The Fifth Storm.

4-2-17 SHORT HILLS: It did it again. We got another 6-8 inches of wet snow overnight after a cool, but pleasant Easter. I don’t think there’s much new damage, but I was so alarmed at the little Southern magnolia once again being bent to the ground by the snow that I went outside in my bathrobe to gently ease the snow off it. This afternoon the sun is out and it’s in the upper thirties.

I have been working on the storm damage almost every day and have created a huge pile on the road at the top of our driveway. I have cut up and dragged out most of the broken branches on the ground and started on the bamboo. The bamboo have many, many broken stalks, which weigh down other stalks that are not cracked or broken. After removing the broken ones the others sometimes stand up again with a little help.

New blooms: Vinca minor, andromeda, forsythia, pussy willow, snow flake.


Another 6-8 inches of heavy, wet snow. That magnolia in the center of the picture is almost bent double again. I was afraid it would lose more branches, so I went out early in the morning in my bathrobe to gently brush and shake the snow off it, with the loss of only one leaf.

The pack is happy in  the snow. Below are the new blooms from before the new snow.

Snow flake looks a lot like its cousin, 'snow drop'. Snowflake has those yellow spots and is a little umbrella. It always appears a few weeks after the snowdrops.

Pussy willow isn't actually a bloom, but a furry bud.

Andromeda blooms looks like lily-of-the-valley and blueberry flowers.

Forsythia is starting, today's snow won't hurt it because the temps are in the thirties.

Vinca minor is another early opener.