Springing Ahead.

4-18-16 SHORT HILLS: We had an easy trip back to NJ on Sunday. The trips back and forth seem like time travel to me. I left brown lawns and almost no flowers and plants just starting to come up, but I returned to green grass and trees and flowers in bloom and temps in the seventies. Here the early trees are leafing out, apple, pear, cherry maple, chestnut.

Those two spells of sub-freezing temps did serious injury to the hydrangeas. They had leaves open that were frozen and now show no sign of life. I hope they will re-open after they think it over. The bleeding hearts and roses seem to be recovering.

New blooms: dogwood, violet, trout lily, currant, barberry.


Marsh marigold is one of a number of flowers that have re-bloomed. It had opened before our mini-winter, but the flowers disappeared, but now have reappeared.

Purple lamium is the first of our four to open, pink, yellow, white are others.

The quince flowers are white when they open, see post of 4-1-16, but turn pink as they age. the native color is red.

One of my favorite daffodils.