March Magnolia.

3-28-29 SHORT HILLS: Our early spring continues unabated. We had another 0.9 inches of rain with more predicted for today. VT got nine inches of snow when we got the rain. In Millburn I saw a guy mowing his lawn yesterday.

It’s nice to get outside and escape the flood of bad news about COVID, especially on the warm days like yesterday when I did the driveway and driveway drain cleanup and pruned some winter kill. A few days ago I raked the back patio and yard by the house to get rid of the sweet gum tree fruit.

If you’re not familiar with them, they are brown balls with a prickly surface that get land on everything beneath the tree, including shrubs and sleeping dogs. They’re hard to rake up because they spring away from the rake somehow. Anyway, after I triumphed over that small part of the yard, I looked up at the tree, Liquidambar styraciflua, and saw that it still has ten thousand more to drop, and will start a new crop next month.

Somewheres in that ball are seeds, and squirrels do occasionally eat them when there’s no sunflower seeds from the bird feeders available.

Has it occurred to everyone what a bad leader Trump is? He acts on his fantasies as if they were facts, ignoring the advice of the experts, relying instead on his sycophants and cronies. This has happened a lot in the past three years, but now people will die if there are not enough respirators. Trump delayed and waited before ordering fewer than will probably be required.

Initially he denied the existence of the pandemic and then said he thought it would be over in a few days. What bad judgement, based on what he wishes for! And the plan to end isolation on Easter when lots of places will be becoming hot spots is insanity—all to save the stock markets.

Now how did that get political? Well back to important stuff, I’m still dreading a late snow storm here, even in the first half of April.

New blooms: Yoshino cherry, pear, saucer magnolia, marsh marigold.

Saucer Magnolia is just getting started and is still very early this year, as is everything else.

Flowering pear tree is usually the first of the spring fruit trees to bloom, usually deep in April.

Another early tree is Yoshino cherry, this one just has a handful of flowers.

More of the Magnolia.

Sweet gum tree fruit or 'gum ball' is the size of a walnut. The seeds are rumored to have anti-viral activity!

Sweet gum tree, Liquidambar styraciflua, festooned with gum balls.

The whole gum ball machine.

Time Travel.

3-21-20 SHORT HILLS: We’re back in NJ. We came down a little early, worried about possible travel prohibitions that didn’t happen, at least not yet. It was another fast trip.

I have written in the past that going from VT to NJ and back in the spring gives me the sensation of time travel. We have just leaped forward in time from mud and snow to green grass and flowers.

While we were in VT, I got some of the clean up from the barn repair work done. There is much more to do, and, in fact the repairs aren’t finished. We also had the well/water tank issue defined and will have repairs done to it in April. Also, Chimney Savers were back to close a small leak between the stove and stove-pipe. Further, Chippers took down a big, hanging branch from the white pine in the corner of the yard, that tree has taken a beating in the last couple of years, but will hopefully be fine. Another bunch of white pine branches need clearing, and I did a few of them.

White pine are especially prone to loose big branches from the snow. They all show scars and have multiple trunks from re-growth after being damaged.

Two dustings of snow covered the mud for a few hours. Overall there was less snow when we left than when we arrived. There might be a new storm tomorrow with 8 inches possible. Here in NJ we got 1.2 inches of rain.

The Equinox has passed and now we get more daytime than nighttime for the next six months. It feels very Springish here, but I am still anxious about a late blizzard.

New blooms: spicebush, Siberian squill.

Siberian squill, a spring ephemera with great color.

We had two snows while in VT, both a dusting, but enough to cover the mud for a few hours.

The new, upper pond is draining into the old, lower pond.

Spicebush, another yellow spring flower.

The squill is a brief, tiny pleasure.

Almost Mud Season.

3-16-20 VERMONT: We came up yesterday. It was a very fast trip with very little traffic. Southern Vermont has no snow, and Norwich has very little, but here there's still plenty of snow around the house. The far end of the pasture, which faces south and is unshaded, is snow free.

