White flowers.

White lightning.

White weddings.

White sport coats (with pink carnations of course).

White lies.

It is also a color, or the absence of color. Let’s not get all philosophical about that. For today it’s a color.

Let’s get back to those white flowers. White, the color of purity. White, the color of angel’s wings. White, the color of Styrofoam. White, the color of boring. I’m just not a big fan of white. Not that there is anything wrong with it. It looks great…….. in your garden. I tend to avoid it like the plague. Really it’s the white flowering herbaceous stuff I can get bored with quickly. Not everything mind you. I have sung the praises of Echinacea ‘Milkshake’ and Hosta plantaginea ‘Grandiflora’ right here in this very blog. But white flowering annuals? Ooooo, I don’t think so Martha. Nasty. And yet, I seem to like many of the white flowering trees and shrubs. I can’t explain why. Or at least I’m not willing to sit and spend much time trying to figure it out. I like them and that will have to suffice.

I have liked Viburnums since I first learned of them in college. This large diverse group of shrubs provides us with some of the great workhorses of horticulture. A particular favorite is Viburnum plicatum var. tomentosum. The common name is doublefile viburnum because the flowers and fruit are in perfectly matched double rows along the stems. This plant gets big over time, several feet tall and wide. I think you could trim it to create a very nice small tree. Many cultivars exist but it is still hard to beat the species. The group planted below the Interurban bridge is exceptional.

That siting, so you can look down over the plants was inspired. This viburnum has great structure with its layered horizontal branching. The lacey white flowers will be followed by red berries that turn black and then quickly devoured by birds. In fall the foliage turns deep burgundy before dropping. Here’s a shot in the Southwest Border Garden that gives and idea of how large they can get.

Blooming at the 42^nd Street gate is Syringa reticulata, Japanese tree lilac. The large creamy white clusters are fragrant for sure. Whether it is good or bad fragrance is up to the individual nose. These have been used as a small street tree in recent years which speaks to their toughness. I think this plant draping over the brick wall is just lovely.

A great small shrub is Deutzia gracilis, slender deutzia. Here it is creating a fountain in front of the Northeast Border Garden.

Here’s a close-up of the flowers.

These were planted 13 years ago by Chuck Gleaves (our Director of Horticulture at that time), now at The Kingwood Center. They are still under four feet tall.

One of my very favorite trees is Chionanthus virginicus, whitefringe tree. This southeast US native is very happy here in the Midwest. These in the Southwest Border Garden are probably over 80 years old. They are just a few days shy of full bloom in these shots.

And now a tree that bloomed in our gardens for the very first time this week, Magnolia asheii. This is sometimes grouped with Magnolia macrophylla and is famous for blooming early. Charles Tubesing of the Holden Arboretum introduced this plant to me about 20 years ago. I can still see that slide of a three foot tall plant with a huge white flower right at the very tip. I almost missed ours in the Garden for Everyone. I had to use my iPhone.

I could go on but there is only so much time. Just come to the gardens regularly and look around. You really need to anyway. Once a week at the very least.

It’s Friday. And it’s been a long week. I think I’ll have another sip of that white lightening. It’s medicinal you know.

]]> http://www.imamuseum.org/blog/2010/05/21/white/feed/ 5 white flowers Indianapolis Museum of art 2 3 Indianapolis museum of art flowers garden and grounds Indianapolis museum of art flowers garden and grounds 6 Indianapolis museum of art flowers garden and grounds Indianapolis museum of art flowers garden and grounds Indianapolis museum of art flowers garden and grounds http://www.imamuseum.org/blog/2010/04/16/too-much-is-not-enough-or-never-too-much/ http://www.imamuseum.org/blog/2010/04/16/too-much-is-not-enough-or-never-too-much/#comments Fri, 16 Apr 2010 15:25:47 +0000 Irvin Etienne http://www.imamuseum.org/blog/?p=12057 Lawdy Mercy! Spring is coming on so fast and furious my head is spinning!

It’s almost too much yet it can never be too much. There’s stuff everywhere!I’ve been trying to photograph as much as possible and I can’t hardly keep up! Plus we have started planting over at 100 Acres while there’s still all the regular work to do. Let me just tell you it’s keeping me in a tizzy. And next week-end is the Perennial Premiere – Jumbo Size. Let’s face it. It’s the busy season.

