Eagle Sighting.

5-4-26 SHORT HILLS: The last few days have been cold, not freezing, but cold. A warm up is predicted for later in the week. The plants don’t seem to care. 

We went out to the Great Swamp Wildlife Refuge and walked a few of the board walks through the swampy woods. We do this every spring and have seen some unusual birds in the past, but this year we saw birds that we see in out yard every day. We did see some painted turtles, just like the ones in the Vermont ponds. Nevertheless a couple miles of flat walking is always good.

We also did the Loantaka Brook reservation with Bill, Lynn, Blanca, Bella and Blue. The brook and lake are pretty full. The water is clear and there’s lots of little fish. After the walk, I saw an eagle fly by!

All the late bloomers have opened. Every year some things look like they’re dead, but then have a surprise resurrection. 

We got 0.8 inches of rain. The sprinklers are running.

Our Itoh peony has good vegetation, but no flower buds, I think it’s in a spot that’s too dark. The tree peony and regular peony have lots of buds. We are hard pressed for sunny areas.

New blooms: wild strawberry, Siebold viburnum, double-file viburnum, wood hyacinth, leuclothoue, chestnut, sweet woodruff. 

Azalea blooms emphaticly.

Sweet Woodruff. German wine makers add this to Rhine wines in the spring.

Chestnut. Actually Horse chestnut.

Two painted turtles.

Wood hyacinth also comes in white and pink.

Double-file viburnum. The outer white parts of the flower are just for show, to make a bigger display. The little yellowsh flowers in the center are where the action happens.

Spring in Full Swing.

4-26-26 SHORT HILLS: We’re back in NJ. I have said before that going back and forth between NJ and VT in spring is like time travel. We went backwards in time going to early spring in VT after mid-spring in NJ and then forward again when we left VT. 

I have done more clean up and pruning and trimming here, with more to do.

Lily and Danna were here on Saturday afternoon for a visit, then we had dinner with Trina and Jeffrey.

Yesterday was a wash out, heavy rain and spells of light rain for 1.6 inches, plus another 0.4 inches earlier in the month for a total of 2.0 inches.

New blooms: Korean spice viburnum, nannyberry viburnum, Chinese snowball viburnum, Carolina allspice, burning bush, deutzia, honeysuckle bush, ajuga, blueberry, yellow lamium, azalea. 

Azalea brings vivid color to the garden.

Nannyberry viburnum has flat to slightly rounded flowerheads.

Korean spice viburnum is a snowball with big aroma.

Dogwood in pink.

Carolina allspice has an odd, unique, purple flower.

Ajuga is a ground cover with purplish leaves that spreads nicely. It works here and in VT.

Lamium here in yellow has interesting little flowers that entice pollinators to land on the little platform and dig for the nectar while spreading pollen. It also comes in pink, purple ane white.

Blueberry another white bell.

Real April.

4-20-26 VERMONT: Yesterday we had rain, probably a half inch, by mid-day, it turned to snow and continued for several hours. The temperature dropped to sub-freezing values overnight. Today I’m wearing a jacket, winter hat and gloves. The new snow is mostly gone, but it’s still cold and windy—now I feel like I’m in Vermont in April.

New blooms: forsythia. 

After a lot of rain, the precip changed to this.

It lot harder and colder.

And began to accumulate.

collecting on trees and shrubs.

Winter wonderland.

Snow on daylilies.

Warm for April.

4-18-26 VERMONT: We came north yesterday through a T-storm in Mass. It’s almost as warm here as it was in NJ. Spring is quite advanced here for April, which is usually deep mud on the road and dirty, icy piles of snow under the eaves. The yard and gardens have already been cleaned up. There is no mud and no snow.

I put away the snow shovels, ice scrapers, driveway reflectors and ice melt, hopefully they will not be needed again this year. I took out one of Judy’s carts. I filled some dog holes. I will need dirt to fill others, an excuse to go to the nursery. One rose might be dead. 

The upper pond is full and draining and very clear, and the brook has lots of forget-me-not and primrose just starting. The lower pond is not as clear, but has fish, crawfish, newts, tadpoles, but no turtles seen as yet. 

Robins and white-throated sparrows are working the lawn, and Phoebe are in the air hunting bugs

New blooms: red maple, sugar maple, blood root, daffodil, crocus, snowdrops, pachysandra, hellebore.

White-throated sparrow looking for lunch.

Sunshine and blue sky.

Hellebore, also called lentan rose.

Daffodils starting here, almost finished in NJ.

Last of the snowdrops.

Blood root amid daylilies.

Back in the Heat.

4-15-26 SHORT HILLS: Now it’s July, but the end of the week looks like March. However nothing stops the parade. 

I saw a brown-headed cowbird and a tiger swallowtail butterfly this week but no pix of either one.

We had dinner with Bill and Lynn last night. Lynn is just back from Argentina and was in Egypt last month.

We had 0.1 inches of rain recently, and things are getting dry with the heat, but the sprinklers are on. The fence repairs were also done yesterday.

New blooms: redbud, dogwood, Kwanza cherry, apple, barberry, trout lily, clatonia.

Another ephemeral, clatonia has a pretty little flower if you can get low enough to see it.

Kwanzan cherry is another pink.

Dogwood is just opening.

Redbud also came out on pink week.

The quince is still making new flowers as the older ones turn from white to pink. This change is a signal to the pollinators that that flower is done.

Return of the Frost.

4-9-26 SHORT HILLS: April is being April. After warm days, we had freezing temps the last two nights. It got up to about 50° during the day. 

I did some work on the pool cover and on overgrown flagstones by the house and dumped the dirt in dog holes. My back told me how hard it was the next day.

We had dinner with Alan and Nancy, and lunch with Elaine and Richard later in the week.

Did I mention, we bought a new Subaru Hybrid Forester last Friday.

New blooms: saucer magnolia, quince, pear tree, PJM rhodo, violet, dandelion. 

Here's a better picture of the Yoshino cherry tree.

Pear tree. along the highway between here and Morristown, these trees are everywhere, self seeded.

Saucer magnolia, the frost nipped it in the bud.

Quince may also have been frost bitten.

Violet is little and tiny, but not a spring ephemeral because the foliage lasts all summer.

Cherry Blossoms.

4-2-26 SHORT HILLS: Today is cold and rainy, yesterday was warm and sunny. I was outside doing more pruning, trimming and snipping. Yesterday was warm, T-shirt warm, and the breeze felt good, today needs a sweater and jacket and fleece cap. 

I got the pool cover pump working and the winter’s melt water is gone. The gardeners were here and the clean up is done, or mostly done. 

I put the rain gauge out just in time for last night’s 0.15 inches.

New blooms: Yoshino cherry, Okama cherry, march marigold, pachysandra, spice bush. 

Okama cherry is our earliest, a few days ahead of...

Yoshino cherry.

Pachysandra dewy from the rain.

Marsh Marigold appears around the yard now, blooms, and disappears for eleven months.

Spice bush has tiny flowers in yellow at the same time as forsythia, daffodils, marsh marigold, trout lily, crocus also in yellow.

Speaking of forsythia, what's more extravagant.