We’re here because we can self-isolate just as well here as in NJ, maybe better. We had small fires in the repaired fireplaces last night. A water system issue will be fixed on Wednesday.

The afternoons are warm, but the nights quite cold, re-freezing everything that melted during the day. It always seems like two steps toward spring and then two steps back to winter this time of the year, but the sun will soon settle the issue as it moves north.

Part of the winter/spring tug-of-war is that the bear are out of hibernation, so I won't fill the bird feeders.

The dogs got muddy yesterday, but today the mud is frozen and they stayed cleaner, to Judy’s delight. The new brook between the new, upper pond and the old, lower pond has thawed and is babbling away.

New blooms: snowdrops.


Snowdrops up in Vermont. This is where we were two weeks ago in Short Hills.

The new brook is babbling from the new, upper pond at the top down to the old pond below the bottom of the picture.

Sweetness happening, the neighbor are boiling maple sap in the sugar shack.

The south-facing, unshaded areas are snow-free, but around the house, we still have the Grand Tetons of Thetford.

Mooselauke still has snow.

The pasture is snow free at the moment, but there could easily be a foot of new snow next week.

Babble watching.

Hail to the Chief.

3-13-20 SHORT HILLS: It has stayed warm and pleasant, today started with rain, 0.4 inches, but cleared up by the early afternoon. It was breezy, and the sun on my back felt warm. The plants are rushing ahead with reckless abandon, but, with one week until the Equinox, maybe they know what they’re doing. I’m still dreading a late snow storm.

Short Hills has its first case of Covid today. Our Friday concert at Carnegie Hall was canceled as well as all sports activity, schools, museums, Broadway and just about everything else.

I noticed that both Trump and Pence were both in contact with a Brazilian diplomat at some function who is positive for the virus. Maybe Nancy will be President in two weeks.

New blooms: forsythia, pachysandra, red maple, elm.


Purple Crocus in the packysandra.

Forsythia is open a week before the Equinox, which is the earliest that I remember.

Pachysandra flowers.

Another crocus.

Red Maple is why we are both sneezing.

Elm flowers have been open for a while.

The Race to Bloom Is On.

3-8-20 SHORT HILLS: We had one rainy day, but probably need more. Today is beautiful, about sixty with lots of sun and a gentle breeze. The yard is awake and getting down to the business of spring. I wish it was all moving a little slower because I am still afraid of a nasty winter storm sweeping in from the northwest and freezing all the new leaves and buds.

We did a dog walk today with Ron and Bebe, Maizie, Bally and Kaley.

We have tickets for a concert at Carnegie Hall on Friday, but are considering canceling because of the Covid epidemic. I think that the national reaction borders on hysteria, no, it’s definitely a hysterical over-reaction, but we are in the bad age group.

Nice to have DST again and get evening light until seven PM. There’s less than two weeks to the Equinox.

New blooms: andromeda, snowflake, vinca minor.

Crocus enjoying the sun.

More crocus.

Andromeda is the first shrub to flower, offering lots of little, white bells.

Many clusters of bells.

Snowflake is a first cousin of the Snowdrops.

Vinca minor, Creeping Myrtle, if the first of the ground covers to bloom.

False Spring.

3-3-20 SHORT HILLS: We got back Sunday afternoon to a warm spring-like day in the forties. It had been 8° when we left VT. There were a smattering of new branches down, but it looks like spring here.

The first flowers are up, the grass is greening, viburnums have leaf buds starting to open, as does the quince, forsythia buds are yellow, ground covers are perking up, elm buds are opening. It’s a welcome site after winter, even this mild winter. But I’m sure it’s a false spring, and some nasty weather will show up sometime in the next six weeks.

I hope the plants know what they are doing. A heavy snow will do a lot of damage now.

New blooms: crocus.

Early crocus, probably too early, we're sure to get some winter weather before mid-April.

The snowdrops are blooming all over the yard.

Pussy Willow's big moment. After this it's just willow flowers, leaves and more branches.

Close up view. They've never been up so early.