June 1st
The 152nd Day of the Year
The exuberance of June…It began at daybreak with the chirping and chattering of birds close at hand and in widening circles around us. And then, what greater wonder than the rising of the sun? Even the nights, as yet without insect choirs, were alive. Fireflies against the mass of trees were flashing galaxies, which repeatedly made and unmade abstract patterns of light, voiceless as the stars overhead….
Harlan Hubbard
Sunrise/set: 5:09/7:57
Day’s Length: 14 hours 48 minutes
Average High/Low: 78/57
Average Temperature: 67
Record High: 97 – 1895
Record Low: 42 – 1972
Weather
Today brings a five-percent chance of highs in the 90s, forty percent of 80s, forty percent of 70s, fifteen percent of 60s. Rain occurs 35 percent of the time, and the sun shines eight years in a decade. A very slight chance (one to three percent) of light frost remains until the 14th of June.
The Weather of the Week Ahead
The first week of June brings an end to the likelihood of highs in the 50s and 60s at average elevations along the 40th Parallel. Chances of that kind of cold were around 30 percent last week; this week chances of 60s fall to only 15 percent, and 50s are rare. Temperatures for the days of this week rise into the 70s on 35 percent of the afternoons, into the 80s on 40 percent, and into the 90s on ten percent. After June 6th, the likelihood of highs reaching into the 90s jumps to 20 percent, and reaches 35 percent by the middle of the month. About 15 percent of the nights bring temperatures in the 30s or 40s. Rainfall is usually lighter this week than last, and the sun shines more. Still, showers fall about 40 percent of the time each day, except for the 4th, which has just a 30 percent chance, and the 6th, one of the driest days of June in the Lower Midwest, which has just a 15 percent chance of precipitation.
The June Weather Outlook
Normal temperatures rise at the rate of one degree every four days this month throughout most of the United States. In the Lower Midwest, average highs move from the upper 70s on the first of June to the middle 80s by the beginning of July. Lows climb from the mid 50s into the lower 60s. The average temperature for the entire month is usually in the low 70s, up about ten degrees from May. The coldest June recorded in Yellow Springs, Ohio, was 65.8 degrees in 1928. The warmest was 78.4 degrees in 1934.
A typical June temperature distribution looks like the following in much of the state: four days in the 90s, twelve days in the 80s, twelve days in the 70s, two days in the 60s, with a slight chance of one of those cooler days to be in the upper 50s.
The warmest June days, those that carry an 85 percent chance of afternoon highs above 80 degrees: June 13th, 14th, 15th, 21st, 26th. The 13th, 14th, and 15th are the June days most likely to produce highs in the 90s. The coldest days in the month, those with a 50 percent chance of a high below 80: June 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 10th, 30th. The driest June days, those with 20 percent chance of rain or less, are June 4th, 6th, 10th, 13th, 14th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 21st, 25th, 26th. The period between the 13th and the 26th is historically the best for fieldwork. The 25th and the 26th are almost always free from rain.
The sunniest June days, those which have a 90 percent chance of 12 out of 24 hours without clouds (a thunderstorm is possible, but all-day overcast conditions are rare): June 9th, 10th, 14th, 19th, 21st, 24th, 25th, 26th.
The wettest days this month, those with more than a 40 percent chance of rain: June 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 8th, 11th, 12th, 15th and 20th. The 15th and 20th are usually the rainiest days in June weather history. The first and the last weeks of the month generally provide the most precipitation. About eight thunderstorms occur in a Yellow Springs June.
Summercount
Between the last week of May through the first week of September, approximately fourteen major cool fronts of summer cross the United States. As these high-pressure systems approach, atmospheric conditions become unsettled, and rain becomes more likely. After the passage of the fronts, weather is ordinarily suitable for outdoor work and recreation. Fronts will reach the Mississippi around the following dates; they will come through about two days earlier in the West, a day or two later in the East.
June 2: The June 2nd front can bring a light freeze along the Canadian border and at higher elevations, but the rest of the country is typically safe by this time in the year (except for a very slight danger of frost on the morning of the 5th). After this front weakens, chances of highs in the cool 60s along the 40th Parallel fall to only 15 percent, and 50s are rare.
