1 With very hot and dry weather, spring came quite early in the northeast. Just when so many things, such as azaleas and tree peonies were in full bloom, the temperatures dropped and we received much needed rain. Those blooms didn't last long.

2 This is a grove of Paulownia tomentosa, a tree native to central and western China. The flowers are produced before the leaves in early spring.

3 The long tubular flowers resemble a foxglove flower, which is why some people call the Paulownia the Foxglove tree. The tree was actually named in honor of the Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna of Russia.

4 A view of the Paulownia grove through the linden allee - The linden foliage was very heavy with moisture.

5 The pair of Black Welsh Mountain Sheep have gone to live on another farm that raises sheep for wool and I'm told they are very happy. The miniature donkeys, Clive, Rufus, and Billy, who is on the other side, now graze in the former sheep paddock.

6 This view is from the stable looking up towards my house. These pink flowering trees are red horse chestnut (Aseculus x carnea ‘Briotti’) and are planted at the stable end of the long undulating boxwood allee.

7 The rather exotic-looking flowers form large and colorful clusters. The red horse chestnut is a hybrid between the Red Buckeye (A. pavia) and the Common Horse Chestnut (A. hippocastanum).

8 A view of my house over a freshly mowed paddock - The long building houses a flower arranging room, a car port, and my blog studio.

9 A view back towards the stable from the opposite end of the boxwood allee

10 This magnificent weeping red beech is planted at this end of the boxwood allee.

11 The perennial bed adjacent to the vegetable garden is looking resplendent with bearded iris and allium blooms.

12 This variegated bearded iris looks like someone drew on the petals with pen and ink.

13 The border of lady's mantle border has grown quite thick and I just love how its leaves collect water like drops of mercury.

14 Spectacular hosta and ostrich ferns

15 A really fragrant standard wisteria at the end of the long pergola

16 This part of the pergola has clean straight lines.

17 And this part curves with the drive.

18 Each post of the pergola is planted with clematis in varying shades of purple. This one is nearly white.

19 And this one, a rich lavender shade

20 I like to arrange single clematis flowers in small glasses. They are so pretty down the center of a dining table or on a shelf in a powder room.

21 Another great view of my house - this time with another undulating boxwood hedge.

22 The herbaceous peony garden is inside that hedge. There are 11 double rows of peonies with each row containing 44 of the same variety of plant. They are just beginning to open up.

23 The floppy peony heads are held erect with a web-like system of string and metal supports.

24 So beautiful and so, so fragrant!

25 Another amazing shade garden!

26 I admit to being a tree lover and a reforester. These are newly purchased red beech being positioned for planting on the side of this paddock.

27 The new red beech form a line with this more mature specimen. They'll have some catching up to do.

28 It gets pretty windy at the farm and it's important to support all newly trees.

29 Two wooden stakes have been pounded into the ground. A wire from each stake is wrapped around the tree trunk to hold it in place. Rubber tubing cushions and protects the tree from the hardness of the wire.

30 In the vegetable garden, the asparagus patch has been especially prolific this year. We've been picking steadily for a good three weeks and I'm not tired of eating asparagus yet! It's so much more tender and delicious than supermarket variety.

31 I grow a few different varieties of asparagus. Purple asparagus has a pleasantly sweet nutty flavor that is reminiscent of artichoke.

32 One day's crop - amazing!

33 Several different varieties of peas, both edible pod and shelling, are planted along the fence. A time-lapse camera sits in the little house recording the growth of the pea plants.

34 This corner of the garden has been planted with broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbages all grown from seed in the greenhouse.

35 Ryan is planting this row with red veined sorrel. This attractive plant, with its bright green leaves and contrasting dark maroon stems and veins, adds color and taste to any salad.

36 You may recall the Christmas tree farm that was planted for a television segment 3 years ago. Well, it's growing very nicely.

37 This year, the red admiral butterfly has been migrating in record numbers, perhaps due to the mild winter and spring. They fluttered around the farm for a few days, drinking nectar from flowering plants, like this standard lilac.

