Doldrums Setting In.

7-5-19 VERMONT: It has turned into summer with high temps in the eighties and no rain for several days. I didn’t do much of anything on the holiday. We watched the Macy’s fireworks on TV rather than a local live show.

We had a nice dinner with Ann and Roger at Candela on the third.

Judy is collecting stuffed animals again from folks in the Upper Valley for her work with the kids in Newark, NJ. We have already gotten a bedroom full.

New blooms: goats beard, daylily, dianthus, red spirea, delphinium.


I like these peonies better than the doubles. They are the last to open here.

The roses on the fence in full bloom in reflected glory.

Closer view.

If the daylilies are open, it must be July. First one.

The solitary turkey is considering a job as a blue heron.

Just Me and Judy Left Here.

7-2-19 VERMONT: Joey is back home, his flight was delayed almost an hour because the plane was late getting to Logan. We did catch up with Maggie after the plane took off, and took her to dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Harvard Square. The Sunday T-storms mostly missed us, and we got a big welcome from the dogs when we finally got home. Thanks to Janet for feeding them dinner.

Today I planted the two coral bells, Heuchera, that were surplus wedding plants from Alison. They sat by the pasture gate during the ceremony. Fortunately they tolerate dryness pretty well. I did water them while they waited around for me to get them planted.

I put them in the upper north terrace bed, which is a weedy mess. I cleared about half of it and planted them near, but not under, the apple tree. I had previously put an obedient plant there and added a second that I moved from the bed below the deck. Last year I had put a hardy hibiscus there among the ferns and iris. I dug out big areas of the bed before the planting to get rid of grass and weed roots. I hope to slowly rehab that area.

The game cam caught lots of deer, as usual, and a smallish black bear in the back pasture.

New blooms: water lily, baptisia, valerian, daisy.


Game cam picked up a visitor a week before the wedding, probably a yearling because she/he seems small.

Big peony.

First water lilies are pink, white ones come out later.

The red peonies get a bit less sun and so open after the others.

White Admiral, ventral surface, on valerian, which is very aromatic and held its attention for a long time.

White admiral, dorsal surface, still on valerian.

Rose-breasted grosbeak considerately holding his pose.

Turkey in the pasture. Usually they travel in flocks. It's unusual to see a solitary bird.

Lots of deer caught by the game cam, in the same area as the bear, on the night before the wedding.

The Week After.

6-29-19 VERMONT: It’s been a week since the wedding, and we finished the clean up today with the last load of garbage and a huge load of re-cycling. The tents and all went out on Monday and Tuesday. Most of the garbage was picked up on Wednesday. Brady the horse returned to the pasture and seems very happy with the short grass. The pasture grass survived the tents and is re-growing and re-greening.

The roses and peonies are at peak now, a week later than last year due to this cold and wet spring. I would have liked to have them for the wedding. Now that it’s summer, it’s hotter and still rainy with some rain almost every day.

The two river birch trees that were bought for the wedding ceremony seem happy in their new home behind the barn. The spot is sunny and wet, the two trees now named Anna and Gardner, are side by side.

A big branch fell from the red maple behind the pond. The tree has been slowly dying. This branch just missed the willow tree, and we decided to take the tree down. Joey, who is spending the week with us, and I took care of the broken branch, we cut it down and cut it up, we split the bigger pieces and stacked them all on the woodpile.

We visited the Strafford Town Forest Loop Trail to see the lady slippers in the Orchid Fen. On the way back we stopped to see Old City Falls.

Thursday we drove to Burlington, about an hour away, to visit UVM, Church Street and the waterfront. We had a mediocre, but over-priced lunch at the Shanty on the Shore. The drive there and back is through the Green Mountains and is beautiful.

Tomorrow Joey goes back to SFO from Logan, and we will meet Maggie for dinner in Boston.

New blooms: bridal-wreath spirea, feverfew, tradescantia, sweet William.


The peonies take center stage, most years they would have been open a week ago for the wedding...

Along with the roses that have covered the fence.

Rose-breasted grosbeak has become a regular this year.

Our Showy Lady Slippers--nine this year.

This first peony opened the day after the brunch.

Knapp weed is cousin to centaurea.

Luna moth spent the day on the kitchen screen.