June 6: The low-pressure system that accompanies the June 6th front initiates a four-day period during which there is an increased chance of tornadoes and flash floods. Even after this front passes to the east, storms often strike up to 40 percent of the years. Part of the reason for the rise in the risk for severe weather is the increase in the percentage of afternoons in the 80s and 90s almost everywhere in the continental United States. With the heat, however, comes more sunshine than during any other week so far in the year.
June 10: Good chances of a shower precede this weather system, and after its passage, chances are the best so far in the year for a major heat wave. In all but the northernmost states (and at the highest elevations), lows near freezing and highs only in the 50s or 60s now recede from the realm of serious possibility until late August. Although showers can be associated with warm temperatures, many of the days between this front and the next are dry. The sunniest June days usually occur between now and the 26th. Approximately 100 frost-free days now remain on most farms and gardens of the country.
June 15: Unsettled conditions often surround the arrival of this front (between the 13th and 16th) as Late Spring and Early Summer hold their final skirmishes along the nation’s midsection. After summer is victorious, precipitation typically stays away for several days. Between the 15th and the 19th, average temperatures climb their final degrees, reaching their summer peak near solstice. The period between the 13th and the 26th is historically one of the best times of the month for fieldwork.
June 23: The June 23rd high-pressure system is typically cool and dry, and it is often followed by some of the sunniest and driest days of all the year. Cooler conditions in the 70s or even the 60s are most likely to occur on the 23rd and 24th, as the front arrives, but then the afternoons usually warm to the 80s or 90s. As the next June front approaches, the benign effects of the June 23rd system can be expected to give way to storms.
June 29: The final weather system of the month is often followed by the Corn Tassel Rains, a two-week period of intermittent precipitation that accompanies the Dog Days of Deep Summer. If the land has been dry throughout June, the Corn Tassel Rains bring the first real chance of midsummer moisture. In spite of the association of this rainy period with heat, however, the final two days of June are sometimes the coldest of the year’s midsection, highs below 80 degrees occurring more than half the time above the Border States.
Key to the Nation’s Weather
The typical June temperature at average elevations along the 40th Parallel, the average of the high of 81 and the low of 63, is 72 degrees. Using the following chart based on weather statistics from around the country, one might calculate approximate temperatures in other locations close to the cities listed.
For example, subtract five degrees from the base of 72 you to estimate normal temperatures in Minneapolis. Or add five degrees to find out the average conditions in Atlanta during the month.
Fairbanks -14
Cheyenne -12
Portland, -9
Minneapolis -5
Boston -5
Des Moines -2
AVERAGE ALONG THE 40TH PARALLEL: 72
Washington DC +1
Louisville +2
St. Louis +3
Little Rock +5
Atlanta +5
Miami +8
New Orleans +9
A Floating Sequence
For the Blooming of Shrubs, Trees, Wildflowers and Perennials
The following list is based on my personal observations in southwestern Ohio over a period of 30 years. The dates are approximate, but I have tried to show a relatively true sequence of first blossoming times during an average summer. Although the dates on all flower calendars are somewhat arbitrary (and may vary by up to 60 days between the Canadian border and the South), a “floating calendar” can be used throughout the country by adjusting the sequence to fit the climate and the particular year.
Many of the events mentioned in this June daybook occur up to a month earlier in the South and up to a month later in the North. For example, if moth mulleins bloom in your yard or alley on May 15 instead of June 1 (see below), subsequent blooming dates will follow more or less in the order given, but on later dates. Since microclimates – as well as precipitation, temperature, soil quality and the day’s length – determine blooming times, personal records can refine and reorder sequences to reflect local conditions.
