7 of Our Favorite May Flowering Plants and Shrubs
With spring in full swing and summer just around the corner, it’s the perfect time to freshen up your landscape with plants that are sure to please the eye. May flowering plants and flowers thrive in this month, but continue to bloom throughout the season. They add structure to your plant beds through visual appeal and make it a friendly environment for pollinators like bees and hummingbirds.
At Benson Enterprises, we want to help you create a garden you love. Whether you’re just getting started or looking to make a change to your floral display, we have a variety of flowering plants and shrubs to recommend to you.
Perennials
If you’re looking for low-maintenance plants, then perennials are a great option for your garden. These plants will grow year after year once they’re planted, with the top portion dying in the winter and the root system regrowing in the spring. For flowering perennials, their bloom time ranges from 4 to 6 weeks. This is typically shorter than annuals, but with the proper care, they can last for many years to come.
Russian Sage
If you’re looking for a garden that is drought-tolerant and needs minimal water, Russian sage is a great option. These silvery shrubs sport beautiful flowers that range from lavender purple to sky blue, creating a gorgeous, cool-toned display. With proper pruning and some minimal protection during the winter time, this perennial will die back to the ground level and regrow beautifully in the spring. Here are some features of Russian Sage:
- Scientific Name: Salvia yangii
- Height: 3 feet
- Soil Requirements: Medium to dry in moisture, well-draining
- Sunlight Exposure: Full sun
- Color Variations: Blue, purple
This plant is a sub-shrub, making it a wonderful option for a background display. Creating rows with them allows for the plants to support each other, and they can stabilize the soil. They can be planted as hedging along pathways or used to complement fencing, as well as combined with more vivid plants to create a stunning display. Warm colors like orange and yellow pair well with them.
Salvia
Salvia is a genus of plant that includes a variety of aromatic plants that are ornamental and culinary. They are low-maintenance, heat-tolerant, and deer-resistant.
With a long bloom time, these flowers attract a variety of pollinators like bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. They make a gorgeous display for the season with the proper amount of care, continually returning each year. Here are some features of Salvia plants:
- Scientific Name: Salvia spp.
- Height: 18-24”
- Soil Requirements: Average moisture, well-draining
- Sunlight Exposure: Partial shade to full sun
- Color Variations: Purple, blue, red, pink, coral, white
With their beauty and allure for pollinators, Salvia plants do well at accentuating your landscaping and benefitting your other plants. You can line these plants along your fencing, use smaller varieties to border pathways or create combinations with eye-catching flowers for a colorful gardening statement.
Catmint
Part of the mint family, this flowering plant is long-lasting and hardy, making it a great perennial option for first-time gardeners. They’re drought-tolerant, resistant to pests and diseases, and can repel deer and rabbits. Their grey-green leaves are pleasing to the eye, and they sport gorgeous blue, pink, or white flowers. Thriving well in sunlight and a bit of shade in the late afternoon, they’re good for a partially shaded landscape.
- Scientific Name: Nepeta spp.
- Height: 10-24”
- Soil Requirements: Rocky or clay, well-draining
- Sunlight Exposure: Partial shade to full sun
- Color Variations: Lavender-blue, pink, white
A great way to use catmint is to line your curbside or pathways with it. They can also be planted along rock walls and allowed to spill over. You can also add them to an herb garden, or disperse them amongst other pollinator attractors to create a thriving habitat.
Annuals
If you’re looking for a vivid addition to your yard, annuals can be a great choice. Unlike perennials, annuals have to be replanted each year after they die off, but they have a longer bloom time. They’re a good option when you want to change up the types of plants you have each year, allowing for more variation and rearrangement options.
New Guinea Impatiens
These vivid, shade-loving flowers are a colorful and hassle-free option. With their fast growth and showy flowers and foliage, they are a beautiful addition to landscaping, as well as a great way to attract butterflies and other pollinators. Here are a few features of them:
- Scientific Name: Impatiens hawkeri
- Height: 12-18 inches
- Soil Requirements: Mildly acidic, moist, well-draining
- Sunlight Exposure: Partial to full sun
- Color Variations: Orange, pink, red, white, purple
New Guinea Impatiens look beautiful planted under windows or along walkways for splashes of color. You can also plant them in large patches for an even brighter display. Their blooms last long with proper care, and provide wonderful hues for great visual appeal.
Wave Petunias
If you’re looking for a wide variety of colors, petunias are a perfect option. Wave petunias, in particular, have a trailing growth pattern and offer a vibrant and full spread of color.
- Scientific Name: Petunia spp.
- Height: 12-15 inches
- Soil Requirements: Mildly acidic to neutral, medium moisture, well-draining
- Sunlight Exposure: Full sun
- Color Variations: Blue, multicolor, orange, pink, purple, red, white, yellow
Wave petunias have versatile placements, but work best in places where their trailing growth can be displayed. They can be planted along the tops of rock walls or within raised plant beds, allowing the bright blooms to spill over. Window boxes and hanging planters are also great options for them.
Zinnias
If you experience warmer weather in the late spring, zinnias are a thriving option for gardens or front yard displays. These plants offer blooms with bold, warm-toned colors, and add a bright splash of color to landscaping. They’re hardy, low maintenance, and attract pollinators like hummingbirds. Here are some features of zinnias:
- Scientific Name: Zinnia elegans
- Height: 1-4 feet
- Soil Requirements: Rich, well-draining
- Sunlight Exposure: Full sun
- Color Variations: Green, orange, pink, purple, red, white, yellow
Zinnias are great for lining the edges of driveways and trails, as well as providing a bright display in a flower bed. Taller varieties can line the back border of a garden, while the shorter varieties are good for well-draining planters and window displays.
Flowering Shrubs
Outside of the standard May flowering plants, shrubs are also a great addition providing ample structure and bordering that smaller plants can’t provide. They offer stability to the soil, shade for smaller plants, and improvement to air quality. With flowering shrubs, you can also add touches of color and beauty that complement your smaller, bolder plants.
Lilacs
Coming from the olive family, lilacs are beautiful, deciduous shrubs that provide an aromatic element. Their flowers grow in clusters of purple or white, standing out against the grey-green foliage. Aside from pruning and watering them during dry spells, these shrubs are low-maintenance and the leaves retain their beautiful color past the spring season.
- Scientific Name: Syringa vulgaris
- Height: 8-15 feet
- Soil Requirements: Neutral, loamy, well-draining
- Sunlight Exposure: Full sun
- Color Variations: Purple, white
Lilacs can be planted in groups or rows to show off their gorgeous blooms. They work well for lining paths, or even creating hedges for privacy.
Enhance Your Landscaping With Benson Enterprises
Proper landscaping is important for beautifying your property and enhancing curb appeal. Plus, when planting beautiful floral displays, you want them to look their best.
Benson Enterprises offers high-quality residential landscaping to the Rochester area and values attention to detail with dedicated care. If you’re in need of landscaping services, contact us today for more information or to schedule a service with us. We want your garden to thrive this season!
Call Today For A Free Estimate (585) 248-0452
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