Game of Thorns.

6-5-11 SHORT HILLS: I hate pruning barberries and roses. I always get thorned in the thumb or elsewhere, the stickers find a way to get through gloves, or they get you during clean up of the cuttings, or both. That’s a hint to what I did today, pruned and weeded, weeded and pruned.

In the past few days I moved some iris from a dark spot to a sunnier one, but mostly pruned and weeded and cleaned up.

The hot weather is gone, for now, and it’s been cool, overcast and very windy until today.

New blooms: elderberry, white rhododendron, asian holly, hibiscus [an indoor plant on summer vacation on the patio].


I love the peach color of the buds and central petals. On this bush, they fade to white, and some of the flowers have a pinkish tinge.