May 7th
The 127th Day of the Year
Star-eyed strawberry-breasted
Throstle above her nested
Cluster of bugle blue eggs thin
Forms and warms the life within;
And bird and blossom swell
In sod or sheath or shell.
Gerard Manley Hopkins
Sunrise/set: 5:28/7:35
Day’s Length: 14 hours 7 minutes
Average High/Low: 69/48
Average Temperature: 58
Record High: 87 – 1897
Record Low: 28 – 1974
Weather
Mild to warm weather is the rule today: 25 percent of the highs reach the 80s, twenty-five percent are in the 70s, and 40 percent are in the 60s. Only ten percent remain in the cold 50s, and frost arrives just one morning out of ten. Chances of rain remain stable at 30 percent, close to the same percentage as the other days in the first week of May. Although the sun does not usually shine as much as it does on May 6, the 7th has its share of blue skies: 70 percent of the days bring at least a few hours of sunshine.
Natural Calendar
The second major wave of migrating songbirds usually reaches the Lake Erie shore near Toledo. It includes almost all the Ohio species, with dominants being white-throated sparrows, ruby-crowned kinglets, yellow-rumped warblers, magnolia warblers, tanagers, grosbeaks and orioles. Along the coast of the southeastern United States, loggerhead turtles crawl ashore to lay their eggs between now and August.
Daybook
1983: Honeysuckle and lilacs bloom, first lily-of-the-valley and comfrey budding. Skunk cabbage fully developed, each plant’s foliage about two feet high, a foot and a half across. Toothwort finally gone, fading completely in the first week of May. Last cowslip at Jacoby.
1985: I heard the first crickets of the year (the Northern Spring Field Cricket) out in the field, past the new spitbugs hanging to the parsnips. First locust in bloom. Buckeyes done, redbuds fully leafed. Some ragwort going to seed. Purple dwarf larkspur discovered. Lizard’s tail a foot and a half at the river bank. Dock is seeding. Canadian thistle is heading at Wilberforce.
1986: Cardinals singing by 4:40 a.m. Catalpas and oaks leafing. The upper canopy suddenly begins to thicken. In Dayton, all the trees seem all green, even if thin. Wilberforce: Sweet clover is one to two feet tall now, milkweed a foot. Chamomile is getting petals. First wild mallows (cheeses) bloom.
1987: Wood sorrel, sweet Cicely, first fleabane open. Ichneuman seen at Wilberforce, also first scorpion fly.
1988: First yellow swallowtail. Catchweed blooms, garlic mustard peaks, first large poppy bud, first daisy unravels, first fleabane, first raspberry flower, pink quince and buckeyes full bloom, mulberries leafing and have small berry clusters. New pine growth prominent, paler green against the old dark. Spring completely out of hand now.
1989: Virginia creeper has leafed on the sycamores, its leaves tinged with red. First sweet Cicely blooms. Orchard grass fully formed and blooming. Last cowslip flower seen. Locust leaves two inches at Wilberforce.
1990: Ginkgo leaves half size. The yard two-thirds closed in with honeysuckles. High locusts starting to leaf. Forsythia all leafed out, flowers gone, first clipping done on the front bushes. Tree of heaven has one-inch leaves. Last cherry blossom falls. Rhubarb gone to seed.
1991: New mullein sprouts well established, one-inch long. First clematis half open. Azaleas full bloom. Last days of the redbud, overwhelmed with leaves.
1992: Fields of April’s purple deadnettle have turned honey brown. Squirrel, a third of its adult size, comes to the bird feeder. Fox kit, size of a house cat, killed on Grinnell Road.
1993: Janet Hackett reports more Jack-in-the-pulpit than she’s ever seen at the Cascades, and the trillium at their late peak, turning pink, shooting star full bloom. At the Covered Bridge, the flowers of middle spring are gone, chickweed is all lanky now. Jacob’s ladder full bloom, wild geraniums, some spring beauties, spring cress tall and very prominent. Wood nettle is over a foot high, angelica up to my waist. First daddy longlegs, first clustered snakeroot buds. High canopy closing rapidly. Four-o-clocks have just sprouted at the west wall, iris budding along the north border. Wood hyacinths are the last bulbs blooming in the south garden.
1994: To Cumberland Island, southeastern Georgia: The landscape there is at the end of a Yellow Springs Early Summer, the beginning of Middle Summer. White clover, white sweet clover, yellow and orange daylilies, Mexican hat, wayside goat’s beard, moth mullein, purple flowered arrowhead, prickly pear cactus, mimosa trees, and elderberry bushes at the height of their bloom. Horseweed is three feet tall, cattail inflorescence thin and rising through its foliage, beach pennywort is budding, white flower grass is fading.
1996: The cold and wet spring continues. The river has been high for what seems like weeks. The apple and cherry trees are losing their petals, but have held on so late this year. In the woods, buckeye trees are still in flower. Toad trillium and grandiflorum are still open, garlic mustard just starting. Toothworts have gone. Wood nettle is six to ten inches. Some tulips are holding on, some daffodils, too. The first buttercups bloomed in the south garden a few days ago. In the east garden, the azaleas just started to open yesterday, bleeding hearts lush. Crab apples still in full bloom throughout the village, redbuds still open. Dogwoods late, coming in now.