May 15: Common Orange Day Lily (Hemerocallis fulva) Stella d’oro Lily (Hemerocallis ‘Stella de Oro’)
May 16: Yucca (Yucca filamentosa)
Blue Flax (Linum lewisii)
Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea)
Blackberry (Rubus villosus)
May 17: Achillea (Achillea millefolium)
Swamp Iris (Iris)
Wild Grape (Vitis vinifera)
Cow Vetch (Vicia villosa)
Peonies (Paeonia)
May 18: Lamb’s Ear (Stachys byzantine)
Kousa Dogwood (Cornus kousa)
Yellow Sweet Clover (Melilotus officinalis)
May 19: Climbing Rose (Rosa setigera)
Tea Rose (Rosoideae rosa)
Fringe Tree (Chionanthus)
May 20: Blue-Eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium angustifolium)
Corn Salad (Valerianella locusta)
May 21: Catalpa (Catalpa speciosa)
Pink Spirea (Spiraea japonica)
Wild Parsnip (Pastinaca sativa)
May 22: Privet (Ligustrum)
River Willow (Salix myrtilloides)
Smooth Solomon’s Seal (Polygonatum biflorum)
May 23: Astilbe (Astilbe arendsii)
Panicled Dogwood (Cornus racemosa)
Poison Hemlock (Coniu maculatum)
Angelica (Angelica)
Birdsfoot Trefoil (Lobus corniculatus)
May 24: Japanese Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica)
Motherwort (Leonurus cardiac)
Multiflora Rose (Rosa multifora)
May 25: Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima)
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
Curly Dock (Rumex crispus)
May 26: Poison Ivy (Toxicosdendron radicans)
White Campion (Silene latifolia)
Common Cinquefoil (Potentilla simplex)
May 27: Cottonwood (Aigeiros)
Honewort (Cryptotaenia canadensis)
Japanese Pond Iris (Iris versicolor)
May 28: Elderberry (Sambucus)
Lesser Stitchwort (Stellaria graminea)
May 29: Lychnis (Lychnis coronaria)
Cow Parsnip (Heracleum)
May 30: Canadian Thistle (Cirsium arvense)
May 31: Coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata)
Chicory (Cichorium intybus)
Daisy Fleabane (Erigeron annus)
June 1: Rugosa Rose (Rosa rugosa)
Floribunda Rose (Floribunda)
Delphinium (Delphinium)
Moth Mullein (Verbascum blattaria)
June 2: Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium)
Heliopsis (Heliopsis helianthoides)
Quickweed (Galinsoga parviflora)
June 3: Swamp Valerian (Valeriana ulginosa)
Moneywort (Lysimachia nummularia)
Rape brassica (Napus)
June 4: Campanula (Campanula rapunculus)
Wild Garlic (Allium ursinum)
Scarlet Pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis)
Nodding Thistle (Carduus nutans)
Common “Ditch” Lily” (Hemerocallis fulva)
June 5: Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis)
Crown Vetch (Securigera varia)
Smartweed (Polygonum hydropiper)
June 6: Pickerel Plant (Pontederia cordata)
Balloon Flower (Platycodon grandiflorus)
Deptford Pink (Sianthus armeria)
June 7: Oakleaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia)
Indian Hemp (Apocynum cannabinum)
Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia)
June 8: Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
June 9: Asiatic Lily (Lilium asiaticum)
Carnation (Dianthus caryophylus)
Blueweed (Echium vulgare L.)
Pokeweed (Phytolacca americana)
June 10: Early Season Hostas
Shasta Daisy (Leucanthemum maximum)
Queen Anne’s Lace (Daucus carota)
June 11: Hollyhock (Alcea rosea)
Beardtongue (Penstemon barbatus)
June 12: Mallow (Malva sylvestris)
Avens (Geum urbanum)
June 13: Tall Meadow Rue (Thalictrum dasycarpum)
Great Mullein (Verbascum Thapsus)
June 14: Leatherflower (Clematis pitcher)
Common Sow Thistle (Onchus oleraceus)
Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)
June 15: Large-Leafed Hostas
Wild Petunia (Ruellia humilis)
June 16: White Sweet Clover (Melilotus albus)
Lizard’s Tail (Saururus cernuus L.)
