June 16th

The 167th Day of the Year

 

The day, immeasurably long, sleeps over the broad hills and warm wide fields. To have lived through all its sunny hours seems longevity enough.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Sunrise/set: 5:06/8:06

Day’s Length: 15 hours

Average Hi/Lo: 82/61

Average Temperature: 71

Record High: 96 – 1897

Record Low: 42 – 1908

 

Weather

Today is clear to partly sunny 90 percent of the time, with rain arriving one day out of four. Today is also the first day of a three-day period on which relatively little precipitation occurs. Highs are typically in the middle 80s (65 percent chance), with hot 90s occurring 15 percent of the years, 70s fifteen percent, and cold 60s just five percent. After today, chances of a high below 70 drop to less than five percent (except for three scattered days in July and August) at average elevations along the 40th Parallel until the first week of September.

Natural Calendar

Inside the four major seasonal categories lie clusters of hidden parallel and interlocking seasons that measure and define time inside of time, creating by their colors and shapes and sounds and tastes and smells the broader temporal landscapes.

The final floral and faunal constellations of the Sun’s residence in Gemini collect fragments of Late Spring and Early Summer, foretell Deep Summer and the sign of Cancer. Each fragment  is a landstar, a separate season within galaxies of objects and events.

Late May’s clovers still sweeten pastures and lawns. Meadow goat’s beard and chicory stand by the roads. The first wild daisies give way to Shasta daisies that last to July. Gaunt yuccas compete with new great mulleins. Common fleabane cedes to daisy fleabane.

The orange day lilies (ditch lilies) are the crown of June, easy transitions to the Asiatic and Oriental lilies and the multicolored day lilies that bloom under the Dog Star, Sirius. Pink spirea and an assortment of hydrangeas last beyond the longest days. Smartweed replaces chickweed between garden furrows. Queen Anne’s lace and black-eyed Susans foretell the heat of August’s Leo. Milkweed opens for the deliberate, venal milkweed beetles. Lizard’s tail dips to the rivers and ponds. The compass plant follows the Sun, spreading its blossoms above the nettles.

All these creatures are glimpses of a homely universe as well as reminders of what is not visible or is not noticed. A land star metaphor is less an exaggeration or distortion than a suggestion about an astronomy and astrology of place. The space and time between Sirius and lilies, like the space between lilies and spirit, is not as great as it might seem. As above, so below. As below, so above.

Daybook

1980: Some cherries red enough for pie. Raspberries are turning now.

1982: Yucca stems tall, buds large. Chicory is finally ready to open.

1983: Catalpas full bloom along Fairfield Pike and the north highway. Japanese honeysuckle noticed in bloom.

1984: Mock orange completely gone. Yuccas open in Cincinnati, catalpas done there. No chicory blooming in Yellow Springs, gradually coming into bloom about 30 miles south of here.

1986: Some Canadian thistles going to seed, an occasional burdock ready to flower. First webworms noticed in a crab apple. First scarlet pimpernel found.

1987: Canadian and nodding thistles starting to seed.

1988:  On the road east and then south, miles of blue chicory. Milkweed, only budding in Yellow Springs, was open on the other side of Indianapolis. Great mullein coming in south towards the Illinois border. Butterfly weed full bloom in southern Illinois. All thistles gone to seed below St. Louis. First blackberries were starting to turn in southern Illinois, red in northern Georgia. Elderberries, in flower all across the Midwest, were setting fruit near Atlanta. Wild lettuce was in bloom from there all the way to Florida. Horseweed open in Jacksonville, cattails completely developed.

1990: Red monarda seen in bloom throughout town.

1993: First pale-leafed hosta open on Stafford Street. Hawthorn blossoms deteriorate all at once. First carnation blooms. Yellow tiger swallowtails visiting the bright sweet Williams.

1995: From Salina, Kansas to Rawlins, Wyoming: The flat high prairie continues as we climb from 1,000 to 5,000 feet into Denver. The Midwestern flora gives way to sagebrush and yucca. Yucca is blooming in Salina as well as in Denver (like in Yellow Springs now). But we found a patch of dandelions at a rest stop near Denver: the first sign so far of seasonal regression (two months!) due to altitude.

1996: First bright orange lychnis opened in the south garden this afternoon. Cherries ripening on the dying cherry tree (its leaves yellowing and thinning now). Black raspberries still hard and green.

1998: The garden chard has fully developed as the last of the spring lettuce is used up. Twelve feet of it is giving us three times what we can use. Yucca is blooming now. Foxglove flowers end. First magenta fringed loosestrife opens. Asiatic lilies starting. Pink hollyhocks opening.