1998: First poppy at home. Twelve leaves now up on the water lily. Flags well headed. Iris in all over town.
1999: At Jacoby, just inside the gate, sweet Cicely and buttercup bloom here and there among the pale green mats of chickweed, the chickweed which is like baby’s breath covering the hillsides. Across the stream, a tall stand of ragwort, perfectly deep golden. Here at home, the mock orange and pyrethrum buds are splitting at the same time, flowers starting out.
2000: The first deep purple clematis was open when I came home from work at 7:30 this morning. When I sat by the pond, I saw that the first pale long-bodied spider (Tetragnatha elongate) had spun its modest web strands above the pond’s waterfall.
2001: Suddenly the locusts are in full bloom everywhere, and the first pale violet iris blossomed in the yard this afternoon.
2002: Returning from Santee Reservoir in South Carolina, returning from summer to spring: Climbing into the Virginia mountains, dogwood found in bloom. Near Charleston, West Virginia, wild cherry and locust, red clover and daisies open. In southeastern Ohio, some blue iris seen, and wheat was about a foot and a half tall. Back in Yellow Springs to azalea time and the end of dandelion season.
2003: One scorpion fly seen in the south garden this afternoon, the first of the year. The first June bug of the year got in the house last night.
2005: A termite inspector came out today, and while we talked he mentioned he had trapped 28 coyotes in Clifton Gorge between December and January last year (at the request of the county). A healthy environment creates so many large predators.
2007: Many coleus planted in the south garden shade today. New, tall Camassia/Indian hyacinth opens in the apple-tree garden.
2008: Violet iris seen at Limestone and Stafford, bridal wreath opening (appropriately) at Katie’s house as she plans her wedding. One of our iris plants in the north garden has a purple bud. Petals from the pink quince are falling into the pond now; the fall started yesterday. Two days ago in the sun, the flowers were full of honeybees, the sound of their wings soothing, strong. The red crabapple in the east garden is losing petals all at once, the ground rose-pink with its flowers. In the park, almost all the crabs have fallen. The American beech there has suddenly leafed, and the tall beech on Dayton Street is about half leafed. A few white daffodils still bloom in the yard of the house across from Mrs. Timberlake’s. Spruce trees show small cones and inch-long pale green growth. In the afternoon, a titmouse sang repeatedly and visited the feeder. Sitting outside at about 8:15 this evening, I heard a steady, rhythmic call in the woods, some kind of wood frog I believe, or possibly a kind of toad.
2009: The toad sang again yesterday evening. This morning, I heard the screech owl in the back woods at 5:45 a.m. The Korean lilac has reached early full bloom, and a bed of violet iris along Limestone Street is completely open. Driving to Maumee Bay State Park on Lake Erie this afternoon, we traveled a week to ten days back into Late Spring. Dandelions were in full bloom again, and we saw many late pear trees and white and pink crab apples. Silver olive shrubs were only budded, cottonwoods two-thirds developed. Red-winged blackbirds were mating throughout the swamps and grasslands. Willows were shedding catkins, sumacs leafing; buckeyes were in bloom, blackberries were budded, iris budded. A white crowned sparrow and yellow warbler identified, and a tree swallow. Baltimore orioles and a great egret seen. Wild black current with yellow flowers (Ribes americanum) found.
2010: Male cardinal feeding its baby this morning before dawn. First stella d’oro lily opened overnight, first catchweed flowers and first flowers of the trellis wisteria noticed. Iris full bloom in town. Standard lilacs collapsing quickly, almost all gone, even the Korean lilacs starting to rust. Petals are falling now from the red azalea in the east garden. White clover and black medic seen, dogwood blossoms suddenly disappearing, mock orange coming in now. Mary and Rick said their koi were starting to mate this week.
2011: To Goshen, Indiana, found April there in late forsythia, mid-season tulips and daffodils, the landscape more luminescent, the trees only beginning to leaf, birches, pears and pink magnolias in late full bloom. Maggie called from Wisconsin, daffodils and tulips there, she said, and bluebells at their best, a few bloodroot still in flower. In Yellow Springs, the dogwood and spirea transition to the center of Late Spring, and the buttercups in the east yard have come into bloom.
2012: Robins and cardinals steady before dawn, robins continuing through the morning. Few grackles at the feeders now, only sporadic. Sparrows far fewer, none of the giant flocking of dozens that occurs in the winter. In the north gardens, more sweet rockets are coming in, filling the spaces between the red roses and the violet iris, catmint and spiderwort. Japanese honeysuckle and wild grapes opening along the street.
2013: Throughout the suburbs and the countryside, dandelions are going to seed all at once, just as the apple blossoms blanch and fall together. Dogwoods, azaleas, wisteria, bridal wreath spirea, lilacs and late pink quince are softening the transition to summer foliage. One of my peony buds is showing color. Spiderwort is budding beside the perennial salvia budding. The very first honeysuckle flower found along the northwest hedge. The red-bellied woodpecker called throughout the afternoon.
