Rainy Spell.

5-19-15 SHORT HILLS: We have had a lot of fog and rain with temps in the sixties. The rain was much needed. The cooler days didn’t slow the parade of spring blooms.

Val, Maggie and Lucy visited on Sunday, one of them no longer has braces. Another one of them has finished her sophomore year at Hampshire College.

Most of the plants that I was concerned about are OK. The crepe myrtle is alive, but growing anew from its base. None of the upper branches are showing any new leaves. With a healthy root system large enough to support the shrub that it was last year, it should rebound fairly well.

New blooms: wild cherry, red chokeberry, Asian lilac, rhododendron, weigela, lily-of-the-valley, gill-over-the-ground.


A new cluster of white flowers - this one is red chokeberry.

Asian lilac, just as aromatic as the French lilac.

Black wild cherry blooms with tassel-like flower clusters.

Rhododendron. One of almost 30,000 cultivars.