It’s always a bit of a mad dash to do the change-outs. As soon as that is done the dahlias and other summer blooming bulbs need to get in the ground and then we just wait for the 80+ degree temperatures (though I prefer 72 with a gentle breeze).

In my areas it was not a great spring for pansies. I think perhaps it was a bit too wet. They just refused to grow much so never filled in completely and produced fewer blooms. From a distance they looked fine. Up close they looked puny. The little birds that have nested in the pansies around the Sutphin Fountain for the last two years never even bothered to show up this year.

Everything else Spring-inclined had a good season – perennials, shrubs, trees, bulbs. Sorry about those little tulips in the Formal garden Patty. Damn squirrels. The white fringetree, Chionanthus virginicus, looked great this week.

This is why they are called white fringetree.

Not sure what they will be by the week-end with all the rain. This native makes a great small tree with year round interest – flowers now followed by bold leaves that turn yellow in the fall, then a nice shape to the branching structure for winter. These in the Southwest Border Garden are part of the original plantings at Oldfields.

Also looking great this week was the double-file viburnum, Viburnum plicatum forma tomentosum. This plant has great horizontal branching all the more evident when in full bloom.

I think it could be pruned into a super patio tree. You can see how the double row of blossoms, accompanied by a double row of leaves and followed by a double row of berries gave it the name double-file.

The double flowered form of this plant is the Japanese snowball viburnum or Viburnum plicatum forma plicatum. It was one of those rare instances where the sterile form of the plant was found first so when they found the fertile form the species already had a name so… I can’t go into the explanation right now. I also won’t go into the details of the difference between forma, variety, and subspecies today. But all the same there will be a test next Thursday so you better look it up on your own.

We will be hosting the Region III meeting of the Garden Writers Association (GWA) this Friday and Saturday with tours here, plus Garfield Park and local private gardens. Our publication Seasons won a Silver Award of Achievement for Overall Product – Newsletter  which makes us eligible for the Gold Award for Best Product to be given at the national GWA meeting in September. Our very own Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp, IMA Horticulture Society director and the Hoosier Gardener, is a National Director of GWA.  I’m sure you have read her articles in the Indy Star and many know she is editor of Indiana Living Green magazine.

Speaking of green, have you checked out Isabella Rosellini and Green Porno on the Sundance channel? The beautiful and funny Isabella presented first rate scientific information on the sex lives of insects last season and this season is covering marine animals. I absolutely love the costumes and sets. Incredible. And Isabella. What can I say? Maybe she will do the plants next? Come on Isabella, let’s do it.