Mid-Summer.

6-16-25 VERMONT: I came north yesterday. The traffic was light and the trip uneventful—the way I like them. I brought the tomatoes and herbs and some cuttings from California curtesy of Siobhan. She gave me pieces of aeonium and Crassula ovata [money plant, jade plant]. They’re both succulents, so they don’t need much water, just lots of sun. I potted them in NJ and brought them to VT for the summer. Neither is hardy for the Northeast. All the plants are now settled on the deck.

Today I treated the ponds for algae and clarity, filled the hummingbird feeders, counted the new blooms and took pix. That doesn’t sound like much, but with all the rest periods, it was my day’s work. 

The robins have a new brood. I saw blue birds, phoebes and swallows today. There are at least two turtles in the lower pond now. The upper pond is still draining into the lower pond. A merganser landed on the lower pond yesterday but left before her picture was taken.

Judy and the dogs will join me later this week.

New blooms: NJ-St Johns wort, beauty berry.

                      VT-Wentworth viburnum, lupin, poppy, Asian lilac, roses, thyme, dianthus, hybrid daylily, blue star, iris, Itoh peony, weigela, abelia, bachelor button, baptisia, meadow rue, knapweed, master wort, bridal wreath spirea, anemone.

Itoh peony come in unusual colors and here in VT come out a few days ahead of the regular peonies.

Poppies are so vivid.

On the pond bank, poppies in front, roses in the back and iris in the middle.

Also on the pond bank, lupin, anemone, Japanese primrose, iris.

More pond bank, yellow flag iris and reflections.

Tiger swallowtail on the last of the azaleas.