Tomatoes Have Arrived.

5-28-20 VERMONT: On the ninth of this month, we had two inches of snow, but slightly more than two weeks later, it hit 90° and set state records many places. By this weekend, we’ll be back to seasonal temps—whatever that means now. With no rain, I’ve put out hoses and started to water the beds.

I was at Gardener’s Supply, née Longacre’s, and Home Depot to get tomatoes and herbs. This year, as last year, I don’t have a veggie garden, but we will make do with tomatoes in pots on the deck and herbs, some in pots and some in the herb bed. I got two ‘Sun Sugar’ cherry tomatoes, one ‘Early Girl’ and one ‘Big Beef’ all now enjoying full sun on the deck. I made pots of basil, rosemary, and oregano to grace the picnic table, and added curly parsley and another oregano to the herb bed, which has thyme, tarragon, chives, sage that over-wintered and Lily’s garlic starts from last week.

Add watering, weeding, pruning and counting new blooms, those are my days. Also I tried making a few channels in the swampy spots for drainage, I’ll see if it helps.

I haven’t put the bird seed feeders back out since the bears were here, but will try again in a couple of days. Judy brought her pumpkin cart out of the barn and set it up with a flower basket. As happens every year there are several holes in the beds where some perennial or other didn’t survive the winter. There are at least six or eight now. While I will miss the missing, it gives me a chance for something new or to try some favorite in a new spot. I’ll wait a little longer for late sleepers to awaken before pronouncing them dead.

New blooms: azalea, lilac, quince, honeysuckle bush, blueberry, coral bells, geranium.

The hummingbirds have drained this feeder, 16 oz., in about two weeks.

Our big apple tree is usually covered with white flowers, looking like snow. This year there are many fewer blossoms, but Gus is still pleased with the show.

Japanese or drumstick primrose are getting started on the bank of the old pond.

Azalea will put on an impressive display that I hope to show in a week of so.

Quince has been open for a while, but I missed the actual start, probably a week ago.

Spring classic-lilac. These are French lilacs, the Asian ones appear later.

Mohican viburnum is the first of several viburnums here. Classic white flower half-domes with yellow stamen.

Bears and Bridges.

5-25-20 VERMONT: It remains desert dry except for the swampy areas that still have standing water. If it doesn’t rain soon, I’ll have to start watering.

It turns out that the bird feeders didn’t fall on their own, they were pulled down by a pair of bears that have been exploring the neighborhood at night. The next night the feeder was again pulled down and smashed and all the seeds were eaten. Our garbage can, was also attacked and inverted and the contents strewn around the garage. The bears were also mean to hostas and trillium under the feeders.

Our neighbor Randy has a ring video cam, and the bears were caught in his yard, looking black and full-sized, early on the 23rd. Now the feeders are empty, the two remaining ones, and are hanging on a wrought iron pole waiting for a week to pass. I think we’ll have to bring them in at night for a while. We’re keeping the garbage in the cellar.

The bridge is finished. It took two days and seems quite secure. I used two rescued, concrete piers from the barn repair last summer as abutments. They were each 4 feet long and about 1 foot square and very heavy. I needed tractor help from neighbor Steve to set them in place last fall. I leveled them, made them parallel and at the same height before the winter. They settled in nicely for this spring.

I anchored 2x4’s to the abutments and attached planking, 2x10, 2x8, and 2x6 to the anchored wood to build the bridge. I will need to beef up the earthen access ramps.

Since then, it’s back to pruning, weeding, clearing deadfall and winter-kill. I put up supports for the peonies and meadow rue.

I saw the first June bugs and a Red Admiral butterfly.

New blooms: apple tree, Mohican viburnum, jack-in-the-pulpit, lily-of-the-valley, Japanese primrose, buttercup, sweet woodruff, spurge, epimedium, ajuga.

Here's the bridge being constructed over the new brook between the old pond and the new one.

I build bridges, not walls.

Neighbor Randy has a ring video cam and caught two bears late the other night. First bear entering the field.