At South Glen, I walked through glades of sweet Cicely and pale, dense chickweed (that spread throughout the forest floor), flanked by golden ragwort and purple wild phlox and wild geraniums, a few spring cress in flower, and garlic mustard. Sweet rockets, waterleaf and black snakeroot were budded, wood nettle coming up through the chickweed, nodding trilliums and large-flowered trilliums all spent, toad trilliums overwhelmed by the new growth, wild ginger still blooming soft and red beside them, twinleaf leaves grown huge like bloodroot leaves, and showing a long green seedpod. In the woods, where the high canopy was turning green, a red-bellied woodpecker was calling, just like at home. Off near the river, I could hear a toad or a cricket, intermittent.
2014: Red quince, dogwoods, aging redbuds, many crabapples still open, and the first pale violet iris in bloom along Limestone Street. The last tulips are still in flower, and the small white daffodils. The larger of our two small blueberry bushes is blossoming now.
2015: Crows at 5:00 a.m. surrounded by intense birdsong of all kinds. When I was running (gibbous moon clear and high in the southwest), I finally noticed the bridal wreath spirea in full bloom. And all around, the broad-leafed dogwoods. The circle garden: wood and Indian hyacinths and allium reaching full flower. In the dooryard: the red azalea brilliant, the red-pink crab apple petals covering the path from the gate with soft color. The wisteria on the porch’s north end has well-developed leaves and one bud, and the trumpet creeper on the porch’s south end, and the wisteria on the north trellis are starting to leaf, the wisteria with clusters in bloom. The first male tiger swallowtail flew excitedly through the back trees around noon.
2016: Cloudy and warm. Bushes clipped for the first time. More zinnias planted this morning. At about 1:30 this afternoon, I heard humming in the back yard, went out to find a swarm of honeybees hovering overhead. After a while they moved down and settled on the scraggly old paulownia tree. They were gone by 2:40 p.m. In 2006, a swarm came through on May 29.
Inventory: Indian hyacinths suddenly gone, allium early full bloom, wood hyacinths still strong, the north-side snowball viburnum full and bright, honeysuckles full, a few last white tulips, full celandine and wild geraniums and lamium and ranunculus, ferns and hostas completely grown and filling in the garden along the north wall of the house, iris throughout town, the yellow bell-flowered bulbs I planted last fall have been in bloom for about a week. First hummingbird seen in the garden.
2018: From Keuka Lake to Yellow Springs: Starting from pear and forsythia and weeping cherry and dandelion bloom, Jill and I drove southwest past mountains faint with blossoms, undergrowth definitely greening, cottonwoods near the steams half leafed and bright, along roadsides that had lost their dormancy since our trip in the middle of April, across the upper arm of Pennsylvania with relatively little change, until we went down past Cleveland toward the heart of Ohio where we saw the first redbud come in about a hundred miles north of Yellow Springs, and then the honeysuckles created a barrier against the highway, the tree lines were no longer the prepubescent golds and oranges of the northern mountains but glowed with fresh April greens (but not the richer May greens). Full dandelion bloom persisted well into the central counties, gray seed heads finally replacing the yellows near Yellow Springs.
2019: The first poppies seen open along Elm Street today, the first iris (golden) on Short Street, the first purple sweet rocket (but I can’t remember where). Leslie reports the first cranefly and the first June bug at her screen door. Throughout the village, the most fragrant time of year begins. While the favored generations come to flower and grace lawns and gardens with gentrified beauty, other, less beloved plants carry on their cycles in spite of all the efforts of nativists and exterminators.
In the unplanted fields beyond Ellis Pond, the March and April weeds are all going to seed: shepherd’s purse, peppergrass, penny cress, bittercress, dandelions, the small verbena that Jeanie called “blue eyes” and the common chickweed That first wave of the weedy wildflowers bloomed in the very first days of Early Spring alongside of the furrows that had just a year ago been saturated with herbicides. Allowed to flower and seed protected by the heavy rains of April and early May, they will doubtlessly return next year. The more acceptable wildflowers, the spring beauties that lined the path have also disappeared, only the violets holding.
The next generation of rank weeds confidently takes the place of the first. Golden wintercress, garlic mustard, sticky catchweed and cressleaf groundsel, unharmed by the poisons of commercial farming, replace the purple deadnettle that has turned gray and beige in age. Hardy dock grows knee high, hemlock lanky and bushy and branching. Salsify is budding. Basal plantain leaves fill in the bare spaces of the path beside the new prickly thistle stalks. Escaped from domesticated pastures, orchard grass pushes out to fill the waysides. Spitbugs create protective foam on the new parsnip foliage.
2020: The full moon at perigee is bringing a major storm across the Great Lakes region and into the Northeast. Frost predicted for tomorrow night. But I watch the barometer’s lazy fall and work in the mild afternoon, cutting grass and the bushes. It’s hard to believe that this soft world will turn harsh and cold with Lilac Winter.
Trees and fields now flowering appear,
the woods full of leaves, greenest of the year.
Virgil