38 And speaking of lilacs, I filled the house with beautiful aromatic bouquets from the lilac allee.

39 The wooden deck furniture, stained Bedford gray, adorns the terrace.

40 Enjoying the gardens with Ghenghis Khan

41 Plants to fill empty spaces - fiber optic grass, thymus, comfrey, dichondra, helichrysum, golden creeping Jenny, and lotus vine.

42 It's now safe to bring the tropical plants out of the greenhouse.

43 The Christmas ferns hang from the porch.

44 This load contains staghorn ferns and a variegated ficus.

45 A great shot of Wilmer

46 The staghorn ferns hang on the side of the house like antlers.

47 They have a heavy mono-filament hanger, which is suspended from a brass screw in the siding.

48 Hung the same way is this lovely Spanish moss and orchid arrangement.

49 One side of the porch

50 And the other

1 When I arrived at the sprawling Javits Center, I ran into Bill Cunningham, fashion photographer for the New York Times.

2 Whenever I see Mr. Cunningham, I always take his picture. However, he has only published one photo of me! I wonder if this time will make for two?

3 A bar inside the Javits Center - Credit: Courtesy of Robin Hood

4 The space was decorated with all sorts of interesting facts about Robin Hood, such as $2,500 sends one student to a high-performing charter school for a year. Credit: Courtesy of Robin Hood

5 Some 400 tables were set for about 3,800 guests. Credit: Courtesy of Robin Hood

6 There were giant projection screens displaying images throughout the evening. Credit: Courtesy of Robin Hood

7 The subway was chosen as the theme of the event because the subway connects New York City just as Robin Hood connects New York City. Credit: Courtesy of Robin Hood

8 We were all delighted when surprise guest, music legend Neil Young, performed his hit, 'Heart of Gold' at the start of dinner along with his wife, Pegi.

9 Glorious Foods catered the event and the first course was American grilled cheese sandwich and cold gazpacho.

10 Robin Hood’s board of directors generously fund all operating and fund raising expenses, so that every dollar raised toward the general fund will go directly to helping New Yorkers in need. Credit: Courtesy of Robin Hood

11 Photographs of clients of the Children’s Health Fund, Women in Need, and other Robin Hood grantees were displayed, reminding us of all these good causes. Credit: Courtesy of Robin Hood

12 The benefit co-chairs got up on stage to speak. Credit: Courtesy of Robin Hood

13 The co-chairs included Eli Manning - quarterback for the New York Giants and two-time Super Bowl MVP and his wife Abby.

14 And Steve Burke - chief executive officer of NBCUniversal and his wife Gretchen

15 And Howard Schultz - CEO of Starbucks and his wife, Sheri

16 This is the host of my table, Alan Schwartz, Executive Chairman of Guggenheim Partners and Robin Hood Board Member.

17 Here I am with Anya Ayoung-Chee, Season 9 Project Runway winner (2011) – She designed this year’s Robin Hood benefit T-shirt. Credit: Courtesy of Robin Hood

18 Last year the foundation gave $146 million to more than 200 nonprofits providing job training, shelter, meals, education, and health care in New York’s five boroughs. Credit: Courtesy of Robin Hood

19 This sign says it all. Credit: Courtesy of Robin Hood

20 The centerpiece of each table contained pledging devices for each guest to use for pledging throughout the evening. Credit: Courtesy of Robin Hood

21 Each guest was given a pledge card, which could be worn around the neck. The cards were inserted into the pledge devices to record each person's pledges and were collected at the end of the evening. Credit: Courtesy of Robin Hood

22 The main course was seared sirloin of beef, sliced breast of chicken marinated in lemongrass and Thai-basil, Cumberland sauce, haricots verts with sesame seeds, and pomme Gaufrettes. A vegetarian option was available upon request. Credit: Courtesy of Robin Hood

23 Dessert was fresh berries and cookies. Credit: Courtesy of Robin Hood

24 Robin Hood cookies

25 And also chocolate cake with caramel cream filling and whipped cream. A coffee and tea service was provided by Starbucks Coffee Company. Credit: Courtesy of Robin Hood

26 One highlight of the evening was the 'Robin Hood 101,' as performed via 'slow jam' by Jimmy Fallon, Brian Williams, and house band, The Roots.