First bear leaving the second bear entering.

The second bear in the picture field. Thanks, Randy, for the images.

Garbage assault.

Buntings and Butterflies.

5-21-20 VERMONT: Today was in the eighties after a chilly start. We have had several days without rain, and things are getting too dry. Many chores to mention, lots of pruning and weeding, I transplanted some bunches of yellow flag iris to the new brook and waterfall, which is now almost dry. The yard below the new dam is still swampy while everything else is dry and dusty.

I put up some of the flowerbed barriers and will need to start plant supports soon.

We are out of Covid quarantine now, and I went to Home Depot and bought PT wood for the bridge over the new brook.

The low, dead pine branch holding up the bird feeders broke off scattering seed and feeders, one feeder cover was smashed. I put the smaller feeder back up on the same branch for now and put the larger feeder on a different, live apple tree branch. The day before the accident we had cameo from our Indigo Bunting, but no recurrent visit and no calls either. Also we had a Baltimore Oriole for a few days—an infrequent visitor. He was back for follow up visits the next few days, but hasn’t been back since I filled the oriole feeder.

Yesterday I saw the first dramatic butterfly, a Black Swallowtail, I think. There have been a few, small white butterflies and moths at night. Also, while I’m on insects, lots of black flies and the first fireflies.

The turtle count is up to four.

New blooms: white trillium, johnny-jump-up, alkanet, pink lamium.

Indigo bunting, cameo appearance a few days ago, he's here, on and off, most summers, but only this once so far this year.

A sometime visitor, Baltimore oriole, was here for a few days until the branch holding the bird feeders broke, and the feeders fell. I put out an oriole feeder, which is filled with sugar water like the hummer feeders, but only those hummers are using it.

Speaking of hummingbirds, this is what I see from my desk. I took the screen down for better watching.

A better look at Mr. H.

White trillium, the third leaflet is in the back.

Star magnolia is the only magnolia hardy for Zone 4, but we are slowly creeping into Zone 5.

The houses from behind the new pond.

Another oriole visit.

Butterflies are just turning up here, I think this is a Black Swallowtail on a dandelion.

May Update.

5-17-20 VERMONT: The last few days have been seasonable and nice, and I’ve done a lot of stuff. With Judy’s help, all the summer benches, hammock, rowboat at out of storage and in their usual spots except that we moved one bench to the side of the new pond. The screens are up and the storms put away, the pasture gate is up, some of the flower-bed barriers are up, more deadfall has been cleared, the fertilizing is done for the spring. I’m sure I forgot to list some other completed chores.

A pair of rose-breasted grosbeaks, the female is mostly brown, have been at the feeders.

I reworked the bottom of the new brook where it enters the old pond to improve the flow. The areas below the new dam and the old pond are quite wet and may need some drainage assistance.

The trees are leafing out and the perennials popping up so fast, you can almost see it happening.   

New blooms: star magnolia, Virginia blue bells, pearlie everlasting.

Lafayette and Moosilauke both have a lot of snow cover as of a few days ago.

Three turtles soaking up the rays. They need the heat to run their matabolism.

Rose-breasted grosbeak and the Mrs. were at the feeder all day yesterday.

The Battle of the Birds-territorial dispute? The one on the left is shown below, a sapsucker or hairy woodpecker, the other is un-ID'd.

Hairy woodpecker or sapsucker? Anyone?

The Snow Is Gone.

5-11-20 VERMONT: The Polar Vortex that gave us the snow, wind and cold last week seems to be receding back to the pole. Today was pretty nice until it started to rain.

I did a bunch of small chores including a make-shift bridge over the pasture brook using the part of the barn ramp that was cut off during the repair work last summer. I supported it with a couple pieces of scrap 4X4. I also did some dead fall clean up, got the last of the scrap pile ready for burning, and pulled up some garlic mustard, a nasty invader.

