Starting A Bit Slow...

Above is the ripening fruit (drupe) of the fringetree (Chionanthus virginicus) in our color rooms garden. This is one of the female plants that had wonderful white spring blooms and many would consider these fruits quite ornamental. Native to the southeast, this woody plant is hardy in our climate and does well as an understory tree in part shade. Although slow-growing, it is always a showstopper when in spring bloom (see to left).


The plant sale seems a bit slow today and we hope it picks up soon. Janice is working with seven volunteers out in the gardens as part of our workday while Larry is out running irrigation and prepping two garden spaces for weddings later today. See our youngest volunteer today, Lilly, to the right! At that age, trains are more important than cutting back irises! Dr. Gredler was here to make a dump run and Maury hauled two loads of cardboard flats from the grocery store for our plant sale. There is plenty of wonderful plant sale help and the weather is divine. I'm leaving early today (noon) to participate in a vegan chili cookoff competition (sponsored by The Alliance for Animals www.allanimals.org/). Hopefully the blog tomorrow will allude to my crushing victory. Below is a nice "hodge podge" of annuals in front of the Parker Education Center that has a variegated morning glory (Ipomoea nil 'Mini Bar Rose') weaving thru it. Marianne planted 50 or seeds of this morning glory out there in June and it has become an awesome accent plant.