Picture: hawthorn blossom. Click here for more May blossom and tree photos.
May is another good month for blossom and tree flowers, but some are already fading. For example apple blossom, both on garden and orchard trees and on the wild crab apple can be over by the end of April, and if not, often fades in the first week of May. Rarely it lasts into the second week (2018, 2012) or even the third (2023). In 2021, 2016, 2013 and 2010 it did not get going till early May and lasted until the third week.
In 2023, 2018, 2016 and 2013 wild cherry blossom also continued into the first week, while in 2021 it lasted till the second week. Blackthorn blossom extended into the first week in 2016 and 2013, and in places in 2023 and 2021.
They are followed by hawthorn blossom (also known simply as "may"). Timing here is very variable from year to year and shrub to shrub. In milder springs you may see some as early as the second (2024) or third (2026, 2025, 2020 and 2017) week of April, though it is usually not till start of May that they are out everywhere. In other years flowering does not begin till the start of the month (2022, 2019 and 2012), the second week of May (2023, 2021, 2016 and 2012 ), the third (2016, 2015 and 2010) or even the fourth (2013).
At its height hawthorn blossom can look like dollops of ice cream, and as it goes over it can sometimes turn a pretty shade of pink. The traditional saying "Ne'er cast a clout till May be out" (usually interpreted as "do not remove clothing [ie expect warmer weather] until the end of May") may in fact refer to the appearance of hawthorn blossom, which does often mark the start of gentler weather.
The enormous candle-like flower spikes of horse chestnuts are often at their best in early May, having started to come out in late April, though in 2016, 2015 and in many places in 2023 they did not come out till the second week of the month. In those years they lasted till the end of the month, and the same was true in 2026, 2025 and 2019: otherwise they fade sometime in the third week. In 2021 they did not come out until the third week and lasted till the first week of June.
Much less common in the south east (mostly seen as a street tree, but sometimes also in woods) is rowan, which puts out white flowers. Timing here is again very variable, and can be anytime from the fourth week of April to the third week of May. Whitebeam also flowers, typically during the second and third weeks of the month - see The last trees to leaf below.
On chalk downland (and the sides of railway cuttings through chalk) wayfaring tree (a shrub) is already in bloom at the start of the month. Its white flowers usually fade in the second week, though in 2023 they lasted till the third week, and in 2021 and 2013 they did not come out till the second week and lasted till the end of the month.
Bird cherry - not very common in the south east - is usually at its best at the start of the month, sporting attractive white flower spikes; but these fade in the first or second week. The much more common cherry laurel generally flowers in April, but lasted into the first week of May in 2021, while in 2010 it did not start to flower until the start of May and lasted a week to ten days or so.
Holly puts out clusters of tiny white flowers, if it has not already done so in late April. There are both female and male ones, lasting a couple of weeks and so usually over by mid May (though in 2015, 2016 and 2021 the flowers did not start until then, while in 2023 it varied between the second and third week).
Female holly flowers have a green centre that will become the berry, while the male ones have four stamens, but it is remarkably hard to spot either, given how common the berries are in December. They often seem to be only partly in flower. If you do see one in full bloom, it is such a surprising sight that you might mistake it for a garden shrub.
Early May can also see gorse flowers still out in force, though they starting to show signs of going over and fade away completely in the first half of the month. On heathland you can see the glorious yellow flowers of broom, usually at their best in the last two weeks, though in 2026 and 2024 it was in the first three weeks and in 2025 the first half the month. In the same habitat bilberry has little pink bell-shaped flowers in the first half.
As the month goes on a new wave of shrubs bloom, most notably large white clusters of elderflower which can appear any time from the second to the fourth week (not till the end of the month in 2021 and 2010, and the second week in June in 2013).
Around the same time as elderflower, you also get the rather inconspicuous green flowers of spindle and the very distinctive white ones of guelder rose. The latter always look as if they are half out, with a ring of petalled flowers around "buds" in the centre: but it is in fact the buds that are the active flowers, with the petalled ones being sterile.
In recent years there has also been a tendency for a few adventurous bramble (ie blackberry) flowers to open as early as the first week of May, but the third week onwards is a more normal time for this to happen. In warmer years they might come out in force widely towards the end of the month.
On a similar looking shrub you may also see the very inconspicuous white flowers of wild raspberry, whose stems and leaves look like those of bramble, but whose flowers are quite different. They tend to be at their best in the middle of the month.
Dog rose flowers may also appear in a few places as early as the second week of May, though normally do not flower en masse until the end month or early June.