But I refuse to ignore all the amazing and pretty plants putting on their big sex show this year. Yes, I said sex show. Those flowers you’re admiring ain’t for you. They are for the pollinators (more on National Pollinator Week later). But what the heck. Let’s be nasty voyeurs this week and take in the show.

If you have questions about any plants in particular, that’s why we have a comment section. I will try to find an answer for you.

I tried to find a video for the Forester Sisters’ “Too Much is Not Enough” but had no luck. So ……..

Saw several feathered and furred creatures on the river – a great blue heron (twice), mallard and bufflehead ducks, and three beavers. One beaver was quite unperturbed by my presence as I hung back to try to get some better shots. I started taking pictures when it was far out in the river.

It kept coming closer.

And closer.

And finally ended up back on the tree we scared it from originally.

And there was one muskrat swimming in some open water in the mostly frozen lake. Like it was lookin’ for something. It’s close enough to spring, do you think…

Folks started getting out in the gardens this week to do some work. Always good to get back outside even if it is still a bit nippy. I had hoped for more sun on Tuesday to cut the chill. So I went back inside to jump-start the blog when it felt like it was still below freezing. But before I came in I did a little Horticulture Recon. Noticed the Hamamelis (witchhazel) buds were showing color with bits of red, orange, and yellow peeking through. They make me think of carrot curls made from the cultivar Purple Dragon.

The Cornus mas (cornelian cherry dogwood) buds always make me think spring will be here any day when I know damn good and well it won’t.

The super hardy and tough Helleborus x hybridus (Lenten rose) are pushing their buds up through last year’s mulch and leaves. Even the light colored ones have lots of purple pigment in the stems and buds.

Then I found these blooms, actual blooms, on the yellow primroses. Talk about spring-like.

I probably mention all these plants every year. And I probably will still do so when I am 107 (that’s pronounced “a hundred and seven” not “one hundred seven”). Every year it’s such a thrill to go out in the gardens and find new growth or new flower buds. It doesn’t matter how many Februaries before I’ve gone out and found the same plants doing the same things. Each year I get all giddy and excited again. Not that there aren’t dark moments in the time before that happens. Indeed, there are some very dark times. Some excerpts follow.

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December 22. 2009

Plant orders in. Now the wait to see if suppliers can fulfill my dreams. Holidays coming. Taking extra time off. Cold and gray but hopefully no snow for traveling.

December 25, 2009

Cooking for family Christmas dinner – three pork loins, two baking chickens, five pounds green beans, ten pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, lemon bars, lemon pound cake, two kinds of gravy, macaroni and cheese. With help of siblings fed 46. Weather was nice.

December 27, 2009

Cold. But hey, it’s still the holiday period.

December 31, 2009

Happy New Year! Made Pioneer Woman’s Holiday Bacon Appetizers – both kinds. Cold but no precip.

January 04, 2010

First day back to work after Holidays. Low of 1 last night. High of 18 today. Normal is 35 and 19. Welcome back! Winter will never end.

Janyary 07, 2010

Nearly 4 inches of snow. More cold. Began sticking pins in Chad voodoo doll. It’s only right because he is in Panama not suffering from Indiana winter.

January 08, 2010

Colder. Low of 9 last night. Shoved pins deeper into Chad voodoo doll. Looked at new seed and plant catalogues to get some relief from cold and gray.

January 11, 2010

First day of furlough. Very cold. Low of 5. Began baking – Lemon Bars, then Brownies. Must build up thicker fat layer.

January 13, 2010

Low temps barely make it out of single digits. Highs barely make it above freezing. Put Chad voodoo doll in oven. Turned oven up to broil.

January 15, 2010

Woke up this morning on the kitchen floor. Three empty butter boxes strewn across the floor and butter wrappers stuck in my hair. Don’t remember anything. Later found an empty half and half carton next to computer. Last log-in was to Land-O-Lakes site. Towards evening an odd text message from someone called “The Milkman”.

January 18

Chad back from vacation (he can’t figure out what the ring of ash-like stuff is around his chair). Temperatures moderate. Soil frozen solid. Search for sun continues. More catalogues arrive to distract from gray skies.

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But now the days are so much longer and we had sun a few times this week. Makes you almost forget the bad times. Of course there are several weeks of winter left. Butter was on sale…

Icy roads. Short days. Bitter winds. Freezing temperatures. The bloody freaking temperatures absolutely scream winter. It’s especially a slap in the face after the extremely long beautiful autumn. But that was then and this is now and winter will be what it wants to be.

