Come what May

Fill the May gap with flowers for our pollinators, says Val

- Val

DO you remember the old adage, April showers bring May flowers'? I don't think it applies any more, because my garden is short of water more often than not. I found myself watering pots of bulbs in February this year, due to a lack of the wet stuff. I'm wondering whether or not we'll get a stunning May. If we do, it will underpin the rest of summer, and I'm hoping for more rain than last year!

May used to be a magical month in the garden. It came alive and was close to perfection. The famous gardener Edward Augustus Bowles (1865-1954) of Myddelton House, North London said: "If a fairy godmother or a talking fish offered me three wishes, I think one would be to have the clock stopped for six months on a fine morning towards the end of May. Then, perhaps, I might have time to enjoy the supreme moment of the garden." The great man died in May.