Early Bloomimg.

4-30-19 SHORT HILLS: I see definite, new bud growth on one crape myrtle and possible bud swelling on the other three. It’s been rainy and cool, but the sun came out this afternoon and it’s in the sixties. The late-to-open trees—ash, locust, catalpa, linden, walnut, sycamore—are all showing leaves.

We are off to Virginia for the weekend tomorrow with Bill and Lynn to the Inn at Little Washington.

New blooms: Korean spice viburnum, azalea, beech, sweet woodruff.


Azalea, first flowers on the first bush. Last year first flowers were on May 12.

Korean spice viburnum is an early bloomer, although usually not this early. It's very aromatic-good, but doesn't make seeds-bad.

Hemlock. You can see last year's cones in brown, one old cone from two years ago is dark brown, and new, small cones, just starting, in green. The new cones will need pollination by those yellow clusters to produce seeds. There is a twig bud starting to open near the lowest new cone. The cones are always on the end of the twig. They are pollinated by wind.

Copper beech. The tree has flowers of two sexes. The male, pollen-making, flowers are hanging down, and the female flower is the purple, prickly-looking one above the new leaves that will become the beechnut. They are pollinated by wind. Wind pollination means the plant doesn't have to provide colorful flowers, perfume, or nectar for the bugs.