1999: Maine: Lupines getting old here and there. Privet budding in Bar Harbor.

2001: Blue Asiatic dayflowers open this morning at Susi’s. First black raspberry ripe in the garden. First heliopsis opened. Purple veronica coming in. Full bloom of tea roses, yucca, primrose, water willow, yellow daylily, pink achillea, late lamb’s ear, violet Asiatic lilies.

2003: First hollyhock, pale pink, opened today. Yucca stalks tall but not open yet. The dusky blue peach-leaved bellflowers have ended their season at the same time that the sweet Williams are quickly seeding.

2004: The month-long wet spell continues, showers almost every day or night. First Japanese beetles found on the ferns. First rust noticed on the ferns along the north wall. As I walked down High Street with Bella, a small, green Osage fruit, maybe two inches in diameter, fell from a tree onto the sidewalk and broke in half.

2005: Jeanie got the first chigger bites of the year today, about five days later than the earliest years.

2007: A few black raspberries seen in the far alleyway.

2008: From Yellow Springs to Santee-Cooper Reservoir, South Carolina: Thistles and hemlock seeding near Lexington, Kentucky. Mimosa trees flowering from middle Kentucky all the way to Santee, thick as redbuds in April along I-26 in some places. A few last large-flowered magnolias in Carolina, full white crepe myrtles in full bloom at a rest stop below Columbia, full rose of Sharon throughout. Wheat has all been cut at Santee, and roadside grasses have turned like the wheat south of the mountains, corn crop shriveled in the reservoir, mocking birds singing through the day.

2009: Santee, South Carolina: Osprey feeding young in the cypress. Black tadpoles in the shallows, violet star grass, pond lilies or floating heart (small-flowered water lilies). Narrow leafed willow herb on Ferguson Island. A four-petaled white houstonia/bluette, madder family, sprawling, opposite, entire, four long pistils. Geese with a flock of half-grown, fully marked goslings. All the catfish full of roe, the exuberance of the habitat, overbrimming with death and life. The night so loud I kept waking up, toads calling, shrieking. At the campground, five-petaled, yellow water primrose, alternate entire leaves, closes at dusk.

2010: The first blossoms opened on the butterfly bush in the circle garden overnight. The first purple coneflower is unraveling in the north garden. Black raspberries are dark and sweet in the alley.

2011: The first purple coneflower is unraveling in the north garden, and the first pink smartweed is in bloom by the lilies. At the park, the linden tree is in late full bloom, and catalpas still blooming throughout the area. The butterfly bush is budded but not close to opening. The first two hummingbirds visited the feeders this afternoon. Several yellow swallowtails and hackberry browns in the high trees. Rob said the browns have just come out. Across the countryside to Columbus: wheat is golden green. The few planted fields show corn two or three inches high. Hemlock is almost all to seed in the roadsides, yellow sweet clover full, parsnips still bright. Some privets in bloom along High Street.

2012: The yuccas are gone now, here and throughout the village. In the east garden, the Stella d’oros are almost done. More purple coneflowers coming in, Queen Anne’s lace full, very tall. Alley knotweed eight feet and full bloom. A few raspberries still coming in, blackberry fruit set, mulberries still hold. Peas should have been picked last week. Astilbes are still providing color between the hostas. Red phlox, the earliest of the summer phloxes, are opening. Primroses holding. More dahlias coming in, huge splotches of color at random along the garden wall. Zinnias reaching early bloom, starting to provide a balance to the loss of the blue salvia. Wheat dark, still not being cut here. Some cardinal and sparrow fledglings during the day, cardinals singing, some starlings scrawing, but overall, the day was much quieter than yesterday. Cottonwood cotton season seems to be over at Lawson Place. On my evening walk, a field sparrow was singing, but the robins and cardinals weren’t calling. First earwig found in the house about a week ago.

2013: Spoleto, Italy: A walk with Neysa and Ivano in a river valley, lined with high cliffs, along a bike path made from the old Spoleto-Nurcia rail line right-of-way. A lush habitat of wildflowers, including the first time in Italy that I have seen yellow sweet clover, and catchweed all to seed (just like in Yellow Springs); clematis vines (without flowers or buds); many stinging nettles and a variety of wood nettle; one germander plant in full bloom; many blackberries budding and flowering; a variety of thistles, including Silybum Marianum Gaertu and many small-flowered Cirisium vulgare ten or Cirisium arvense scop;  a delicate Ombrellifere, very much like caraway, probably Anthriscus cerefolium Hoffm; a type of vervain budded, just starting to open; an abundance of bluebell Campanulacee; numerous pale violet Hellanthemum cistacaeae; linden trees with seeds, and exuding sap on top of Ivano’s car; walnut trees with half-inch to inch- size fruits, looking very much like the fruits of Yellow Springs black walnuts – and at the same stage of development. On the way home, I noticed a catalpa tree in full flower. And as I walked, I was surrounded by flowers I didn’t recognize, framed by the plants that I did know, everything fitting in, with or without a name, around the landmarks from home.