The green-white flowers of hedgerow climber white bryony may start flowering in places from the second week but in some places or years don't start till June. Much harder to spot, the tiny flowers of black bryony may also appear in the last ten days of the month. Towards end of May you may see the occasional flower on honeysuckle, as well as on woody nightshade (also known as bittersweet).
Green flower buds appear on dogwood in the early part of May: they then turn white and may be opening into flowers in places at the very end of the month (from the second week in 2025). Privet flower buds also appear, usually towards the end of the month but sometimes earlier, and a few flowers are possible at the end of the month in milder years.
Garden shrubs and escapees
Other May colour comes from garden tree and shrubs, some of which can also hop the fence into semi-wild places. For example the month sees the wonderful laburnum tree in flower, with its great showers of yellow blooms. The timing of this is quite variable. In some years it starts in the fourth week of April, in others in the first or second week of May. After flowering, it produces a mass of tiny pea pod seeds, many of which fall to the ground, creating a mess on pavements.
After laburnum has gone over you might see a white version of its flowers hanging from some garden or park trees: this is robinia, an ornamental species which produces bright yellow foliage in the autumn.
Lilac, which usually starts in mid April, continues to flower until around mid May. (In 2023 and 2018 it came out at the start of May and lasted till the third week, while in 2016 it appeared in early May, lasting till the end of the month. In 2021 many were not fully out till the third week of May, but all had faded by the month's end).
In addition you can see the climbing plant wisteria turning buildings a mass of purple right from the start of the month. It usually fades in the third week, but in 2021, 2018 and in places 2023 it lasted until the end of the month, having not come out till the second week in 2018.
Another climber, producing a fabulous display of pink flowers draped over fences along railway lines and along the edges of urban paths, is clematis montana. It comes into flower any time from mid April to the second week of May, and once out lasts two to three weeks.
This is the month for showy rhododendron flowers, which start to fade towards its end, but with some lasting into June. It also puts out new leaves, and this is true for other evergreens such as yew, ivy, cherry laurel and holly, the new leaves being a much brighter green than the old ones. In the second half some of the older leaves of ivy, holly and cherry laurel then turn yellow and fall to the ground. On verges on chalk soils the new tendrils of traveller's joy are very evident, spreading enthusiastically in all directions.
Firethorn (pyracantha) produces first a mass of white buds and then white flowers, the latter blooming any time from the second week to the end of the month (not till June in 2021, 2016 and 2015). These will go on to produce bright orange and red berries which so cheer up the grey winter months.
Two other plants whose berries are prominent in winter also start to flower at the end of the month. Cotoneaster (red berries in winter) produces flower buds at this time, while on snowberry (white spherical berries) you might see its tiny pink flowers appearing.
The last trees to leaf
By the end of April most trees are in leaf, and in the first week or two of May they retain the bright vivid green of new growth. A notable exception is common whitebeam, whose leaves are pale and greyish to begin with. In places (or in colder years) they may be are only just coming out in the first half of May. Soon after the leaves appear, usually sometime in the first three weeks of the month, the tree also produces white flowers, which last a couple of weeks.
Swedish whitebeam, which has more normal green leaves, also flowers during May. It more a street or park tree than in a wild one, and at a casual glance can look very similar to rowan during its flowering phase, though with very different foliage if you look closely.
Another major laggard when it comes to putting out leaves is ash: in many years they are still only very small in the first week of May, and in colder years (eg 2021, 2019, 2016, 2014 and 2012) they do not start until the second week. It can often be late May before they are fully grown. In recent years the picture has been further complicated by the spreading of ash die-back disease, which causes affected trees to put out little or no foliage.
Early in the month female ash flowers can at a casual glance look like leaves, since once fertilised they expand into green fans which then droop and become seed clusters. In 2019 and 2014 no seeds were produced at all, however.
Sweet chestnut also usually waits till early May to put out foliage and its leaves can still be small until mid month. Towards the end of the month the shoots that will become its flower tassels are appearing. Other trees whose leaves may still be relatively small in early May include alder, oak, lime, hazel, wych elm, London plane, crack willow, white willow and goat willow or sallow.
Field maple continues to flower into the first week or so of May, and may also still have relatively small leaves at this time, while sycamore flowers can last in places until the end of the month. Beech flowers may also still be seen at the start of the month - the male flowers hanging down, and the female ones erect - though they soon fade, the fallen male ones making a thick carpet on the ground some years.
From the middle of the month (the start in 2020, the end in 2016, 2019 and 2023) lime puts out tiny flower buds that hang down on winged stalks: they do not actually flower yet, however.
