April 29th
The 119th Day of the Year
The moon will never be
And never I so radiant.
Flowers only glow,
And time makes only darkness:
Nothing like the sun.
Neysa Jin (age 9)
Sunrise/set: 5:38/7:27
Day’s Length: 13 hours 49 minutes
Average High/Low: 67/46
Average Temperature: 56
Record High: 87 – 1899
Record Low: 30 – 1977
Weather
An average April 29 brings rain five years in ten, with totally overcast conditions in the same proportion. Temperatures in the 80s or 90s are rarely recorded today, but highs in the 70s come 45 percent of the afternoons, with 60s occurring on another 45 percent. The remaining ten percent are in the 50s. Frost occurs one morning in five.
Natural Calendar
In cooler years along the 40th Parallel, rue anemone, Jack-in-the-pulpit, toothwort and large-flowered trilliums are usually in full bloom, early meadow rue and ragwort and bellwort almost ready, wild phlox budding, too. May apples are budding. Ginger leaves have unfolded from the ground. Spring beauties fill the lawn at Antioch College. All the grass in town and country takes on the exciting vibrancy, intensity of April green, glow with life, as though its usually invisible aura could no longer be contained and took to shining.
Daybook
1983: Cardinal’s nest in the wild rose bush has three tan, speckled eggs. Peony stalks flesh out with leaves, have tiny flower buds.
1984: Our pie cherry tree finally comes into bloom.
1985: Honeysuckle blooms.
1986: Very first raspberry flowers. In the greenhouse, one aloe flower spike is over a foot long.
1987: At Sycamore Hole, one shiner caught with scales turned pink and his snout bristly, far from the mid-year’s normal pale silver and smooth surface. Above us, the canopy of leaves was closing in.
1988: Josh brought over a baby rabbit, maybe six inches long.
1989: Leafcup a foot and a half tall. Buckeyes flowering, parallel to the redbuds. Silver olive is half leafed. Tree line greening. North High Street canopy is closing with a combination of flowers and leaves. At John Bryan Park, the pasture grass is past my ankles now, the spring walks becoming wetter and a little slower. Maggie called from Madison, reports forsythia and daffodils, some tulips. It is April 12th there, Yellow Springs Time.
1990: Honeysuckle blooms. Dogwood full. At Clifton Gorge, miterwort, Solomon’s plume, wild strawberry, sedum, sweet Cicely blossoming. Dock is budding. Most cherry and apple petals in the yard fell today. Last summer’s catalpa seedpods suddenly falling now.
1991: Strawberries full bloom. Leafing intensifying in the second tier of the canopy, the oaks in bloom. Flower clusters falling from the sweet gum. Petal fall for flowering crabs has peaked. White fields of dandelions gone to seed. Iris just starting to bud at home, but Chris says her first one has opened. Purple loosestrife along the Ohio River is a foot tall.
1993: At South Glen: toothwort still holds, early trillium grandiflorum in bloom, early phlox, meadow rue. Toad trillium lush. Among the spring flowers, July’s wood nettle has come up about six inches, leaves an inch long. Flickers noisy through the afternoon. In the yard, honeysuckle foliage begins to form a barrier against the street. Forsythia filling in too, half flowers, half green. Squirrels chasing each other in wild dramatic games through the tall locusts. Dandelions in full bloom, dense throughout. Viburnum now mostly full in the village. Purple loosestrife has come up the last day or so, it’s a couple of inches tall this afternoon. Redbuds full.
1995: First wild cherry tree blooming. First daisy buds in the south garden. Spring beauties still hold on the Antioch green. Field penny cress grows lanky, pacing the winter cress. May apples are budding.
1998: The sweet Cicely is open along the south wall of the old house, the same day noticed as in 1990. Around the new blooms, dense bright sprouts of August’s clearweed hide the ground. Star of Bethlehem seen at the corner of Grinnell and Wilberforce Clifton Roads. Full bloom of the early honeysuckle along Grinnell. Early bridal wreath along south Limestone. First leaves on the redbuds. Full decay of dandelions. High canopy greening more. The seventh water lily leaf reached the surface of the pond over night. Fat pink buds of the late quince start to open in the morning. First horseradish flowers by noon. Comfrey waist high. The tallest knotweed is six feet.
