The Spring Parade.

4-23-18 SHORT HILLS: Sorry about the gap—I had a cold and cough that is still lingering—and missed a friend’s birthday party and an engagement brunch that we both wanted to go to. I have been outside for short spells the last two days doing pruning. It’s been sunny and pleasant, and the sun on my back felt warm.

The spring succession is underway. It is relentless, but cold temporarily slows it down. The flowers have to be there when the pollinators appear. It’s a yearly appointment that both plant and bug need for survival. Climate change may threaten the symbiosis because one or the other may hatch out or bloom before the other is available.

Our trees are pruned of broken and hanging branches. The fence has been repaired. It’s almost time to look for replacements for the plantings damaged by the storms and damaged last fall by the painters, roofers and window replacement.

New blooms: trout lily, march marigold.


March marigold, a spring ephemera, puts out leaves in March, flowers in April and vanishes in May.

It would be a nice ground cover if it didn't disappear for a year between bloomings.

Trout lily, another yellow spring surprise, that will soon be gone. There's a pollinator on the flower in the middle of the picture.