The first seeds and fruits
May also sees the first fruits, seeds and nuts appearing. From the start of the month the female catkins of sallow and goat willow (aka pussy willow) disperse their seeds in a shower of white fluff. During shedding, which can last for much or all of the month, the white seeds floating through the air are a very common sight and can be mistaken at a casual glance for gnats or other tiny insects. The ground beneath trees can be thickly carpeted with fluff.
Female osiers (very rare in the south east and associated with wetland areas) release seeds at much the same time as goat willow.
On crack willow the yellow male catkins may have fallen in late April: if not, they do so in the first half of May. On the ground they sometimes look like curly caterpillars. The female catkins (on different trees) remain green until the second half of May or the first half of June when they turn brown and produce lots of fluffy white seed. This they release into the air, adding to the very similar pussy willow seeds floating around. The female catkins then fall to the ground, making a thick carpet under the tree.
White willow keeps both male and female catkins into May (again, on different trees). The male ones usually turn yellow and start to fall in the first half of the month. The female ones remain until the second half of May or early in June and then turn fluffy and disperse their seeds.
Norway maple has seeds from the start of the month, but it is often not until around the second week that field maple flowers begin morphing into the familiar winged seeds, while on sycamore this happens anytime from the second week to early June, depending on how long the flowers last (see above).
They look quite fascinating when half way through this process - the new seeds forming in the midst of the dying flower. Sycamore seeds initially look like small horseshoes, hanging in the same shape as the flowers, and only later grow to the large V shaped seeds that we are more familiar with.
Sometimes one or other of these species will shed some of its young seeds, presumably either surplus to requirements or blown off by the weather: you see a carpet of them on the ground under the tree. The sycamore or field maple seeds that remain on the tree may take on a bright red tinge.
Hornbeam seed clusters are part-formed at the start of the month and grow into their final mature form in the second or third week, though in 2020 and 2024 there were hardly any due to very few male catkins appearing in April.
Once the petals of horse chestnut flowers fall away later in the month they reveal tiny green conkers. Initially erect like the flower spikes but destined to start drooping in June, many fall off before becoming ripe in the autumn.
Ash seeds are mentioned above: forming from the female flowers, at first they are in erect fans, but fairly early in the month they start to hang down in bunches of green "keys". In 2022 there were almost none, due presumably to some failure of flowering.
Green nut cases with brown hairs are seen on beech trees almost as soon as its flowers fall in the first half, initially small but soon growing to full size. Birch produces a green seed cylinder, which looks very much like a fattened catkin (it is in fact the fertilised female catkin): this remains on the tree until the winter, when it finally breaks up into seeds. Alder has the green cylindrical beginnings of its new cones.
Elm seeds fall during the month, often alerting you to the presence of the tree which otherwise is rather inconspicuous in the landscape: the timing of this seems to be very variable, however. The ones you see are nearly always wych elms, which is actually our native species; one clue to identification is the sharply tapering point to their leaves. English elms, which once dominated the countryside but were in fact an introduced species, are generally now only present as hedgerow shrubs.
The new seed balls of London plane, formed from the female flowers, are still brown and quite small at the start of the month: during May they get slowly bigger and turn more greenish, though they have not achieved full size by the end of the month. (All this is hard to see as they are high up and hidden among the foliage.) Last year's brown seed balls are also often still on the tree and sometimes they choose May to fall and disperse their seed, making a mess on city pavements - but timing for this is very variable.
You can see maroon cones (the fertilised female flowers) on larch trees, about half-sized at the start of the month but full-sized and brown by the end, when they may only be distinguishable from last year's cones (which remain on the tree) by their smooth surface.
Unripe green fruits you may see in May include plums, sloes (tiny at the start of the month: more full-sized towards its end), cherry plums, and tiny apples (if the trees have blossomed in late April).
Wild cherries quickly grow to their full size, which is much smaller than a commercial cherry: by the end of the month they may be showing a reddish blush. Cascades of tiny green redcurrants are visible from the start of the month and by mid May are full-sized. By the month's end they may be showing a bit of yellow, orange or red tint.
Green cherry laurel berries - initially tiny ovals - emerge from among the faded remains of the flowers in the early part of the month: in the second half they grow to near full-size, but are still oval rather than the round shape they will eventually become. Green haws on hawthorn and the proto-berries on common whitebeam are also initially hidden under the dead remains of the flowers.
Once rowan has finished flowering it also produces green berries, and there are also tiny green ones on holly - the former centre of the female flowers, as mentioned above. Fading wayfaring tree flowers transform into flat heads of green seeds, sometimes tipped with red.
More May pages:
- Woodland, meadow and field flowers
- Wayside flowers
- Downland and seaside flowers
- Birds
- Butterflies and insects
- Weather
© Peter Conway 2006-2026 • All Rights Reserved
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