Native vs. Invasive.

11-11-14 SHORT HILLS: Now it’s warm again here. We walked the dogs this morning and admired the leaf color of the Japanese maples, viburnums, flowering cherry trees, dogwood and burning bushes. The brilliant red of the burning bushes makes them stand out at this time of year.

I know that Euonymus alatus, the burning bush with the winged twigs, is an Asian native and is considered an invasive shrub here. It is illegal to import it in MA and NH. It shares its Genus, Euonymus, with over a hundred other species, some, such as E. americanus and E. atropurpureus, are native to North America and similar to E. alatus.

My experience with E. alatus is that it does spread in this yard, but is easy to control, is eaten by deer, is easy to transplant, if you wish, and is not disease-free. It is one of many shrubs with red berries at this time of year, all of which seem to be enjoyed by the birds. The birds spread these shrubs by eating the fruit and pooping out the seeds, with a dollop of fertilizer, where they perch.

The birds also spread grape vines, poison ivy and other vines by the same technique. I find the vines, native or not, to be much more ‘invasive’ than the shrubs and far harder to control.

Other non-natives in this yard include English holly, Siebold viburnum, Japanese maple and cherry trees, Asian holly, most of which have also spread on their own.

The other point about what is ‘native’ or not is that the native flora are now different than they were in the past, and will be more different in the future, all because of progressive climate change. For instance, southern magnolias, M. grandiflora, are now planted all over town, but couldn’t tolerate the winters here thirty or forty years ago.

Soon we’ll have citrus and coconuts in Vermont.


Burning bush in red and black chokecherry in orange.

More burning bush.

More red - male red-bellied woodpecker. He probably aids and abets in the spread of the invasives.

Congrats to Maizie and Judy - certified by a second pet-therapy agency.

Balfour has been with us for a year now.

Ahh, the Theatre...

11-9-14 SHORT HILLS: We saw The National Theatre production of ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.’ I won’t say much about the subject, but the performance are all excellent, especially that of Alex Sharp, a very recent graduate of the Juilliard School. The sets and staging are dramatically original and electronic. The title is taken from a Sherlock Holmes story. See it!

We ate at Chez Napoléon, a fav, before the show. Easy trip in and out.


Excellent theater, the sign says it all.

The 'graphic' stage set, drawings on the floor appear on the walls, etc.

Judy's Pix.

11-7-14 SHORT HILLS: Here are some pix that Judy took of our neighbor’s farm…

Pasture Master.

Ladies who lunch.

Sugar shack, busy in maple syrup season.

House and barn.

Wood shed.

Old plow.

Our garage ready for the season.

Sight Lines.

11-5-14 VERMONT: There was a dead tree that fell recently but was hung up on some saplings. It was just a few feet into the woods at the edge of the yard. I cut off the suspended branches and let the rest fall to the ground to prevent its becoming a hazard. I cut up all the small stuff so it will disappear among the leaves on the ground. All the chores are done for now.

Today was quite warm, perhaps sixty. We visited Arnie and Phyllis this afternoon, and we had dinner at The Base Camp [Nepalese] with Ken and Jane yesterday. Monday we had dinner with Lily at Murphy’s.

When all the leaves are down, as they are now, sight lines open up, and it’s possible to see houses that are hidden when the leaves are on the trees. You can also see through the trees and see the shape of the land in the forest. In a few weeks snow cover will begin to accumulate and change the look of the terrain again. The open forest and good visibility is why hunting season is in November. There is a similar, but shorter, period in the spring when the snow has gone, but before the leaves are out.


Shhh...Don't wake the sleeping beds. This is the only time when we see the walls and actual beds. Soon snow will cover everything, and then new growth will start in the spring as the snow melts down.

Cold and Windy.

11-2-14 VERMONT: We came up yesterday, driving through rain that tapered off as we got further north. It was cold and wet here, and we had a frost last night. Today was dry, cold and very windy. I was doing the remainder of the flowerbed clean-up, and the wind blew the rake out of my hands at one point. The beds are now finished thanks to a better grip on the rake, and I can go on to the rest of the winterizing chores.

The forecast is for the twenties tonight, then warming up over the next few days. The dogs thought it was a perfect day for swimming. They are so full of energy now. This is their kind of weather.

New blooms: a couple roses.


Moosilauke again, with more snow and white clouds. Can you find the mountain?

Colorful NJ.

10-30-14 SHORT HILLS: After a few warm days, it’s cooling off with some ‘coldest of the season yet’ weather in the forecast. I am pretty much caught up here in NJ with winterization of the house and yard. We have some nice color here with more to come.

Maizie the dog has made her first therapy visit. She and Judy were both very pleased.

New blooms: witch-hazel.


Nice color on this sweetgum tree.

Burning bush. How do you suppose it got that name?

Jersey Shore.

10-26-14 SHORT HILLS: I’ve been doing clean-up/close-up stuff here including hose draining and storage, removing dead-fall, peony leaf removal, minor pruning.

The little southern magnolia has produced seeds, something the big tree has never done, so I scattered some of them in places that, I think, would welcome such a tree. The holly berries are red, maples and burning bush are turning, the ash are bare. Here in the burbs the color is good.

We had dinner with Robert and Barbara a few nights ago in Livingston. Yesterday we went down the shore to Lavallette to see Christine and Bob at their beach house. We haven’t seen them since they moved to Philly. They have three cats, and astoundingly, all the cats are friendly.

The recovery from Sandy is continuing. There is road construction, sewer work, home repairs and new homes replacing destroyed ones. The beach dunes are still being rebuilt. The beach was clean at low tide, the birds were busy, there were walkers, sunbathers, fisher folk and one intrepid swimmer.

Today we dog walked in Short Hills with Bebe and Ronny.


Atlantic at Lavallette. The beach was actually pretty busy with walkers, one swimmer, fishermen.

Beach birds.

Christine and Bob's cat. One of three.

BFF's

Afternoon walk, Short Hills.