Rush to Flower.

4-21-15 SHORT HILLS: We had an all day rain yesterday, dumping about an inch and a half. Today is sunny, warm and a bit breezy. After a big rain in the spring, the plants soak up the water and explode with action, buds open, leaves get bigger, flowers pop out. Trees that had seemed bare are now colored with a haze of red, orange, yellow or green.

Spring is hitting its stride with lots of stuff bursting into flower as if the flora know they’re behind schedule because of the harsh and long winter. Maybe it’s a pollinator issue—lots of them are buzzing around—but some insects have a short life cycle, and if the flowers aren’t open, they won’t get pollinated. Of course, many plants are pollinated by any old bug that flies by—with no discretion at all.

New blooms: Yoshino cherry, boxwood, pulmonaria, blood root, violet, clatonia, vinca minor, Siberian squill, pachysandra.


Another daffodil.

Vinca minor, creeping myrtle, notice the asymmetry of the petals?

Clatonia - stays under three inches and the leaves look like grass.

Yoshino cherry, Prunus x yedoensis, is the first flowering tree in this yard.

And another daffodil.