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A Stretch of Beautiful Weather
 It's been a long time coming, emerging from our hard, long winter and waiting for this late, late spring.
Roses and other shrubs and perennials not only have been extremely slow to emerge from dormancy, but in some cases, they have so much winter dieback that only a few weak stems have made it through. To add insult to injury, on some of my shrubs what winter didn't destroy, the rabbits did.
A couple of days ago I went to dig up a rose that I thought was dead. Then I spied a small green stem. So there's still hope.(I'd leave such plants alone for another couple of weeks before making any final decisions, by the way.)
Meanwhile, after all that cold wet weather, the forecast for the holiday weekend is warm and sunny. Yay! I hope I can now finally clean out my pond and trim my big yew hedge.
I'm also trying daily to "discipline" myself to sit in one of the lovely, comfortable reclining lawn chairs in my garden. I find this is decidely easier to impose on myself if I also have in hand a freshly made gin and tonic!
After all, what good is a garden if you can't sit a while and enjoy?
Yours in highly disciplined gardening,
Veronica Lorson Fowler
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Gotta Have A Rain Gauge
 As a rule, gardens and lawns need one inch of water a week. Sure, these days you can check online for local rainfall, but there's just no substitute for a good old-fashioned rain gauge.
After all, rainfall can vary significantly even from just one part of town to another. And when you know exactly how much rain you received that week, it helps you figure out how much you should water--if at all.
A rain gauge also makes for such a lovely excuse to go out in the garden in the morning, check what it says, empty it out, and enjoy the day.
Speaking of rainfall, with all these heavy spring rains, about half of Iowa is now out of the rather severe drought that plagued us last fall. The other half is listed as "abnormally dry" or "moderate drought." Let's hope those areas continue to get more good rains.
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Plant of the Week:
'Northern Lights' Azalea
 Most Iowans think of azaleas as a southern plant, and most types are. But one type, the Northern Lights series developed at the University of Minnesota, performs extremely well even this far north.
Shown here in my yard is 'Northern Lights,' a magenta beauty that started the series and is a real show-stopper. I also have a gorgeous soft pink 'Mandarin Lights' and a yellow and white 'Northern Hi-Lights.' (Click here to see all the azaleas in the series.) Shade gardeners: You'll be glad to know azaleas do well in light shade. Another selling point: Their strong, spicy-sweet fragrance. I love cutting branches and bringing them indoors to perfume the whole room.
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Buy Smart, Plant Smart
 Even though we're a week past our last average frost date, with this late spring, I'm still putting annuals, perennials, and shrubs into the ground. Planting isn't rocket science, but there are some basic principles that will assure your plants' taking off fast and performing well. Click here for my favorite planting tips for Iowa. And if you're like me and also still buying plants, check out these plant shopping tips for Iowa. If nothing else, I hope they'll make you wary about the overstated claims plant labels can make. Plant wholesalers, for example, tend to overstate how cold-hardy their plants are. So if you're in Zone 5, as much as possible, look for plants that are listed as hardy to Zone 4.They're more likely to survive our cold winters.
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Monthly To-Do
 Click here for a complete list of what to plant when, for this month and for the rest of the year.
Click here for a month-by-month lawn care schedule for Iowa.
Usually, we can plant green beans, squash, cucumbers, zucchini, corn, and other seeds that like warmer soil about now in mid- and southern Iowa; the first week of June in northern Iowa. But with our cold spring, I'd wait and plant them about a week later than usual.
You can continue to divide perennials that bloom in the summer or fall now, as needed or desired. Hold off on dividing those that bloom in late spring until either after they bloom or this fall.
It's getting late, but you can still finish up planting lettuces and spinach from seed.
Plant perennial edibles that like cool weather, such as rhubarb, strawberries, raspberries, and asparagus.
Plant now seedlings of herbs that like cool weather, including parsley, chives, and cilantro. Also plant any perennial herbs, such as tarragon, oregano, thyme, and rosemary.
Wait to mulch your garden this year until the ground warms up a little more. I plan on applying a 1-2 inch layer of wood bark mulch in my Ames yard in early to mid-June.
Continue to plant trees, shrubs, and roses now. However, avoid planting bare-root roses and other bare-root plants.
I'd wait another week or so to plant gladiolus corms, canna rhizomes, and tuberous begonia tubers to make sure the soil is adequately warm.
Finish up pruning large trees, small trees, evergreens, and shrubs and hedges, except those that are flowering now or will flower in the summer (you'll cut off potential flowers!) Leave oak trees alone. They should only be pruned in very cold weather.
Now, while you can still see where bulbs were planted and remember what they look like, take some notes on what and where to plant this fall. Stick notations where you'll remember them. Like a garden journal, perhaps?
Don't remove the browning foliage of tulips and daffodils until it pulls away easily. The plants need it to rejuvenate for next year.
Now is a good time to build raised beds. Click here for our best tips in designing and building them!
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Editor's Choice
Garden Events
Saturday & Sunday, May 23 & 24
Drake Neighborhood Perennial Plant Sale
Des Moines
9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. Saturday and 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Sunday. The sale benefits the Drake Neighborhood Association and all plants are from neighborhood homes or local nurseries. Held at the Pappa Johns Pizza parking lot at 42nd Street and Crocker Avenue.
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Garden Quote
"I'd rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck."
- Emma Goldman, political and women's rights activist
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