Welcome to Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day for May 2026.
Here in my USDA Hardiness Zone 6a garden in central Indiana, I feel like we are ahead of past years, but surprisingly, the nights and early mornings have still been quite chilly. Not frosty chilly, but colder than some tropical plants like it.
That’s not a problem here, as I don’t have a lot of tropical plants, nor do I move many houseplants outside for the summer time.
But the cold has not stopped many flowers, as noted, and we seem to be ahead of past years. Maybe that warm spell in April got flowers going and once they were going, nothing, not even cold, cold stop them?
For example, in past years, we might have had some lilacs still blooming, but this year they are all done. The peonies which should be at peak bloom now are all just a little past, though still plenty showy enough.
Now, at this point, I could post photo after photo showing what’s blooming, but instead, I posted a video on YouTube that you can watch with all the images. It’s just a tiny bit over a minute long. It starts with a viola that self-sowed itself in the patio, and ends with… you’ll have to watch to find out what it ends with.
I’ll wait while you go watch the video…
Welcome back. Did you enjoy that video?
Now, here’s the run down of my bloom day posts for May from past years. (I started including these links for my own records, since this is the last year I’m doing this meme. You may choose to click on them or not.)
Here we go:
2007 – I included a long list of plants, might be useful to look at someday.
2008 – Most definitely we were not as far along with blooms as this year!
2009 – I listed a bunch of new perennials. I should see which ones I still have.
2010 – Featuring some yellow Knockout roses I no longer have.
2011 – Daisies and Columbine for the win.
2012 – Hmmm, the Japanese tree lilac was blooming, seems early.
2013 – I do miss that giant viburnum that was a May highlight.
2014 – Another year that was slower than this year.
2015 – I featured one of my favorite clematis vines.
2016 – Kind of more of the same but I miss that yellow Columbine.
2017 – I featured some flowers I don’t even have anymore.
2018 – The lily of the valley were the stars of the show.
2019 – I featured a lot of Columbine and Allium!
2020 – Like the other years, meaning slower than this year.
2021 – Another year that was slower than this year.
2022 – Definitely not as far along as this year.
2023 – About like the other years.
2024 – Similar to other years!
2025 – I feel like we were a bit behind compared to this year.
And that’s my Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day post for May.
What’s blooming in your garden on or around the 15th of the month? Join in for Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day and show us. It’s easy to participate. Just post on your blog, Substack or any place where you share online about the blooms in your garden, then return here and leave a comment with a link so we can find you.
“We can have flowers nearly every month of the year.” ~ Elizabeth Lawrence