2000: Cascades and high ridge: cowslips hold in the swampy areas; one patch of purple larkspur is in dramatic full bloom. Solomon’s seal and Solomon’s plume early opening. Shooting star, nodding trillium, blue cohosh in flower. One last trout lily, one last Dutchman’s britches, fragments of the last toothworts, late bluebells being overgrown by garlic mustard. Small-flowered buttercup still here. Around town, the iris and poppies are budding and large-flowered celandine open.
2001: First blossoms on the wisteria at home – the first bloom after years of waiting. Ranunculus started yesterday, iris in Dayton on the 27th. Pyrethrums and daisies budding. Lilacs hold full. Poison ivy leaves start to show up in the north garden.
2002: Bridal wreath starts at Susi’s.
2003: Cressleaf groundsel is about a foot high in the north garden, its first yellow flowers opening today. First blossoms noticed on the wisteria.
2005: Very first cressleaf groundsel bud unravels, first sweet Cicely seen. Pink quince opening, bamboo now seven feet tall. Catmint full and bushy. Bluebells hold. Forsythia and honeysuckle all leafed out. Green frog still here.
2006: First pink quince petals falling. In just the last day or two, green flower clusters have appeared at the north-garden viburnum. Very first wood hyacinth opens. Star of Bethlehem now in full early bloom. Late-season tulips are now blossoming. Buds noticed on the new wisteria (two years old). Dandelion bloom is done in the yard and around town.
2007: Garden dug for lettuce and spinach. Stella d’oro lilies transplanted. Several wood hyacinth buds getting ready to open. Dandelions still beautiful throughout the lawn. Wisteria buds are lengthening. Rose of Sharon buds greening. More strawberries blooming. Celandine noticed flowering. Pink flowering buckeye fully budded at the school park.
2008: The tree line that looked so bare when we returned from Tennessee a few days ago continues to fill in quickly. The honeysuckles around the yard have provided a complete barrier now. Rose of Sharon is leafing, as are the river birches near Fairborn. The serviceberry trees that were blooming on the 25th have leafed out so quickly. Pears still have flowers, but leaves predominate. Don’s late pink magnolia is aging, his pie cherry full late bloom. All the crab apple trees in town are lush and fragrant. The red quince flowers are starting to be overrun by leaves. Late-season tulips and the white daffodils are at their best, mid-season varieties losing petals. Jerusalem artichoke foliage has emerged, leaves about two inches long. Cressleaf groundsel seems ready to flower – the smaller variety already open near the fading cowslips at the Covered Bridge. Garlic mustard is in full bloom all over the area. The evening robin mating chorus seems to have stopped, although robins and doves still call.
2009: The blue jay was calling again this morning a little after 5:00. He has been present for almost a week now, adding a new rhythm to the early birdsong. In the alley today, Mrs. Timberlake’s bridal-wreath spirea is just starting to bloom. Don’s pie cherry is done blooming, and the service berry leaves are summer green and about full size. Black walnut flowers are all over the sidewalk in front of the Lawsons’. Red quince flowers are being pushed out by leaves. Cressleaf groundsel opened in a few places yesterday. Bamboo stalks are up to seven feet tall. In Wilmington, the Judd viburnum along the highway has lost all its petals. From Xenia south, the dandelion bloom is over and winter cress is in full flower across the pastures. A large patch of iris in bloom seen outside of Xenia. Walking Bella tonight, I saw the end of dandelions near Lawson Place.
2010: Buds on the oakleaf hydrangea, first purple flower on the perennial salvia, first raspberry flower in the garden, Liz’s allium opening.