June 17: Asiatic Dayflower (Commelina communis)
Trumpet Creeper (Campsis radicans)
June 18: Japanese Iris (Iris ensata)
Narrow-Leaved Cattail (Typha latifolia)
June 19: Russian Sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia)
Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)
June 20: Pale Touch-Me-Not (Impatiens pallida)
June 21: Gooseneck (Lysimachia clethroides)
Woodland Sunflower (Helianthus divaricatus)
June 22: Enchanter’s Nightshade (Circaea lutetiana)
Figwort (Scrophularia)
June 23: Catnip (Nepeta)
Ramps (Astilbe arendsii)
Compass Plant (Silphium laciniatum)
June 24: Thimbleplant (Rubus parviflorus)
Wood Mint (Blephilia ciliate)
June 25: Bergamot (Monarda didyma)
Tall Nettle (Urtica dioica)
Horse Nettle (Solanum carolinense)
June 26: Creeping Bell Flower (Campanula rapunculoides)
Heal All (Prunella)
June 27: Limelight hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata)
Lopseed (Parma leptostachya)
Evening Primrose (Oenothera biennis)
June 28: Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus)
Leafcup (Polymnia laevigata beadle)
June 29: Fringed Loosestrife (Lysimachia ciliate)
Wild Lettuce (Lactuca virosa)
June 30: Teasel (Dipsacus)
July 1: Bouncing Bets (Saponaria officinalis)
Wood Nettle (Laportea canadensis)
Thin-Leaved Coneflower (Rudbeckia triloba)
July 2: Mid-Season Garden Phlox (Phlox paniculata)
Tall Bell Flower (Campanula americana)
July 3: Oriental Lilies, Ginseng (Panax)
July 4: Liatris (Liatris spicata)
Grey-Headed Coneflower (Ratibida pinnata)
July 5: Obedient Plant (Physostegia virginiana)
July 6: White Vervain (Verbena urticifolia)
July 7: Oxeye (Chrysanthemum leucanthemum)
Horseweed (Conyza canadensis)
July 9: Germander (Teucrium canadense)
Small-Flowered Agrimony (Agrimonia parviflora)
July 10: Showy Coneflower (Rudbeckia alpicola)
July 11: Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora)
July 12: Fogfruit (Phyla nodiflora)
Great Indian Plantain (Arnoglossum reniforme)
July 14: Wingstem (Verbesina alternifolia)
Blue Vervain (Verbena hastate)
July 16: Butterfly Bush (Buddleja davidii)
Estimated June Pollen Count
On a scale of 0 – 700 grains per cubic meter:
Pollen from flowering trees is quite low except in northernmost states. Most of the pollen in the air this month comes from grasses.
June 1: 80 June 5: 60
June 10 40 June 15: 35
June 25: 30 June 30: 25
Estimated June Mold Count
On a scale of 0 -7,000 grains per cubic meter:
June 1: 2600 June 5: 3000
June 10: 2500 June 15: 2600
June 20: 3200 June 25: 3700
June 30: 3000
June Phenology
When the first monarch butterfly arrives from the Gulf, then young coyotes come after chickens and new lambs.
When May apples have fruit the size of a cherry and honeysuckle flowers have all come down, cucumber beetles reach the economic threshold on the farm.
When fireflies light up the night, chinch bugs hatch in the lawn, and powdery mildew becomes a problem in the garden phlox.
When yucca plants send up their stalks, young grackles have left their nests, and nettles have grown up to your chest. Then, Japanese beetles start to attack roses and ferns. Azalea bark scale eggs hatch, too.
When pie cherries ripen, painted turtles and box turtles lay their eggs, and giant (but harmless) stag beetles prowl the grass.
When the oakleaf hydrangea produces its first blooms, then fall webworms and mimosa webworm eggs are hatching.
When the first chiggers bite, all the soybeans are in the ground (except in the wettest years).
When daylilies bloom by the roadsides, watch for winter wheat to turn a soft, pale green.
When catalpa trees come into bloom, then look for the first raspberries to redden.
When bud clusters form on the milkweeds and hosta, then oaks, Osage orange and black walnut trees have set their fruit, and cherry pickers pick cherries across the nation’s heartland.
