The Rain Stopped.

6-26-24 VERMONT: I set one of the game cams up where the feeders had been to catch the bear if he/she came back. So far all I got was a shot of a disappointed rose-breasted grosbeak looking for the feeders. 

We have had two nice days in a row after all the rain, 2.1 inches, but there may be more rain tomorrow. 

I have done more pruning, and today Matt the gardener started on the Mohican viburnum. The lilacs and apple/blueberry/rose junctions need work too.

Judy and I were in Woodstock today to get some flannel, and Judy discovered the source of a stuffed moose sought for Emmett, which has long been hunted.

We saw Valerie and Fred and Valerie’s magnificent garden a few days ago. Valerie gave me some hollyhock starters that Hillary planted on the pond bank today.

On the way to Woodstock, we stopped at John’s house. Both his children, Becky and Michael, and spouses, Bob and Jen, and almost all their children were visiting. It was great to see them all. 

New blooms: hosta, catalpa, red spirea, daisy, lichnis, filipendula, rosebay rhododendron. 

Catalpa, generally regarded as a weed tree, I like it for the flowering, for the big leaves and for the fast growth.

Rose-breasted grosbeak from the back, a study in black and white. He's saying, 'Where's the sunflower seeds?' [date and time incorrect]

The pond bank, now with a lot of beds.

The corner of the pond with roses and goats beard in the background.

Several beds, starting at the pond and continuing upwards. [photo by JWF]

Bear Feeders.

6-23-24 VERMONT: I had the bird feeders out—big mistake. We had a visit from a big, hungry bear this morning, who drained the last few seeds from the feeder. Now the feeders are down and put away in the garage. Neighbor Diana suggested cutting back the foliage around the site where the feeders were, which we did with her help. I did get some pix and a video of the visitor.

Yesterday we went to Bradford for the Fair and to see our neighbor Tina compete in the barrel racing event. Her horses are the ones living in our pasture. With all the rain, the field was a swamp, and when it started to rain again, we left. We did get a video of Tina’s horses competing. Peachez the horse lost shoes in the mud.

Several native daylily opened this morning. Usually they don’t open until July, but everything is early this year.

New blooms: summer sweet, daylily.

 

Rose-breasted grosbeak at the feeder.

Black bear at the feeder.

Bear movie.

Horse movie.

Oxen at the Fair.

Church in Bradford in the rain.

Heat Dome.

6-21-24 VERMONT: Five years ago tomorrow was Anna and Gardner’s wedding—a sprawling, great party lasting until deep in the morning, held in the yard and pasture. Looking back, the roses and peonies were not out for the festivities, but this year they’ve been out for weeks.

We spent the last three days inside the house with the heat pumps running on ‘cool’, which kept the house in the seventies while it was 90+ outside. The whole North East was in a Heat Emergency. A front came through yesterday, and today outside it's 74°, and the heat pumps are off and the doors are open. It’s overcast and more rain seems likely. We got 0.4 inches yesterday. We needed that and more.

There is some sort of issue with the solar panel array on the roof that necessitates a service visit next week from Same Sun.

With more obliging weather, I did some weeding this morning before the bugs drove me inside. I need to do some pruning also.

New blooms: yarrow, dianthus, goats beard, lady’s mantle, single peonies, water lily, bishops weed, valerian, thyme, chives.  

Single peonies, these are my favorites, especially in red, although the Itoh peonies are pretty great too.

Itoh peony, blinding yellow color.

First water lilies.

Intruder in the dust.

Yarrow in red, just getting started.

Goats beard [white] and Ladys mantle [yellow] both thriving in the shade of apple trees. Actually they have been out for a while and should have been on last week's list.

Peonies and Roses.

6-17-24 VERMONT: We’ve been here for a few days. Over all things look great, but it’s a little dry and the upper pond is down several inches. We brought tomatoes and herbs up from The Farm in NJ, which I transplanted to bigger pots with vine supports and set out on the deck. Rosemary and basil are in Judy’s big cart along with some flowers. 

I see many chores to be done while hobbling around with my cane. We have to launch the boat, refill the hummer feeders, repair the bulkhead door, set out the hoses, replace some perennials that didn’t survive the winter, treat the ponds and more stuff that I will discover as I walk around. 

New blooms: weigela, Diablo, Wentworth viburnum, peony, roses, bearded iris, Itoh peonies, poppies, anemone, master wort, baptisia, spider wort, white spirea. Back in Short Hills the second St. John wort appeared the day we left. 

Peonies in pink and white.

More peonies, these are the Itoh peonies in yellow, named for the person who developed this hybrid of tree peony and common peony.

Roses that grow on the fence, that I refer to as 'fence roses' in their June glory. [photo by JWF]

Roses that I planted last summer, five of six did well. I got a replacement for the one that failed. We have yellow, white, red, purple and one that changes color.

Master wort. Alison tells me that this is very popular in the Cotswolds.

The cart with herbs and flowers. [photo by JWF]

The lower pond, looking toward the upper pond.

From the deck, a few of the beds.

White admiral likes Judy's shoe.

Red primrose, white anemone, and blue forget-me-not.

The Favorite Month.

6-8-24 SHORT HILLS: Well we finally got some rain, 0.81 inches earlier this week and everything looks hydrated. 

The small magnolia is covered with flowers, but the big one hasn’t started yet. The catalpa has only a few clusters of flowers with fewer blooms in each one. The bed under the living room window is finely starting to look good. I pulled a lot of evergreen out of it several years ago and planted deciduous shrubs that wouldn’t grow over the window. It took a while and had a lot of failures, but now it looks nice, except for the weeds.

Yesterday I had lunch with Bill and, we had dinner with Bruce and Ellen.  Tonight we will have dinner with Alan.

New blooms: Asian holly. 

Catalpa blooms, pretty, but only a few flowers instead of two dozen.

The living room window bed. How many weeds can you find?

This is how the side yard looks without the big ash trees that died.

Here is how it looked a few years ago with very big and very old ash trees.

Magnolia flower, tomorrow it will be brown, very short flower life.

Bird nest in the catalpa. I'm guessing robin's nest.

Juniper is having a boom year [called a mast year] for berries, pea-sized blue-gray berries all over the trees.

Ashley made us a Maizie pillow. Thank you, Ashley.

There Are Also Flowers in NJ.

6-2-24 SHORT HILLS: We’re back in NJ for many doctor visits before we go to VT for the summer. It was a slow trip with multiple construction delays. 

The weather has been beautiful, but there has been no rain for several days. El Niño is over and La Niña is here, which probably means a hot and dry summer in NJ and VT. At the moment this yard is gorgeous. 

I reset the pool cover pump again, and Judy did trimming in the pool area, which had gotten quite overgrown. 

The wren is busy feeding chicks in the wren house. I tried to get some pix of her and got a short video clip and a couple of her leaving the house. 

New blooms: Japanese snow bell, blue-eyed grass, holly, St. Johns wort, hydrangea, southern magnolia, catalpa, white clover, red spirea, Kousa dogwood.

St. Johns wort, this is the early one. In a week or so the later one opens with a different flower.

First hydrangea flower partially open. It will be all blue soon.

Red spirea. They are generally very reliable shrubs, but have not done well under the bald cypress.

The younger and smaller southern magnolia has many flower buds, which are the tear drop shaped buds. The leaf buds are the candle shaped ones.

As soon as the wren poked her beak out of the house, I snapped the shutter and only her got flying away.

This video shows the wren in the first five seconds, I have tried to cut the rest but it keeps returning like an undead zombie.