Daily Double and Trifecta.

5-31-22 SHORT HILLS: We drove down today in 90+ heat, but comfortable in the A/C. This will be a rarity of a post—a combo.

Yesterday in VT I put out supports for the ponies and delphiniums, dug up a bleeding heart to transplant in NJ, put out hoses for Addie to use, pulled up some filipendula that was crowding the helenium and planted it in front of the house. 

New blooms VT: pagoda dogwood, Wentworth viburnum, blue-eyed grass, lupin, blue star, jacobs ladder.

Here in NJ, it has cooled off after sunset, but the mosquitoes are very bad. There was three inches in the rain gauge. The peonies have flowers, the tree peonies have flowers and the Itoh peony still has a flower—a trifecta.  

New blooms NJ: peony, tree peony, Japanese snowball, holly, red spirea. 

NJ peony. I love these single peonies and the color is perfect. That red thing is the rain gauge.

This tree peony flower is way past peak, but still has it. [NJ]

In VT, a pair of Eastern Phoebes discussing the bug situation or maybe nesting sites.

A Tiger Swallowtail on the azalea. [VT]

Blue-eyed grass in the pasture. It's a tiny iris. [VT]

This is 'blue star', planted two years ago, but back. [VT]

If you look at the leaves, you might recognize a dogwood. This is a pagoda dogwood. It has an alternate leaf pattern, instead of the opposite leaf pattern usually seen in dogwoods. [VT]

One of the lupins I rescued from Shari last summer. It seems happy here. [VT]