When black-eyed Susans flower across the northern states, then the wheat harvest is over in the Gulf region.
When long seedpods have formed on the locust trees, then annual cicadas start to chant.
When you see the first black walnuts on the ground, then you know that this year’s ducklings and goslings are nearly full grown.
When great mullein blooms in the fields, then mock orange petals have all fallen and water willows are blossoming beside the streams.
When elderberry bushes come into full flower and cottonwood cotton floats in the wind, then the first chiggers bite in the woods and garden.
When acorns form, then almost all the winter wheat is headed.
When all of the soybeans are planted and the black raspberries are ripening in the lower Midwest, then walleye fishing is at its best in Lake Erie.
When the tall spikes of the yucca are in bloom, then Japanese beetles invade the flowers.
When damselflies out along the waterways, pie cherries will be ripe for pie, and the second cut of alfalfa will be underway.
When milkweed and pokeweed flower, then the first winter wheat is ripe.
When quail whistle and mate in the woods, tent caterpillars emerge in the trees, and the first Canadian thistles go to seed.
When lizard’s tail is in flower along the rivers and lakes, and when black raspberry season ends along the roadsides, then corn borers haunt the corn.
When enchanter’s nightshade blooms in the woods, then the first soybeans are blossoming, too.
When black-eyed Susans bloom along the freeways, then turtles hatch near the rivers and lakes.
When blackberries are setting fruit, then the earliest field corn starts to tassel and the canola harvest is underway.
When green berries form on the poison ivy, then the days will soon be shortening.
When the first annual cicadas sing, then May apples are ready for May-apple jam.
When the first katydid appears at porch lights, then the first cut of alfalfa is complete and the wheat is ready to cut.
When touch-me-nots bloom in the woods, then the best bullhead and crappie fishing ends for the year.
When potato leafhoppers raid the alfalfa, blight appears on the tomatoes.
When blueberries ripen, then cottony maple scale eggs hatch on the silver maples.
When long seedpods have formed on the locust trees, then chinch bugs start leaving brown patches in the lawn.
When the first apple and cherry tree leaves become yellow and drift to the ground, alewives head back to sea from their estuaries along the Atlantic.
When road kills increase in Dog Day heat, thunderstorms announce Deep Summer.
When teasel flowers along the roadsides and wood nettle blooms in the woods, then bagworms attack arborvitae, euonymus, juniper, linden, maple, and fir. Root diseases stalk the soybeans, and the wheat still standing in the fields may suffer from rust, powdery mildew, head scab, and glume blotch.
When elderberry flowers turn to fruit, then giant green June beetles appear in the garden and poisonous white snakeroot is budding in the woods. That’s the time to dig garlic before the heads break apart, time also to put in autumn turnips.
When timothy is bearded with seeds, then the first rough-winged swallows migrate south.
When the rose of Sharon flowers, the summer apple harvest will soon be starting.
When the roadside grasses turn like the winter wheat, local sweet corn appears in the market.
When the first fourth of the oats crop is ripe, then spring’s goslings and ducklings are almost all grown up.
Natural Calendar
The first week of Early Summer lies between the growing Deep Summer heat of the states below the Ohio River and the cool of Late Spring to the north.
All along much of the 40th Parallel, foliage of the high canopy is almost complete. The winter wheat is just starting to turn. Banks of yellow Stella d’oro lilies open. Staghorns redden on the sumac, and cottonwoods spill their cotton. Poison hemlock and elderberries and daisies are in flower. Strawberries ripen. Honeysuckle blossoms have all come down, and garlic mustard is almost bare.
South of Cincinnati, the hemlocks are seeding, and Canadian thistles are in full bloom. A few miles north of Lexington, white sweet clover replaces the hemlock along the freeway, and cattails emerge, golden with pollen. Trumpet creeper is bright orange and Queen Anne’s lace is silver three hours south of Yellow Springs at Berea, Kentucky.