2014: The first ditch lily opened in the yard overnight. The first yucca flowers seen along Fairfield Pike, must have just opened today. Black walnuts are an inch in diameter, bittersweet berries the size of BBs in the alley. Eleven lily plants (Stella d’oro, Asiatic and “Ditch”) flowering. Wild onions, three feet tall, seed bulbs unraveling. Serviceberries red and falling, pie cherries almost gone.

2015: Yellow Springs to Santee-Cooper Reservoir, Santee, South Carolina: An almost immediate change as my nephew John and I drove southeast this morning. Near Chillicothe, dark wheat, pink spirea losing color, full bloom potentilla, elderberry bushes mostly gone to berries, cattail spikes more prominent among their leaves, roadsides of chicory and daisy fleabane. Parsnips and hemlock mostly gone to seed, large round bales of golden hay in several fields.

Into West Virginia, the vegetation returned to Yellow Springs levels, then quickly moved into Deep Summer in North Carolina: Mimosa trees and crepe myrtles were in full bloom in central North Carolina. Teasel was tall, milkweed in full bloom. There were fields of ditch lilies and many Stella d’oros, Queen Anne’s lace, horseweed, nodding and Canadian thistles, black-eyed Susans, trumpet creeper and bright butterfly weed as we drove farther toward Charlotte. When we reached Santee, I found the corn fully developed, peanuts maybe eight inches high. At the canal, I found my first greater coreopsis. Heat to 103 degrees late in the afternoon, water temperature 76. Mother mallard and two ducklings (about a fourth grown) swam by our fishing spot.

2016: To Xenia: Moth mullein, sow thistles and chicory were in full bloom along the roadsides. I must have missed them days ago. I saw the first Shasta daisies open south on Xenia Avenue, and the first one of mine has just stretched out a couple of petals. A milkweed plant along Dayton-Yellow Springs Road seen with pink flower heads. Twenty-four lily plants in bloom this morning, Stella d’oros and ditch lilies with two everbloomers and one violet-pink standard day lily. One earwig floating in the birdbath.

2017: Stella d’oro lilies and ditch lilies at twenty-nine blossoms each, three bright yellow everbloomers, still nine Asiatics. Milkweed buds showing color. One monarda open here and at Jill’s.

2018: Jill found the first purple coneflower and the first monarda in bloom on our evening walk. Down High Street at about 7:00 this evening we came upon a noisy flock of grackles around a small, solitary hawk, perhaps a red-shouldered hawk or Cooper’s hawk. After a few minutes they drove it away and followed in pursuit. A humid evening walk, crescent moon high in the west, sky aquamarine, Venus in the northwest, fireflies all about.

2019: More heavy rain throughout the night. Two robin fledglings seen on my walk with Ranger before sunrise. Five Stella d’oro lilies open this morning, no day lilies or ditch lilies, and the heliopsis is unraveling. I noticed that the drooping buds of the lizard’s tail have formed near the pond. Several purple coneflowers noticed blooming in town. Half an hour north of Yellow Springs, the rolling hills around Troy have wheat fields all golden. One field seen with corn knee high – but there were many patches where the corn had been lodged by the wind and rain.

2020: High pressure continues, barometer at 30.35 for the fourth day, mild and breezy. Thirteen Stella d’oro lilies open this morning, five Japanese pond iris, the first two ditch lilies bloomed in the yard, and the first heliopsis flower unraveled all the way. First milkweed bug found in the milkweed. Very small rabbits seen in the Limestone Street alley, and two at home in the yard. Fireflies flickering after sundown through the neighborhood.

From Goshen, Indiana, Judy sends the following: “Writing to say that we had a parade of nearly 20 geese this morning, and it’s now difficult to tell the young ones from the parents.  Some of them are quite aggressive, snaking their necks out and trying to bully the others.”

From pairing off in early March to having fledglings almost adult size, the geese have progressed right on schedule.

 

I stood there watching the wind ripple and wave through the grain, a sea of green animated with constant, unceasing movement, swirling about my waist as if alive, following no pattern of movement but waving now this way, now that, filled with an eternal surging restlessness, a great stirring of life, rustling in its undulations, and I thought of it as a symbol of life itself: the heavy heads holding the staff of life, bending and swaying in the warm south wind.

August Derleth