May is one of the most rewarding times to explore the arboretum, as seasonal highlights unfold across the landscape in a vibrant celebration of colour, texture, and fragrance…

In early May, wildflower areas – including those near the Daphne statue and throughout Seven Leys – burst into life. Here, visitors can enjoy stunning displays of blue-flowering Camassia leichtlinii, paired beautifully with the delicate white blooms of Leucojum aestivum (summer snowflake). In Seven Leys, carpets of cowslips add further charm to these naturalistic plantings.

Ornamental flowering crab apples are also at their peak, adorned with pink, purple, and white blossoms that can be spotted across the arboretum.

Seven Leys continues to delight with the vibrant orange flowers of Berberis darwinii and the subtly scented yellow blooms of Berberis valdiviana. Further into this area, flowering lilacs fill the air with subtle fragrance, offering a beautiful mix of white, soft pink, and purple tones.

By late May, the ornamental flowering dogwoods become a true highlight. Cornus ‘Norman Hadden’ is particularly breathtaking, with impressive flowerheads up to 8cm wide, featuring four ovate white bracts that gradually blush pink as they mature. These spectacular specimens can be found at the lower front of the Rest House, near Lord Dulverton and Ken Hope’s memorial benches.

Conifers Abies and Picea are expected to have an exceptional cone season this year, thanks to last year’s warm weather. Often overlooked, the striking pollen cones of Abies display shades of purple and green – particularly notable is Abies forrestii in lower Seven Leys, where both male and female purple cones can be seen. Picea species are equally impressive, producing vivid red male pollen cones, good examples can be seen on a large majority of Picea in the arboretum.

Elsewhere, Deutzia shrubs have begun to flower, bringing splashes of white and deep pink, especially along Peaches Walk.

Visitors can also catch the last of the magnificent blooms on the Foxglove Tree, Paulownia fortunei ‘Fast Blue’. With fragrant, funnel-shaped flowers – lilac-blue on the outside and creamy white within, with a golden-yellow throat – this is one of the finest specimens in Gloucestershire and well worth seeing before the flowering season ends.

 

No visit in May would be complete without experiencing the enchanting Pocket Handkerchief Tree (Davidia involucrata). The younger trees are often in bract earlier than the main specimen, making now an ideal time to enjoy the striking white “handkerchiefs” hanging delicately from the branches. The larger, older tree follows shortly after, with its display typically emerging in early May.