Sweet Spire...

Sweetspire.  That is the nickname of the plant in the photo. Itea viriginica.  Another of those blooming attractions I knew nothing about before my work at Bayou Bend.  Oddly enough, I now have my own children asking me the name of garden plants as if I were my mother - who has been a life-long lover of plants and gardens and digging in the dirt.  Being thought of as any sort of "expert" on plant life is a new and strange feeling for me.

One thing I have noticed about sweetspire, however, is that it is one of those plants that, during the winter, or dormant periods, it just simply looks like a dead woody bunch of dark-colored sticks.  One would be thoroughly tempted to just pull it out as a failed experiment.  But no.  With the patience of the spring, little leaves start to sprout, and when all is decked out in green once more, the wise gardener is blessed with these feathery white blossoms.  Not particularly flashy. Not brightly colored with eye-catching enormous blooms. Just these subtle, graceful reminders that what may have been ugly a few months ago has been transformed with sun, warmth, and enough rain to keep the cycle in place.  I can love that simplicity.