Petworth blooms with May flowers
/If you’ve found yourself walking around our beautiful neighborhood admiring the flowers and wondering what you’re looking at, we’re here to help. Welcome to "Petworth Blooming,” a popular series featuring some of the most common plants and flowers seen around Petworth. Follow @petworthblooms on Instagram for additional photos of our neighborhood flora.
It’s been hard to tell from the weather if it’s spring or winter lately, but all our May flowers are starting to turn out in force thanks to our longer days.
One of the showiest flowers around right now belongs to the Peony. These largely Asian species have been a favorite of botanical illustrators for a very long time. There are generally two kinds, ones that die-back all the way to the ground every winter, and “tree” peonies that resprout from woody stems (though they never get very tall). The flowers are often so big and heavy they will fall over — or you can cut them to bring inside.
Yellow peony on 4th Street NW
Pink peony on Taylor Street NW
Alliums have much smaller flowers than peonies, but they group them all together to be just as striking. These close relatives of the humble onion come in a variety of sizes, with the largest gaining the Latin species name gigantium. If you put a common onion in a pot, you’ll get a similar if not as colorful globe of flowers, too... maybe a good quarantine project for kids.
Giant allium on Marlboro Place NW
Another plant which likes to cluster its flowers in a sphere is the Rhododendron. Closely related to azaleas, these evergreen shrubs have thick dark leaves and often grow twisted trunks. When growing wild in the mountains they can form dense thickets, but they have been extensively bred in the nursery trade to behave in a garden setting.
Rhododendron on Varnum Street NW
Same plant, looking the other direction on Varnum Street NW
The Fringe Tree is a small native tree that puts on an impressive show this time of year. Its multitude of feathery white petals hang down below the branches and splendly capture the afternoon light, plus it has a fantastic fragrance too!
Fringe tree on Decatur Street NW
One of the most common flowers in the neighborhood is the Bearded Iris. These plants are super easy to grow, handle drought with ease and readily divide for sharing with your neighbors. They flower best in full sun, but will still make nice sword-shaped leaves in the shade. All kinds of colors available.
Yellow Iris on 9th Street NW
Purple and white bearded iris at “Becky’s Garden” - the triangle park at 4th and Shepherd Streets NW
Another kind of iris blooming now is the Dutch Iris. The leaves and flowers of these plants are smaller and more slender than the bearded iris, and are harder to grow (at least in my experience). These iris were bred by growers in Holland by hybridizing plants originally from Spain and Portugal.
Purple Dutch iris on 4th Street NW
White Dutch iris on 3rd Street NW
Lobed Coreopsis (or Dwarf Tickseed) is a small, native flower that will slowly spread to form large mats featuring bright yellow flowers. Mature plants can be readily divided. This coreopsis is relatively unique among its close relatives, having rounded leaves as well as staying so short. It puts on big displays of flowers in May, but keeps blooming sporadically throughout the summer.
Lobed coreopsis on 3rd Street NW
What would May be without Roses? I’m not sure I’ve walked a single block without seeing at least one rose in the last week. It’s easy to see why the state flower of DC was chosen to be a rose! White, yellow and all shades of red are on display for the next few weeks.
Pink roses in an alley off Allison Street NW
Red roses on Quincy Street NW
So what's blooming in June? We’ll talk about that, next month!
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