2011: Oakleaf hydrangea leaves are small but well formed. Bridal wreath is budding in the alley, and the first wisteria is open on the garden trellis. Witch hazel and trumpet vine finally pushing out a few leaves. Box elder bugs mating. One of the middle summer myrtles has put out a small red sprout. Mrs. Lawson’s yellow tulips have all faded, but some of the late varieties at home are still strong. Bamboo is past six feet now, Jerusalem artichokes up a few inches. Don’s pie cherry is just starting to lose its flower petals, as are some of the crab apples in the Bill Duncan park. Cardinals and a red-bellied woodpecker at dusk.
2012: The crepe myrtles developed numerous small red leaves throughout April this year. Jeni reports from Portland, Oregon: The tulips are in late full bloom at the tulip festival there.
2013: Lilacs and crab apples full throughout the village (but our apple still holding back), bridal wreath spirea with small buds, pacing the honeysuckles. A few petals falling from Don’s cherry, the leaves on his serviceberry trees about an inch long. The silver maple seeds in front of Rachel’s old house are heavy and fat, an inch or two, curved. Celandine and garlic mustard gathering momentum. The taxus shrubs along Union Street have new half-inch growth. A red-bellied woodpecker and very insistent blue jay calling when I walked Bella a little before 8:00 this morning. At Ellis Pond, the yellow poplar leaves are getting fatter, some up to two inches, and the sugar maples are matching them. All the oaks are leafing a little, except the swamp chestnut oak, which is still just budded. The hickory has small round bud clusters, and some are getting ready to flower. The ashes are leafing now, the leaves half to a full inch. Along the south wall of the house, the tallest bamboo stalk is up to my waist. In the north garden, all the grape hyacinths are gone.
2014: More tornadoes in the South. Hail and thunder here an hour before sundown after a warm day in the 70s. The first wild strawberry flower noticed by the back porch.
2015: To Xenia and back: Full crab apple, snowball viburnums and dandelion bloom all along the road. At home, a few buds of our red-flowered crab started to open, the old azalea straining, will certainly blossom in a day or two. The white star hyacinths are still blooming in the alley, and red quince flowers hold along High Street – even though leaves are growing all around them. Planted a bed of red, plumed amaranth.
2016: Now the circle garden hyacinths dominate the backyard color, and the tall alliums are pushing out just a little just as the first of the hyacinths browns. The Kentucky coffee tree has slender, pale leaves, the Zelcova with wider leaves, both trees in adolescent leafing. From Springfield, Marianne Mitchell writes, “We have our first oriole of the year building his nest in our back yard. Very exciting.” That is the earliest sighting I have recorded so far; other reports have come in from the first week of May.
2018: Redbuds just starting to bloom in town. No hyacinths yet. Frost this morning, hopefully the last of the season.
2019: Redbuds starting to leaf. No hyacinths in the circle garden, but Jill has a handful in full bloom by her deck. One red admiral butterfly, colors bright and fresh, seen near the west porch garden. A small sedge seeding out in the fields past Ellis. Sudden full bloom of acres of cressleaf groundsel. No geese seen at the fall-through-spring feeding grounds out Polecat Road. At home the red-flowered crab apple tree is reaching full bloom, and the first red azalea is unraveling. The taxus shrubs along Davis Street have half-inch or inch new growth. The Japanese knotweed in the alley is up to my beard. Jenny Cowperthwaite wrote this evening that she saw the first hummingbird at 5:10. She added that she had seen a dramatic drop in their numbers over the past five years and had used just half the nectar she used to use.
2020: This year on this date almost exactly like last year (except that this year I found carp frolicking and mating along the west edge of Ellis Pond and the red buckeye ready to open). I filled the hummingbird feeder and set it out. I read back over the entries for this and other close dates: there is an aura for the days, a kind of hazy impressionism of events in nature and in me. Over the past forty years, I have experienced so many changes, but the memoir of these entries unifies them all into blended fragments of color and shape and odor. So the cumulative journal reveals the simplest of connections. I am what I observe, and what I add or miss is self-definition.
The first in time and the first in importance of the influences upon the mind is that of nature. Every day, the sun; and, after sunset, Night and her stars. Ever the winds blow; ever the grass grows.
Ralph Waldo Emerson