Don't forget the fringetree

My friend Lindsey and I came across this big beautiful Chinese fringetree (Chionanthus retusus) after a party this week at The New York Botanical Garden. This amazingly fragrant tree blooms in mid-spring and fills the air with the smell of sweet almonds and honey for a fair distance. The flowers look like white feathers (or indeed flapper fringe) and hang off the branches in tiered clouds. You can see that we are both happy to be communing with it.

You can buy seedlings of this species of fringetree by mail-order at Forestfarm.