Potpourri.

6-14-19 VERMONT: I was guilty of a grievous oversight in the last post. I omitted burning bush, nannyberry viburnum and bunchberry from the list of ‘New blooms’, I apologize to both of my readers, and to the plants in question. Mea culpa.

We had a big surprise two mornings ago. A birch tree growing in the wet area upstream from the pond fell over. It almost threw itself on the woodpile. The ground at its base is so wet that it’s more than swampy, it’s soupy. Anyway, I cut off all the small branches, dumped them on the compost pile, which is at the base of that tree. I cut up the tree into logs and split the thicker logs and stacked them on the woodpile. I left the lower, thicker trunk, about 15 feet of it, for Scott, who cut it up the next day and will split it later.

The pasture was mowed for the wedding, the front part for the tents, and trails for walking around in the back pasture. It looks great. The new entry was graveled for cars. The pasture will be mowed again Monday.

I have continued to do pruning, trimming and weeding. Watering has not been necessary. There’s been an inch and half of rain since we’ve been here, and there was 2 inches from the two weeks we were back in NJ.

I planted an astilbe, Astilbe ‘Mighty Chocolate Cherry’, by the new French doors, and two Primrose japonica and two cowslip, Primrose veris, ‘Sunset Shades’, all in the primrose bed on the bank of the pond.

The game cams caught a bunch of deer and something else, smaller than a deer and with black legs, definitely not a moose.

There were two hooded mergansers on the pond for an hour or so yesterday evening. They just sat there, a female and an immature. The males are pretty dramatic looking looking, but haven’t been here, as far as I know.

New blooms: rose, iris, daylily, meadow rue, Jacob’s ladder.


Two hooded mergansers on the pond. I think the one on the left is a juvenile.

They hung around for about an hour, but didn't seem to do much of anything, no feeding , no diving.

Game cam pic of a couple deer at dusk.

An unidentified creature at night, smaller than a deer and with black legs.

This butterfly is named Question Mark, I wonder why. See the tongue curled up like a watch spring.

Azaleas, there are four colors--magenta on the right, pink on top, salmon in the middle and orange on the left.

Meadow rue just starting to show frothy, pink clusters.

Jacobs ladder.

First daylily, a hybrid. The native daylilies will start about July 1.

A morning surprise two days ago, a birch tried to throw itself on the woodpile. We heard nothing during the night.

I cut up the two main branches, split the thicker logs, and stacked them on the woodpile. The light colored wood on the pile is the new stuff. The sawdust piles will disappear. I left the trunk for Scott, and he cut it up the next day.
 
Another merganser shot, the female is on the left.

Bunchberry, cousin to the dogwood. If you're familiar with the dogwood tree, you will recognize the flowers and leaves.