27 And here are Jimmy Fallon and NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams performing.

28 I really enjoyed their very amusing comedy performance, which was filled with important facts about Robin Hood. Credit: Courtesy of Robin Hood

29 Saturday Night Live's Seth Meyers and Brian Williams co-hosted the evening.

30 Brian Williams rallied the crowd to pledge.

31 Paul Tudor Jones, Robin Hood founder, stated that, 'Over the years, Robin Hood has done a lot of good for a lot of people, but I believe our partnership with the X PRIZE Foundation could be the most transformative event in our history.'

32 David Saltzman, the executive director of Robin Hood said, 'This prize will bring the greatest and most innovative minds around the globe to helping poor New Yorkers achieve their dreams. The cavalry is coming and we are sounding a clarion call to attack poverty in ways previously unimaginable.'

33 And finally, six-time Grammy winner Rihanna and her band headlined the benefit and gave a rousing performance with hits such as 'Only Girl,' 'Run This Town,' and 'Live Your Life.'

1 Rockefeller State Park in Pleasantville, New York is home to a magnificent tree peony garden.

2 Many of these blooms are the size of a dinner plate!

3 There are approximately 500 peony plants in the garden.

4 And each plant was loaded with amazing blooms.

5 In Japan, the peony is looked upon as the humble king of flowers and it is a symbol of strength, courage, and future good fortune.

6 In 2002, the little Japanese town of Yatsuko-Cho in Shimane Prefecture donated these peonies to the Rockefeller State Park Preserve as a gesture of compassion and goodwill following the 9/11 terrorist attacks of 2001.

7 When Yatsuka-Cho offered the gift, gardeners began renovating the entrance to the Rockefeller State Park Preserve to accommodate them.

8 Yatsuka-Cho is well-known for its exquisite tree peonies.

9 Unlike the more common herbaceous peonies, which flop over if not staked, tree peonies bloom on graceful woody stems.

10 Also, herbaceous peonies die back to the ground each autumn and tree peonies do not.

11 Tree peonies grow to a height of three to four feet or more.

12 Another group of 500 peony plants was to be presented as a gift for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

13 These New York gardens were to receive 50 different varieties, all semi-doubles, in shades of pink, white, red, yellow, purple, and even black.

14 The Brooklyn Botanic Garden had already dug beds in anticipation of their arrival.

15 However, the first attempt at delivering the plants came to a rather tragic ending.

16 The plants had been shipped from Japan and arrived by boat in Long Beach, California in early October in the middle of a longshoreman's strike when no cargo was being unloaded.

17 The peonies were all bare-root plants, grafted cuttings packed in sawdust and a shipping delay would cause them to dry out.

18 Staff members at Rockefeller State Park and the Japanese gardeners who had come to oversee the installation waited anxiously.

19 The Japanese team of overseers for the project included a representative from Yatsuka-Cho, four gardeners, a translator, and an environmental scientist to ensure the proper placement of the plants.

20 By the time the container arrived in New York in early October, the crates were opened and the air became filled with the fetid odor of decay.

21 Not one plant could be used and the staff members at Rockefeller State Park and the Japanese crew were all heartbroken.

22 The Japanese team sadly returned home.

23 After surveying the loss, an insurance adjuster estimated damages of about $80,000 for the flowers alone.

24 However, the Japanese were hopeful that the flowers could be replaced.

25 The growers in Yatsuko-Cho rallied together and put together a second shipment, which was sent directly to New York by air.

26 The peonies arrived in early December of that same year and the gardeners scrambled to get them into the ground before it froze for the winter.

27 To show their appreciation of the generous gift of the Japanese, the Friends of the Rockefeller State Park Preserve raised $96,000 to build a handsome garden and stone courtyard for the peonies.

28 A letter from the Japanese is posted at the entrance to the park and reads: ''These flowers bring us happiness and comfort in times of trouble. We hope that these peonies, carefully raised by the producers in our town, can also be loved by and bring peace of mind to the people of the United States.''

29 What an extraordinary gift!