasing Organic Control, Inc. Lady Bugs and Lacewings into your garden. This natural approach will tackle pests immediately. Plus, you get to enjoy watching ladybugs in their little red and black polka dotted jackets in your garden.
Keep your plants protected with Calloway’s Premium Organic Mulch. It is a 100% organic top dressing that forms a protective covering over your plant’s roots. An organic mulch covering helps regulate the sub-surface temperature, providing a moderated environment for roots, as well as retains moisture and controls weeds.
Prune the last of your spring flowering trees and shrubs after the blooms fade. Deadhead spent flowers to encourage new blooms.
Shop with Ease
At Calloway’s and Cornelius, we have everything you need for your spring and summer garden! Visit us today and explore our entire collection of seasonal blooms, fantastic pottery, indoor plants, fresh vegetables, stately trees and shrubs, and so much more! Shop one of our 28 neighborhood stores, serving our loyal customers for over 35 years.
Have questions? Ask our Texas Certified Nursery Professionals; they are here to help!
