Flowers that bloom in May are a popular choice for gardeners, showcasing beautiful and diverse blooms that can last throughout the warmer months. With the last frost a distant memory, many beautiful flowers blossom, providing a stunning array of colors and shapes.
Flowers That Bloom in May
Depending on where you live you may see these flowers start to show a little earlier or later. All of these flowers show their beautiful plumage sometime in late spring.
Lavender
Lavender is a beautiful perennial that is popular for its calming scent and delicate purple blooms. It blooms in May and again in June. This herb is easy to care for and thrives in full sun and well-drained soil. The scent of lavender is known to be calming and clippings hold a strong scent for months. This makes them preferred in dried flower arrangements. Their scent also has a deodorizing quality, getting rid of deeply embedded musty smells. Lavender is also known to be a natural insect repellent and its flowers can be used to make herbal teas.
Freesias
This cheerful flower will come in on the tail end of May. It is always brightly colored and comes in a wide collection of colors including but not limited to pink, white, blue, purple, or yellow. They carry a lovely scent used in perfumes, smelling like citrus, jasmine, and fruit. They prefer full sun and well-drained soil. This flower is popular for its long-lasting blooms.
Spiderwort
Spiderwort is a unique and eye-catching flower that blooms in late May. It has long, thin stems with star-shaped flowers in many shades including blue, purple, pink, white or yellow. The scent of spiderwort is faint but sweet and can attract butterflies to your garden. Spiderwort is an easy-care flower that makes a beautiful border for any garden, it looks best when grown in masse. Its simple 3 petal blooms make it must have for any garden or room with enough light.
Lamb’s Ear
Lambs ear is a unique looking flower. Its fuzzy foliage and flower blooms between mid May and Early June. Its fuzzy leaves are soft to the touch almost like fur, have a sweet smell when crushed. Its tiny flowers boast selection of colors such as pink, red white and purple. Their little flowers are very vibrant against the green/white of its foliage and have a light pineapple scent. Lambs ear is an easy care plant that can provide a unique texture to any garden or landscape design. Its unusual foliage makes it a popular choice for flower arrangements, adding an unexpected touch of texture.
Pincushion Flower
The pincushion flower is beautiful, with strongly defined features. This perennial will show up every year in your garden in May. Well known for its long bloom times, it will keep blooming until the frost comes. It has large, round petals with a soft, velvety texture and comes in shades of pink, purple, blue, or white. The center of the flower is amazing with its well-defined, long stamens that look like pins or needles, giving the flower its name. Its sweet scent attracts pollinators to your garden, making it an ideal choice for bee-friendly gardens. We love this choice for its unique and striking aesthetics.
Roses
In late May you will see this classic flower blossom, with its peak in June. Roses are perennials that live a long time, up to 10 years. Its soft, perfumy petals and thorns are the stuff of poems. They come in many colors like red, pink, white, and yellow. Each color has a different meaning. As roses are notoriously difficult to kill and they are among the most iconic flowers, they will always have our recommendation.
Wood Spurge
Wood Spurges are flowers with short flowering windows. By mid to late summer they will be done. This adds to the unique beauty of this perennial shrub. It has thin stems with bright green, umbrella-shaped flowers that are covered in tiny hairs. It has a sweet scent and some people think that the foliage smells like coffee. The wood spurge is also known for its medicinal properties, with the leaves being used to make herbal teas or tinctures. Some variants have blue or red leaves.
Bleeding Heart
This perfectly shaped perennial will start to blossom every May. Growing up to 4 feet tall, this plant has multiple flowers hanging from each branch. The petals form the heart shape while you can see the stamen protruding from the bottom. It really does look like a heart with something coming out of it. This popular flower has many different shades including red, white yellow, pink violet or sometimes a combination of colors.
Forget Me Nots
Forget-me-nots are have small, five-petaled flowers in shades of blue or white, with yellow or white stamens at the center. They have a wonderfully familiar floral scent that is especially strong after rain. These soft petaled flowers look mesmerizing when they are in a multitude. This is perfect as they produce many seeds and has a root system that leaves little room for weeds or other plants. They can and will take over a space if allowed. While one of our favorites, do be careful with them!
Bearded Iris
This 4 to 8 inch flower get its name from the outline of its petals. Its 5 petals are soft, and often pastel colored. With some variants 2 of the 5 petals will be a different color than the other three. You will see them blossom sometime in May with another possible occurance in fall. Their scent is just absolutely amazing, like a sweet vanilla, floral combination.
