Planting and a Warbler.

4-12-22 SHORT HILLS: Today was a perfect June day, and I was outside early and planted all the replacement shrubs. I put a spirea, S. japonica ‘Little Princess’, and a Floribunda Rose ‘Gene Boerner’ in the bed below the living room window. A hydrangea, H. paniculata ‘Little Lime’ went in the driveway hydrangea bed. By the A/C in the window well spot, I put a diervilla, D. ‘Kodiak Orange’, and under the kitchen window I planted a dozen sweet woodruff, Galium odoratum ‘Jeepers Creepers’. 

I used fairly small specimens, they grow faster than large plants, don’t have a dormant period of recovery and after a couple years are the same size as the larger ones.

After the planting we went back to the Great Swamp to a big nursery there looking for an early blooming plum tree. They had them, but only gigantic ones, which we passed on. Being out there, we stopped at the birding trails, walked one, talked to some strangers, and saw a warbler and a lot of turtles and heard some peepers. 

New blooms: clatonia, trout lily.

Yellow-rumped warbler, the commonest eastern warbler. Anytime I see a smallish bird with yellow patches, I guess warbler.

There were lots of turtles soaking up the warm sun. The nearer one is a painted turtle with red markings, and the other two are spotted turtles with yellow spots on each plate of the shell.

Another bunch of turtles, the ones with red markings are painted turtles.