The April Strikes Back.

4-22-21 SHORT HILLS: I was outside yesterday in a warm, sunny afternoon when the skies darkened and the wind roared in from the west and shook all the trees for about ten minutes. After that front came through, the temp dropped from the sixties to the forties and there was a splattering of rain and the wind continued to gust. We had no tree damage. Other places had hail and snow, but i’m not sorry about missing either.

Judy and I, mostly Judy, decided to scatter grass seed on the bare spots of the lawn. We did so and spread straw on the new seed and watered it all. This seeding goes against my philosophy of doing nothing for the grass except a bit of lime in the early spring. A lawn is just the stuff between the trees and shrubs and flowers and, generally, takes care of itself except for mowing. We’ll see what happens to the seed. The dogs enjoy rolling in the straw.

New blooms: apple, yellow lamium, Kwanzan cherry, Chinese snowball viburnum. 

Kwanzan Cherry tree for the fans of pink.

Apple, one of about three in this yard, in VT, there are about 100 scattered around the yard, woods and pasture , mostly volunteers. The flower resembles the other fruit trees.

Chinese Snowball Viburnum, the first viburnum to bloom here, has a powerful aroma a bit like lilac that announces its presence, if one hadn't noticed.

Lamium, the main and most vigorous variety, the yellow, spreads nicely as a self-respecting ground cover should. The flower is a complex little thing attracting flying pollinators with a little marked landing perch.

Dogwood, a favorite understory tree of eastern woodlands. It's hardy to Zone 5, we're Zone 6+, and it also comes in pink. There are a lot of cousins, some more hardy.

Another bunch of daffodils.