On December 2nd this is what some Echinacea ‘Sundown’ and a Campanula ‘Viking’ looked like.

On December 7th this is what my ‘Rocket Lemon’ snapdragons looked like. A lot can change in 5 days.

Now ideally you want some snow cover for the plants when it gets down in the low teens and below. Most plants are fine though. But what of my slightly more tender stuff where I’m pushing the zone envelope? Makes me a bit antsy to say the least. I should have got mulch around the other set of Colocasia ‘Tea Cups’ in my backyard. At least I got one group mulched. Maybe it’s a good experiment. See who makes it. Or doesn’t. The perennials and small shrubs that went in the ground late are a concern. I would have liked them to have a month or so of “normal” winter temperatures before the deep-freeze hit. Here again may be a good experiment.
Of course the cold weather does tend to make the Christmas decorations around the Lilly House just a little brighter. Whether it’s the trees indoors or the ones outdoors.

And it makes the 750 or so luminaria we put out for the Open House and Winter Solstice all the more beautiful. If you missed Open House you can redeem yourself by being sure to attend the Solstice events on the evening of the 17th. Just the thought of all of you coming warms my frozen candle lighting fingers right back up to blood flowing temperatures. The luminaria are truly magical.

With the snow that fell Monday morning came a reminder of why I do like winter at the same time I hate it. Hard to beat snow with evergreen foliage.

And if you can add some holly berries, well, all the better.

These shots may clue some folks in on why we don’t cut every dormant plant to the ground in late fall. All those seed heads make the best little presentation platters for the snow. They’re just beautiful.

Astilbe.

Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’.

Clematis tangutica ‘Aureola’.

Echinacea ‘Milkshake’. The seeds in there will feed the birds too.

So Winter, bring it on. Just like with people, I can’t make you do what is best so I’ll survive your spastic attentions as best I can and wait for Spring – which of course will come in like a lion and go out like a lamb. Whatever.

Audience at The Toby

We have a lot to offer at the IMA: permanent galleries, Lilly House, 152 acres of gardens and grounds, exhibitions, public programs, web projects, and community outreach. After a while, it’s easy to take for granted all of the ways that the museum serves its mission. Every week I write ads, print pieces, Facebook updates, and blogs that focus on the opportunities for visitors at the IMA, but I often don’t take advantage of them myself.

Just 30 seconds from where I sit, I have an amazingly impressive collection of the world’s art, and I rarely take the time to see it. I’m not sure if it’s my hectic schedule or laziness, but it’s shameful to me how little time I spend in the galleries or at the IMA’s public programs. As a marketer, I spend my day encouraging others to experience the IMA, but I wouldn’t be doing my job well unless I do it myself. Therefore, I have recently decided to attend two public programs each month and spend at least 30 minutes in the galleries each week. It’s still not enough, but it’s a start.

As part of my personal mission to experience the museum, a week ago Sunday, I attended an event at The Toby. On November 1, the IMA hosted the string quartet Osso, the singer-songwriter DM Stith as well as Sufjan Stevens and his film, The BQE. The eclectic event entertained a sold-out crowd of 600. As I sat in the balcony of the theater next to a 16-year-old hipster in buffalo check plaid, skinny jeans and black framed glasses, my heart swelled. He and his fellow high school friends were completely engaged in the experience. They were giddy with delight. (In a cool, hipster sort of way, of course.)

DM Stith on stage at The Toby

I loved the event, because Osso was the most bad@ss string quartet that I’ve ever seen perform. I loved the event, because DM Stith has a hauntingly gorgeous voice. I loved the event because The BQE was a devastatingly beautiful film. But, most of all, I loved the event because everyone else loved the event.

As a marketer, I often focus on the cause. “What will make a person attend the Museum?” But not often enough do I focus on the effect. “What happens when a person attends the Museum?” Attending public programs, walking through the galleries, and experiencing the IMA as a visitor are all critical to doing my job well. By taking time to enjoy the mission of what I do, I am better able to serve it.

So, with all that said, I have a challenge to my colleagues in the field – not just marketers, but registrars, curators, designers, IT specialists, and accountants. EXPERIENCE YOUR MUSEUM. Don’t take for granted that you work at an amazing place. Be amazed by the place at which you work.