Roadside tiger daylilies (ditch lilies) and milkweed pace the bee balm throughout Knoxville, Tennessee. Below Spartanburg, South Carolina, July’s wild lettuce and horseweed follow the fencerows. Around Charleston, corn is already tasseling, some ears formed. Farmers have cut their wheat. Catalpa beans are over a foot long, August size for Yellow Springs.
But north to Michigan and Wisconsin, locust trees are still heavy with new flower clusters, their rich scent on the wind. Purple sweet rockets are lush all the way into Minnesota where the wheat is only six inches tall, the first corn just sprouted and sugar beets and peony buds are the size of radishes. Lilacs and iris are still fragrant near the Canadian border, strawberries only past flowering.
Daybook
1982: The middle of strawberry season in the yard.
1984: Chicory still not blooming.
1986: Strawberries peaking in the garden. At Jacoby Swamp, 8:00 a.m., geese with goslings maybe a third grown, a flock of finches, biting flies, box turtle on the path, crickets strong. Huge prairie false indigo, Baptisia leucantha, late bloom in the high prairie up from the road (seen late May at South Glen in 1993). Cobwebs across the path. Fire pinks still in bloom. Gold-collared black flies mating, swarming. Wild roses and corn salad still in full bloom, heavily fragrant. First dragonfly. Several baby toads noticed. Violet swamp iris late full bloom. First large-petaled wild rose seen. Geese fly over the house at 8:40 p.m.
1987: No chiggers yet. Small toads seen at the lakeshore.
1988: The pieces of summer fitting together like a puzzle solving itself: goslings growing up along Yellow Springs Creek, box turtles out laying eggs, cobwebs closing the paths. First sundrops blooming, sweet rockets most all to seed, last remnants of May. Catalpas in early bloom, many still budding. Yucca flower stalks two feet high, like huge, thick asparagus. Tall meadow rue budding at South Glen, one covered with golden aphids. Multiflora roses all open. Spring field crickets prominent at night. Cardinals have been feeding their babies for about a week now.
1989: First ditch daylilies seen today
1990: Nodding thistle opening.
1991: Intense heat continues, accelerating Early Summer. John Poortinga brought a bowl of red mulberries to Jean, then two ripe cherries. Ranunculus and pyrethrums gone at the south wall. Dock, tree of heaven and astilbe full bloom, pokeweed heading and nearly open, primrose full, mallow budding, zinnias budding, two four o’clocks have trumpet buds. More tiger lilies are budding, lychnis blooming big and full. Vegetable garden totally out of hand, broccoli bolting, peas filling up, lettuce and radishes gone to seed. First raspberry reddening along the garden wall. Yucca open in town. At the bridge, blue cohosh has its first blue berry, and bottle grass has emerged.
1993: Locusts in front of Wesley Hall in Wilberforce dropping green florescence.
1994: First firefly seen tonight, despite the dry, cool May.
1997: First pink peony opened in the rain. Mock orange full, flags nearing full. Locusts and Osage still pretty bare. Many honeysuckle flowers falling. This may be the latest the canopy has closed since 1978.
1998: Jacoby, north to High Prairie: Hobblebush centers are budding. Wingstem, leafcup, touch-me-nots are up to my waist. Honewort and clustered snakeroot dominate the undergrowth. Gold-collared black flies are out, and buckeyes, skippers, damsel flies, small tan moths, spitbugs, many ichneumons – one red with black wings. Springs and brooks as full as I’ve ever seen them. Tulip tree petals gold and peach color, like seashells in the swamp water below the brooks. Maple seeds along the path, fallen in tandem. One-inch May apple fruit, shining under its foliage. Blue jays and crows screech. Very last rockets and multiflora roses. Bright red wild strawberries. Purple waterleaf long gone, white still in flower.
Thousands of blackberries fully fruited inside of High Prairie. Last ragwort petals along the river. Wild cherry fruit well set. Cattails almost up to last year’s brown remnants, some with pollen. Dreadlocks of purple vetch at Middle Prairie, veins of golden moneywort in the mowed paths. First white yarrow. Old white violets still common. Wild garlic flowers, striped like spring beauties. Blue-eyed grass, fire pink. Some teasel headed along the highway. At home, the pyrethrums are gone. First water willow blooms in the pond. First great mullein flower opens. Fireflies in the yard after dark.