There was a Hermit Thrush, a White-throated Sparrow and a Chipping Sparrow at the feeder a few days ago. Today I saw a Common Yellowthroat perched on a cattail stalk but didn’t have a cam or phone.

New blooms: red trillium, dandelion, coltsfoot, violet, forget-me-not, purple lamium, wild strawberry, vinca, pulmonaria, gill-over-the-ground.

White-throated sparrow with sunflower seed.

Hermit thrush, I always get him from the back, and chipping sparrow with a red yarmulke.

Coltsfoot, above and below, has a scaly stem and a yellow flower that might be mistaken for a dandelion on a quick glance.

The hoof-shaped leaves appear after the flower.

Here's another look at the hepatica flower.

May Surprise.

5-9-20 VERMONT: We got two inches of heavy, wet snow overnight and this morning. The day stayed cold, starting at about 30° and going up to 37°, but gusty and windy. The snow is largely gone, except for shaded areas by mid-afternoon.

New blooms: icicles.

Early morning, the old pond.

The new pond.

This apple tree will be white again on Memorial Day.

About two inches.

Back to the Past.

5-8-20 VERMONT: We enjoyed early spring so much that we decided to do it all over again. We will probably be here all summer. It is definitely not summery today. Even though the thermometer says 50°, there’s a brisk and gusty wind blowing spring away. We had a brief shower last night, but the rain gauge isn’t out yet because it will crack if frozen.

The lawn guys have been here for the lawn clean up. The snow is gone, usually there are traces until mid-May. I have a long list of chores to do and have started—I put the snow shoveling gear away and took down the driveway reflectors that guide the plowers. I put a few benches out and moved the picnic table to the deck with help from Lily and Judy. The hummingbird feeders are out—no takers yet. Chickadees have been the only customers at the seed feeder. One stone post and wall by the driveway needed repair from plow damage and another wall had some repairs done.

The trees show leaf buds except for the willow and aspens that have tiny leaves. Some early perennials are beginning to leaf and flowers, but other are still sound asleep. Vinca had many early flowers in NJ, but no flowers at all here.

The ponds are ice free and at least two turtles have been out sunning on the rocks.

In bloom: snowdrops, daffodil, hellebore, bloodroot, pachysandra, forsythia, hepatica, primrose.

Hellebore is a hard to get pic, as you can see in the background, all the flowers are inverted.

Granddaughter Lily has been here escaping the Covid19 from NYC. She's working very remotely, but got caught by the game cam.

Hepatica is a woodland surprise flowering before almost everything else. The leaves last all season and will be under hostas and bleeding hearts in a few weeks. The leaves look vaguely, very vaguely, like liver lobes, hence the name.

Early primrose, the much showier Japanese primrose will be out in June.

The pasture pond awash in amphibian eggs. The frog opera performs nighty, the show will run for another month or so.

The pack in the pasture.

The new, upper pond overlooks the yard and lower pond.

Viburnum Explosion.

5-5-20 SHORT HILLS: After a great weekend, it has turned cold and windy again. The days are long, and it’s light almost until 8PM, but not balmy any more. Mrs. Robin and Mrs. Cardinal are both tucked into their nests on this cold day. I saw a gray catbird today, first of the season.

We’re off to VT sometime in the next day or so where we can watch spring start all over again. Snow is predicted this weekend there.

New blooms: Siebold viburnum, nannyberry viburnum, double file viburnum, leucothoe.

Gray catbird, the first one of the season here. These guys, like the robins, never use the feeders.

It's viburnum season, this is double file viburnum, the center little flowers are yellow when fully open and have the pollen. The bigger white flowers are just to attract pollinators.

Siebold viburnun has a distinctive smell, not especially pleasant, but must attract someone.

Oops, leucothoe snuck in here, it's another inverted white bell.

Nannyberry viburnum is like a lot of viburnum flowers-a white hemisphere.

Honeysuckle with a white flower that goes yellow after pollination.

Slightly later to open than the one above Tatarian, pink honeysuckle is from Siberia, both honeysuckles can be invasive.