It’s hard, I know. We have all have priorities that pull us away, but I implore you to take the time. For just a little while each week, stop working and start experiencing. I guarantee you, it’s worth it – and I’m not just saying that because I work in marketing.

See? Wasn’t that easy to understand? I bet you are already half way out the door to find a tree to hug. Well go ahead. You can come back later to finish this blog.

Now I could go on and on about how much carbon trees soak up, or how they lower the temperatures especially in urban areas, or how they increase the value of your home. But really, does everything in nature have to do something for us or have economic value as a prerequisite for us to care about it? Can’t we just appreciate the trees for what they are? Do you hug your family and friends so you can get close enough to rummage through their pockets for a few dollars? Really people. I’ll stop ranting now.

A musical interlude to calm my nerves.

National Tree Hugger Day is sponsored by American Forests (a conservation group founded in 1875) and IKEA (a fabulous place to shop founded in 1943). They have been working together on environmental projects since 1998. I have been to forests in America and to IKEA and I can honestly say on both accounts – Loved it!

So now that you have decided you are going to hug a tree where do you find one to hug? I like the idea of hugging one near your own home. You know: Think globally, hug locally. But if you cannot find one near you, or you just can’t stop once you start, then come on over to our trees at the IMA. We have lots of huggable trees. Please be careful not to step on surrounding plants. Bad Tree Hugger! Bad!

We love our trees so much here at the IMA that some of us got an early start this week.

Here Katie hugs a sugar maple by our offices.

Jim hugging an American beech along the horseshoe drive at Lilly House.

Native Hoosier Gwyn with a native Tulip poplar.

Another musical interlude.

Some trees are so large it takes a group to hug them properly. Katie’s out of view. This is our big ash tree near Garden Terrace.

Another group hug on the Sutphin Mall red maples.

So as you can see, one can celebrate National Tree Hugger Day alone or with family and friends. Just be sure to get out there and start hugging.

Of course what tree blog would be complete without this song to get stuck in your head all week-end. Enjoy, my tree hugging friends.

I get to the point that I’m either begging for frost to come and take out the garden or begging for one more day above freezing so there won’t be any damage. Gardening schizophrenia. It doesn’t happen so much with things here at the IMA, but at home ….. well, that’s another story.
As if the gardening I normally do at my quaint little domicile isn’t sufficient to fill many of my waking hours, this year I decided to plant the entire backyard. Down went cardboard, paperboard, and paper feed bags followed by my special rabbit and chicken manure mulch.

Poof! The grass was gone. Unfortunately the dandelions, violets, and bind weed were not as cooperative and they accounted for at least half of my “turf”. But really the only serious weeding I had to do in these new areas was the bindweed. Next year there will be plenty of glyphosate sprayed on the beast. Because I’m going to have so much more free time? Who the hell am I kidding? Whatever. Hopefully I will manage to get a good spray program going because pulling the damn things does not work.
Perhaps the truly scary part of all this is the fact I was able to fill nearly all that space.

It’s hard to believe I once thought it was too much area. Not true. Not true at all. By the end of August, I was searching for more open ground. By early September I finally kind of gave up, though I am sure I will put a few more things in the ground about ten minutes before frost hits. I really am crazy! Why didn’t you people tell me?

Overall, I have been pretty-well pleased with the results. My new dahlias grew and bloomed beautifully.

My tomatoes went in late, but got huge.

My favorite is the variegated one that Gwyn gave me. That’s a feral petunia with it. They just show up every so often.

Even the fruit is variegated.

The Colocasia ‘Thai Giant Strain’ got fairly gigantic, almost six feet tall, but I know I can get it bigger.

And it has a lovely bloom.

I didn’t feel there was quite enough color, so I enhanced some Paulownia stems with paint (Mango Madness).

Then to give everything a little sparkle, a scattering of wine bottles, blue mostly.