2000: I accidentally stepped on a camel cricket in the kitchen at 12:30 this morning; I saw another in the greenhouse at 6:00 a.m. My notes from May 31st last year record the first camel at 4:30 a.m. To northern Ohio: peonies full bloom there, sweet rockets, and columbine.
2001: Wood thrush call identified. First Stella d’oro daylily fully open. First pink achillea opens in the south garden.
2002: First violet scabiosa seen open. Peak now of daisies, late sweet rockets, spiderworts, poppies, sweet Williams, Japanese honeysuckles and privets. Peonies, rhododendrons, mock orange and locusts all ended together at the end of May.
2003: At the Santee-Cooper reservoir in South Carolina, wheat is dark brown, and corn is almost ready to tassel.
2007: No cedar waxwings seen in the white mulberry tree yesterday or today.
2009: First fireflies seen in the park.
2010: First Japanese iris open in the pond over night. Moth mullein blooming, bright fields of parsnips and hemlock on the way to Xenia. Catalpa flowers covering the trees and the ground. Pokeweed eight feet tall and budded in the alley. Wild lettuce eight feet, too. Buds seen on the Davis Street yucca. Two Queen Anne’s lace plants have opened in the north garden. And Rick wrote the following about the number of fecal sacks from grackles last week: “Wouldn’t you know that right about the time I was about to give up, the problem solved itself. The babies, wherever they were, all must have fledged at once because the onslaught abruptly stopped.”
2011: Italy: Olive trees now in full bloom throughout the Umbrian countryside. At Gary’s, the roses were not so lush as they were ten days ago. The money plant was all to seed. Large-flowered campanula was in full bloom, lavender in early bloom, and pink valerian, which I had seen throughout Rome, continued to flower.
2012: The first heliopsis flower and the first purple coneflower were fully open this morning in the rain. The first raspberry in the garden is ready to pick. Serviceberries are red. But after a mild night, this day never made it out of the 60s, and the wind is blowing steadily from the northwest. Birds fed hard all day, the first nuthatch fledgling seen. Last night’s rain, probably close to two inches, has given all the sprouts and transplants the moisture they need to develop well throughout the next several weeks. Orange Asiatic lilies have peaked by now. A family of five starling fledglings playing in the pond, bathing on the lily pads. First Endless Summer hydrangea blossoms. First chigger bite on my ankle. Cattail stalks have emerged in the roadsides, soon to flower.
2014: To Madison, Wisconsin: Lush and green in the sun all the way north. Roadsides full of yellow sweet clover, red clover, crown vetch, purple vetch, small daisies, parsnips, honeysuckles, multiflora roses, hemlock. The first chicory of the year seen west of Indianapolis. Nodding thistles coming in. A few moth mulleins in flower. No cattails showing among their tall ditch leaves. Some cornfields had sprouts three to six inches high near Yellow Springs, but sprouting was spotty and inconsistent throughout the trip. Approaching the Wisconsin line, I saw bright yellow spurge all along the roads, blossoming all the way to Madison. The canopy seemed thinner toward northern Illinois, but Madison seemed just a little behind southern Ohio. One daffodil and one tulip were still open. Tat’s prairie false indigo, her geums, columbines, wild geraniums, garlic mustard, sweet rockets were in full bloom. Her peonies in the sun were just ready to open. In the city, many locusts and catalpas were full of flowers.
2016: At the quarry, Jill and I found banks of yellow sweet clover and clusters of daisies, a patch of crown vetch, brome grass with golden pollen, green frogs croaking, tadpoles still hiding in the shallows of the pools, red-winged blackbirds in the cattails (which had produced long, thin flower buds) and killdeers swooping and crying back and forth. As we left, a small “V” of maybe two-dozen Canadian geese flew over, calling, flying to the northwest. From Goshen, Indiana, Judy reported many sweet rockets, lupines and Solomon’s plume in flower along her bike path. By the quarry parking lot, I took a few clumps of daisies for the garden. In the yard last night, I saw my first fireflies (the 26th for Rick and Matt).
