When the Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks arrive I know it’s Spring. We only have these lovely birds for a week or so, then they move on to wherever they live in New Jersey besides our back yard. Here are two males.

Each of them has a slightly different rose pattern on their breast. Take a look.

Beautiful, aren’t they? They just arrived on Wednesday as our company left. Now I have to keep a keen eye out for the hummingbird’s arrival which usually happens around Mother’s Day which is coming up on the 13th of May. I expected them early this year because of the earlier than normal Spring, but maybe they will come exactly on time.

But our weather has been a bit strange. One day we had over 90 degrees F, then we’ve had chilly weather for the past week with rain and temperatures barely reaching 60 degrees F some days. Last night at 1:15 (or should I say this morning?) we had our first thunderstorm of the year. It’s having a hard time making up its mind.

On Monday we took a walk in Skylands Botanical Garden. Here are a few blooming things that we saw.

The azaleas were magnificent!

Breathe deeply and you might catch a whiff of sweet lilacs! Sheer heaven!

Peony Power!

I don’t know what this is, but I like it.

The forest ferns had a good start; better than mine!

And these unique and lovely Jack-in-the-Pulpits were out on the forest edge all by themselves. It looks like they are having a conversation. They are truly interesting looking plants.

I do love Spring—even when it’s fickle!

Oh Lynne, the flowers are so pretty….and 2 of my very favorites to boot!  Peony & Lilac….in my mind you just can’t go wrong!
Wondering if Bella still has her pretty hair today?

Debra, glad you enjoyed! And yes, it was pretty much unanimous that Bella’s “do” must stay as is. I will try and follow up with another photo.

Just love the grosbeaks.  My painted and oak leaf ferns are up but not quite as far as those.  My little Korean lilac has buds but no blossoms yet.  Getting tired of these wet, cloudy and cool days.  Ready for some sun now!

C, me too! I wish they stayed instead of going elsewhere. Oh well. Korean lilacs are super fragrant! We had them in FTC and were nearly overwhelmed by their scent when they bloomed. I too would like a different weather pattern for a while!

What beautiful interesting birds and flowers you have - so very different to ones in the UK.

Joyce, no azaleas in the UK? No Jack-in-the-Pulpits? The birds for sure are different!

I think the flower you can’t identify is a type of hydrangea. I never saw grosbeaks or jack-in-the-pulpits when I lived in New Jersey! I clearly need to start paying more attention to my surroundings!

Steve, yes, now that you mention it it might be. It was tree-size, so maybe just an old bush. I see now that the flower pattern is very similar. The grosbeaks don’t stick around. In fact, they were gone the day after I took these photos. Shame. We had a different kind of Jack-in-the-pulpit in our woods next to our yard one year but I never saw it again. We do live in the “mountains” of NJ so that might make a difference.