Anyway, soon I will be having to answer the question that we all must face this time of year when the all-knowing weather forecasters say temperatures are dropping near freezing – Do I cover everything with sheets?
“The forecast says 34.”
“That’s not actually freezing.”
“But it’s only 2 degrees off.”
“Is it cloudy?”
“Any wind? Wind helps.”
“Unless it blows the sheets off and it drops to 31!”
“Aw crap! Because you know, you just know. After this one frost it’s going to be 70 for the next three weeks. “
“But I just want to get it over with. Let it die.”
“But if I cover it this one night I might have dahlias til Thanksgiving.”
If you haven’t lived it, well then, you just can’t understand it.
And if all that isn’t enough, when one finally decides it is time to give the garden over to Jack Frost and his evil sister Wanda Winter, one then must decide whom to save whom to leave to die. Gardening is not for the weak or the meek. But bi-polars do very well.

image courtesy of neatorama.com

I admit these temps are not ideal for maximum growth on my precious tropicals but for everything else (including me, okay, especially me) it’s fantastic. The Hydrangea paniculata ‘Kyushu’ along the mall has never been so happy. Not that they have looked bad other years. It’s just they look extra full this year.

The Sedum ‘Black Jack’ and ‘Matrona’ on the tunnel at the IMA entrance suffered in the spring with foliar disfigurement from fungus but now are glorious in their fall bloom, all covered in an assortment of bees (many of them of the honey variety).

I had not planned to have a mix of these two but nature thought otherwise. ‘Black Jack’ is a very dark burgundy mutation of the gray/green flushed with burgundy ‘Matrona’. But it is a rather unstable mutation and ‘Black Jack’ very easily reverts back to ‘Matrona’. Kinda like a politician heading to church on Sunday morning after a Saturday night full of debauchery in the clubs. Anyhow. We are now in September and the temps should begin cooling regardless of the summer weather pattern. The last several weeks before frost are the glory days for one of my favorite plants, dahlias. Though they bloom nicely all summer, it is here in the autumn when the sun looses a bit of its power and the nights cool that dahlias really start pumping out the blooms. It seems they are at their absolute zenith when the first frost hits. And I’m okay with that. Afterall, they have been blooming since July or earlier. Let the frost blacken them and send them off to their winter sleep. Come spring we will start all over again.

Dahlias were brought to Europe over two centuries ago from there homeland in Mexico and Central and South America. It was nearly 200 years before that when the Spanish conqusitadors first saw them in Mexico. The tubers were first tried as food. The Europeans found them rather bland though I think the petals will work nicely in a salad or as a decoration. After the food thing didn’t work out so well the blossoms were looked at and declared pretty enough for the garden. The modern dahlia was created using up to seven different species mostly from Mexico and Guatemala. You rarely find the species type today with the exception of the tree dahlia. Which as it turns out may be two distinct species, one white the other lavender. The tree dahlias can reach 25 – 30 feet in height but they take a long time to bloom so success this far north may not come every year. Nor will those heights. You can find more information in great detail from the American Dahlia Society. We grow several older cultivars here at the IMA. I think of them as justified and ancient.

Many of these came from Old House Gardens, a mail-order nursery that specializes in heirloom bulbs (and tubers and rhizomes). They have Dahlia atropurpurea introduced in 1789 which I should try one day. But for now we have plenty of others. Jersey’s Beauty is from 1923. It’s one of out tallest growing cultivars. I’ve seen ours over 6 feet tall.

One of the heaviest bloomers is ‘Glorie van Heemstede. It’s called a waterlily type because the flower shape is reminiscent of waterlily blossoms.

Another yellow but with small ball shaped flowers is ‘Yellow Gem’. This one dates back to 1914.

Introduced in 1944, ‘Sherwood Peach’ has the largest flowers of the heirloom varieties we grow. The big peach flowers have a hint of lavender in them with makes them all the more beautiful.

I first tried to just cut the fully open flower and leave the lateral buds. I couldn’t get enough stem for it to be useful. I now cut the stem longer and the lateral buds add can be cut off or left be. The heirloom that really brought dahlias back to forefront of current garden design beginning in the early to mid 90’s has to be ‘Bishop of Llandaff’ introduced in 1927.

The screaming scarlet flowers combined with black lacy foliage make it an absolute standout in the garden.

I’m quite certain it is in the parentage of most of the current dark leaved plants on the market including ‘Bishop’s Children’ (duh) and the Happy Single® series (They couldn’t find Happy Marrieds?) We have three that I just call by their color as they were purchased before individual names were given like Happy Single® Romeo™ from Proven Winners. Just look at all those trademark symbols. I call the ones we have simply Happy Single® red, lavender, and amber.

I wish I had space and time to go into the modern cultivars but I fear I may have said too much already. So much to tell you all about. All the plants I mentioned growing here can be found in the cutting garden adjacent to the IMA Greenhouse.