2017: The first Stella d’oro lily opened in the yard over night. A drift of large white-flowered anemone found along the path at Buck Creek Park, only honewort blooming in the deep woods. Cabbage white butterflies more common in the yard today. John’s peony buds less than an inch across in southern Minnesota.
2018: First gold-collared blackflies seen in the garden today. Two cabbage whites and one azure seen (and a report of numerous swallowtails seen so far this year). The first chigger bite on my leg. Six Stella d’oro blossoms in the yard.
In the North Glen, leafcup huge and lush, touch-me-not foliage soft and floppy, skunk cabbage leaves spreading so wide, just a touch of decay, in the deep woods May apple foliage all rusted and raggedy, hobble bush just starting to bloom, clustered snakeroot with pollen, delicate and blooming honewort throughout the walk, late waterleaf remaining, occasional deep red fire pinks shining in the dense wet undergrowth, two poke milkweed plants with drooping umbels ready to open, the stone paths and stairs sleek and slippery from the nightly storms.
And in reference to Rick’s note from this date in 2010, I wrote the following for my column in the Yellow Springs News:
Onslaught of the Pooping Grackles
I have a small koi pond with a waterfall in my yard. The fish are beautiful in their reds and golds and silvers and have become my pets. I clean out the pond filter every few weeks to keep algae under control. On May 29, I did the cleaning but was surprised the find that the waterfall was producing white foam as though someone had come by during the night and threw in some dish soap. And the fish were racing around the pond. Something was not right.
In a few days, the water cleared up, but I didn’t figure out what happened until I chanced upon my daybook entry of May 24, 2010. Rick had written to tell me that the grackles around his home were placing the fecal sacks of the newly hatched fledglings into his birdbath and pond.
“What started out last year as an occasional fecal sack in our birdbath (which can no longer be called such) has mushroomed into an onslaught, with there often being more than fifty popcorn-sized sacks by day’s end. Moreover, these grackles have lined the rocks around our pond with white sacks, and sometimes don’t even bother to land, bombarding the pond on their way over. One result, we surmise, is that our pond is getting too much nitrogen, why water from the waterfalls is frothing white. Something we haven’t seen before.”
By June 1, the crisis had passed: “Wouldn’t you know,” wrote Rick, “that right about the time I was about to give up, the problem solved itself. The babies, wherever they were, all must have fledged at once because the onslaught abruptly stopped.”
In my case this year, the waterfall stopped foaming after two days. Then came a four-day, Pentecost-like burst of grackles and their young feeding and begging and clucking and scrawing and whining and grackling and speaking in tongues that lasted from morning until night. Then all was quiet and the pond stayed clear and the fish calmed down and were happy.
The grackles perform the celebratory ritual of bringing out their fledglings all together in a feeding frenzy in my yard every year. Up until this May they spared my pond. Maybe they finally left Rick alone.
2019: No grackle residue in the pond this year, so far. In the late afternoon, a walk at the quarry with Jill and Ranger: After all the rain, it seemed that the trees were so much bigger than they had been. But I hadn’t been here for a while. Blooming: wild daisies, yellow sweet clover, small purple verbena, a yellow sedum on wet rocky patches, red clover, common fleabane, crown vetch, a milk thistle still green, and many budding panicled dogwoods. One small pool still had tadpoles. One huge red-black dragonfly. A handful of azure butterflies and two red admirals fluttered in the shade of the dense honeysuckle groves, and we surprised one black rat snake, maybe a yard long, crossing the road. Tat reports from Madison, Wisconsin, that her red peony opened today on schedule.
2020: Moya’s mock orange is shedding as summer heat settles in. Honeybees, some laden with pollen, work the full-blooming spiderwort. A bee fly seen.
High noon
clovers and vetches,
bindweeds and sweet peas,
trumpet vines, chicory,
mullein and thistles,
honewort and fire pink,
parsnips and mint .
Hepatica Sun