Well, my friends, we’ve made it to the last week of Spring Blooms presented by Wild Birds Unlimited. This is the final update of 2025, and I’ll (try to) keep it brief. There is so much happening at Newfields this week that you probably don’t need your garden hype-woman to get you here. The 142nd Annual Meeting and official opening of Glick Fountain on Wednesday, May 7, plus a weekend stuffed to the gills with brand-new iteration of THE LUME Indianapolis featuring Connection: Land, Water, Sky - Art & Music from Indigenous Australians and, last but not least, Mother’s Day will provide more to do and see than any one person can fully enjoy in a single day (good thing we have weekend packages!). I will chronicle a few botanical treats to seek out while you’re here, though! 

Background: Korean lilacs Foreground: Spanish bluebells (Hyacinthoides sp.) 

Korean lilacs are filling the warm air with their sweet scent this week. Their amorphous plumes of purple flowers beckoning us in for closer inspection. Spanish bluebells (Hyacinthoides sp.) create a cerulean carpet in numerous locations throughout The Garden. 

Ornamental onions (Allium sp.)

It wouldn’t be the last week of Spring Blooms if we weren’t celebrating the whimsical ornamental onions (Allium sp.) blooming everywhere in The Garden. Their fluffy flower heads beg me to bat them around like a cat with an overpriced toy. I’ll be good, I promise, and won’t maim any blooms so everyone else can enjoy them too. The cuteness aggression will have to be reserved for the plants in my home garden. The bed just outside of the Richard D. Wood Formal Garden has at least four different types that I saw. Maybe by this weekend you can spot even more. 

Container at Garden Terrace

The latest blooming annuals like snapdragons and ranunculus are a highlight this week. We have had an exceptionally good year for pansies and violas. How many of the 20 cultivars can you spot before they’re gone for the season? 

The Gene & Rosemary Tanner Orchard

Don’t sleep on The Gene & Rosemary Tanner Orchard. It was the highlight of my morning walkaround and I wanted to stay tucked among the blooming perennials. Bluestars (Amsonia sp.) are showing their full baby-blue blooms, while golden ragwort (Packera aurea) and marsh spurge (Euphorbia palustris) are glowing in the background. The false-indigo (Baptisia ‘Lemon Meringue’) are also getting ready to bloom as clear-yellow flowers beginning to peek out from smoky purple buds. 

The Garden is going through its next seasonal transformation. We’re shaking off the reliance on the loud, in your face, grab hold and don’t let go bulb displays and developing a more nuanced palette. Only this flavor profile isn’t bitter like coffee, nor does it burn like your first sip of alcohol. No, this sensation is one of softness. It’s a blurred edge that feels like drifting off for a sun-soaked Sunday nap. A place where the urgency and rush of the world can fall away if you’re willing to let it. Flowers, foliage textures, and intricate details–some designed and some serendipitous–are anywhere you wish to find them. 

To me, one of the most impactful things about a well-designed garden or natural space is that I can feel any number of things as I wander–curious, contemplative, serene, rejuvenated–but may not be able to pinpoint exactly why. Plants and nature have a unique way of shifting our senses in ways that we don’t get to experience in our cubicles or in the cocoons of our living room couches. While Spring Blooms may be nearing its end, The Garden, Madeline F. Elder Greenhouse, and The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park are still here to offer solace, comfort, and an immersive escape from daily routine all year long.   

With Love Until Next Year,
 
Jaime Frye