Vermont in May.

5-11-26 VERMONT: We’re here. We arrived yesterday in the new hybrid Subaru, getting 33 MPH, actually I was hoping for better than that. It was cool and threatening to rain, but I took pix in spite of the black flies.

The metal barn roof has been partly cleared of rust and painted. The ponds  are pretty clear, full and draining. Trees are beginning to leaf out, maples ahead of oaks and ashes. The elm trees look good. The horses still have winter coats on, but they got new summer shoes today.

Scott was here today, and we got all the benches out, and all the storms replaced with screens, and the rockers put out on the porch, the hammock is out, Judy’s little cart is out, the deck chairs, benches and gates are out. Judy picked up her latest auction acquisition, a tub painted with flowers. 

I saw a hummingbird on the Virginia blue bell and will put out their feeders. The regular seed feeders for the other birds have been put away because of the bears. 

New blooms: trillium-red and white, Virginia blue bells, epimedium, purple lamium, violet, marsh marigold, primrose, hepatica, service berry, star magnolia, wild ginger, pulmonaria, vinca minor, bluet, dandelion.

A painted turtle admiring her reflection.

Another spring ephemeral, hepatica, apparently so named because someone thought the leaves resembled a liver. They do not look like human livers, kidneys, spleens, stomachs, etc. In long ago times, an apothecary would pick a plant and use it to treat a supposedly diseased otgan that he thought the plant resembled. The idea was that God gave us a hint for a cure by the plants shape. A heavy burden for little hepatica standing two inches high.

Trillium, one of my favorites, in white. They have three leaves, three sepals, and three petals.

Another trillium, in red, also called 'Wake robin'. Your guess is as good as mine.

Marsh marigold a large ephemeral. it's getting a lot of attention from pollinators.

Bluet, a one inch beauty, is another ephemeral.

Primroses with good color.

And a tree, star magnolia. this was the only magnolia that survived here in the past but others now make it, stay turned.

Baked Potatoes.

5-9-26 SHORT HILLS: It’s turned cooler, and we’ve had rain, 0.75 inches and maybe more today. Last year we had a wet spring, but when summer arrived, the drought started. Hopefully this year will be different.

Judy was on a Therapy Visit to the Millburn Library with Blue. She was talking to a couple of High School girls, one of whom said that they already met our dogs and referred to them as ‘baked potatoes’. I will concede that they may be a little over their fighting weight, but ‘Baked Potatoes’? 

We went to the Farm in Chatham to get tomatoes and herbs for the summer [Sungold Tomatoes, basil and rosemary]. It was very busy with dads and kids getting Mothers Day flowers. The displays of annuals was so colorful that Judy took several pix.

Tomorrow we go to Vermont.

New blooms: bridal wreath spirea.  

Orchids galore at the Farm.

Our azalea attracts tiger swallowtail butterflies.

Baked Potatoes napping.

Flowers waiting for their forever homes, that is a big pond out there.

More flowers.

And a little more color.

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.