Set 04 of My Early Springtime Favorites
Bob Jensen at Trinity University 

The lupine and other field flowers finally bloomed in these mountains
And the lilac and phlox blossoms are fading
It's been the coldest June in memory for me
The furnace still runs some at night
 

This is how our cottage looked in April

This is how it looks in June

Note that I replaced the rotten-wood widow's walk with vinyl posts and rails that won't rot

The Kinsman Range in the White Mountains  is about 10 miles away at its closest point
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinsman_Range

The birds will probably get a lot of cherries when summer finally arrives
In the background are my wild roses that I will feature in another picture set
Behind those you can see Mt. Garfield and Mt. Lafayette

Here's a preview of the wild roses

In 2008 I planted a small Polka Weigela bush. In 2009 it looked like this with one stem shooting into the air:

This spring in 2015 it has grown to this alongside my New Guinea Impatiens plantings:

Weigela --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weigela

Weigela /waɪˈdʒiːlə/ is a genus of between six and 38 species of deciduous shrubs in the family Caprifoliaceae, growing to 1–5 m (3-15') tall. All are natives of eastern Asia. The genus is named after the German scientist Christian Ehrenfried Weigel.[

The leaves are 5–15 cm long, ovate-oblong with an acuminate tip, and with a serrated margin. The flowers are 2–4 cm long, with a five-lobed white, pink, or red (rarely yellow) corolla, produced in small corymbs of several together in early summer. The fruit is a dry capsule containing numerous small winged seeds.

. . .

The first species to be collected for Western gardens, Weigela florida, distributed in North China, Korea and Manchuria, was found by Robert Fortune and imported to England in 1845. Following the opening of Japan to Westerners, several Weigela species and garden versions were "discovered" by European plant-hunters in the 1850s and 1860s, though they may have already been known to locals.

Continued in article

 

Erika used to work alongside me in the gardens, but this spring the four rods in her back are just too painful

But I have a strong back and a weak mind

I wisely save my back with a bucket loader
I don't know how I lived so many years without a bucket loader

Before the morning glories

After the morning glories (not grown from seed by me)

Hanging Baskets on the West Deck

Hanging baskets on my studio

This is the start of my springtime pond garden in 2015

This is the start of some of my many New Guinea Impatiens

We now have the start (no babies yet) of one family of birds in this cluster of five birdhouses
beside a lilac bush that's fading

The lilac blooms have mostly faded, but we have two late bushes beside the cottage

On the north side of the cottage we have a rock garden that is covered in phlox
I have to put window screens over the phlox in wintertime
Otherwise deer will nose under four feet of snow to nibble on phlox

I also love my bleeding hearts in the springtime

This purple thing comes to life every spring

The sprawling resort where our cottage now sits was torn down
This is one of the old shuffleboards between a maple tree and some cedars

I don't know the name of this big patch of ground cover, but it  has tiny lavender flowers in early July
The small building in the background is my second office that holds my dust-laden old books

Near the front walkway beside the driveway my color theme this year is blue and white

This cluster of birdhouses only has one tenant
It's a tiny wren the about the size of a hummingbird

I did not include lupine in this photo set.
My next photoset will feature our lupine in 2015
This is the lupine in our wild flower field with part of our barn in the background

I love these mountains in all four seasons

Set 1
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits//SummertimeFavorites/EarlySpringtime/EarlySpringtimeSet01.htm  

Set 2
www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/SummertimeFavorites\EarlySpringtime\Set02\EarlySpringtimeSet02.htm

Phlox  --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2009/tidbits090807.htm
Also see Springtime --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2009/tidbits090603.htm

Set 1 --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits//SummertimeFavorites/EarlySpringtime/EarlySpringtimeSet01.htm

Set 4 --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/SummertimeFavorites/EarlySpringtime/Set04/EarlySpringtimeSet04.htm 

My Walk Down Lovers Lane --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2009/tidbits090623.htm 

More of Bob Jensen's Pictures and Stories
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Pictures.htm

On May 14, 2006 I retired from Trinity University after a long and wonderful career as an accounting professor in four universities. I was generously granted "Emeritus" status by the Trustees of Trinity University. My wife and I now live in a cottage in the White Mountains of New Hampshire ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/NHcottage/NHcottage.htm

Bob Jensen's Blogs --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/JensenBlogs.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called New Bookmarks --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookurl.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called Tidbits --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/TidbitsDirectory.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called Fraud Updates --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm
Bob Jensen's past presentations and lectures --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/resume.htm#Presentations   

Our address is 190 Sunset Hill Road, Sugar Hill, New Hampshire
Our cottage was known as the Brayton Cottage in the early 1900s
Sunset Hill is a ridge overlooking with New Hampshire's White Mountains to the East
and Vermont's Green Mountains to the West

Bob Jensen's Threads --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/threads.htm

Bob Jensen's Home Page --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/