Showy Lady Slippers in the Strafford Town Forest at the Orchid Fen. There were dozen and dozens.

The day trip to Burlington and UVM. From the campus, a view of the Church Street church, Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks and NY on the other side of the lake.

A big branch fell from the red maple behind the pond. It just grazed the willow tree. Joey and I cut it up, split the thick pieces and stacked them all on the woodpile.

Anna's and Gardner's Wedding.

6-25-19 VERMONT: It’s been a while since I did an entry. The wedding has gotten a lot of my attention, the wedding, the prep and the clean up. We are almost back to our boring selves at this point, except for a garbage pick up tomorrow.

The tents were set up in the rain on Thursday, with a near direct lightning hit that zapped the invisible dog fence and the GFI outlet in the garage. The bartenders, caterers, florists, the cake lady, set up on Thursday and Friday, also photographers, sound systems and wedding planners were swarming all over the scene.

Ken predicted a week of conflicting ideas—so true, but it all worked out nearly to perfection. Professional pix will be up at a different site link listed on the right.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the yard and pasture on a perfect Saturday for the service.

Sunday was the brunch and then clean up began and continued until now with more tomorrow.

New blooms: thyme, sage, chives, lady’s mantle, Wentworth viburnum, showy lady’s slipper, white and yellow flags, Siberian iris, bearded iris, weigela, peony.


Showy Lady Slippers opened before the wedding.

Anemones and Forget-me-not.

Yellow flag iris are the first iris to open. they don't have the three upper petals that the Siberian and bearded iris have.

Wentworth Viburnum is the last to open.

Centaurea in white.

Columbine, Jacob's ladder and bearded iris.

Set-up for the wedding ceremony.

Nice sky after the Rehearsal Diner.

Dance floor chaos.

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.

Lincoln, Carnegie and Thetford.

6-10-19 VERMONT: The last week in NJ was action packed with a party at Lincoln Elementary School where Judy works with the dogs teaching reading to second-graders. It was a ‘thank you’ for the volunteers.

The next night we went to a packed Carnegie Hall to hear the Philadelphia O with Yannick Nézet-Séguin do an all-Russian program. They opened with Stravinsky’s Funeral Song and then Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with Beatrice Rana on piano. After the intermission they played Symphony No.1 by Rachmaninoff. The NYT reviewer liked it all as much as we did. All three composers had to flee the Russian Revolution, and the first and third pieces were thought to be lost and only recently found. Only Prokofiev returned to the USSR.

After packing up and loading the cars, we came to VT on Saturday. Judy has been busy inside prepping the house for the wedding and doing some cooking for the next-day brunch. I have been outside busy with weeding, pruning, fertilizing and watering. I planted a bunch of ajuga volunteers that I brought up from NJ in the front walkway. I also planted two Obedient plants, Physostegia virginiana, one in the north terrace bed and one in the bed below the deck. The special herbs look fine.

We launched the pond rowboat, the official beginning of summer. The pond stills looks fairly clear, it’s teeming with breeding newts at the moment. I did the pond treatments. The frog opera performances continue nightly.

A flock of cedar waxwings was in the apple tree. They were eating the apple blossom petals. That doesn’t seem like much nutrition, perhaps there was a pollinator into the beak-full. The hummingbirds have drained both feeders.

The Game Cams caught five deer in one spot in the pasture. There was also a canine, either a gray fox or a coyote.

New blooms: Siebold viburnum, double file viburnum, lilac, Asian lilac, columbine, honeysuckle, mountain maple, blueberry, Japanese primrose, yellow lady slipper, celandine, Solomon’s seal, false Solomon’s seal, ajuga, geranium, veronica, lily-of-the valley, lupin, hawthorn.


Cedar waxwing apparently eating apple blossoms, maybe there's a pollinator in there.

Lincoln School end-of-the-year party with Judy and Gus and the other volunteers.

Japanese primroses are on the banks of the pond...

Along with Yellow lady slippers, Forget-me-nots, iris and anemones.

Maizie admiring the new grass in the pasture. The pasture is filled with wildflowers.

Eastern tiger swallowtail working the lilacs.

Carnegie Hall literally packed to the rafters...

For the Philadelphia O with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Beatrice Rana.

Game Cam with a five deer in the pasture.

Grey fox or coyote?