When - Then for April

--When nettles are six inches tall, then middle spring wildflowers are opening all over the woods.When you hear the shrill call of the American toad, that will be the time to plant all your corn.
--Look for morel mushrooms when May apples push out from the ground and cowslip buds in the swamp. That’s when leaves come out on skunk cabbage.
--Parsnips in bloom will tell you that deer are growing their new antlers and all the rest of your garden weeds are coming in.
--When you see the high canopy budding and greening, listen for wild turkeys to be gobbling.
--Keep an eye on tulips in the garden; they tell you about the turkeys, too, and they also tell you that you’d better mow the lawn before it gets too long.
--Or if you have no tulips but are mowing the lawn anyway, the long grass will tell you that opossums and raccoons are giving birth in the woodlot and young goslings are hatching in the ponds and rivers.
--When you see tent caterpillars in the trees and the redbuds starting to turn purple, stop and search for tadpoles in the ponds.
--Then it won’t be long before dogwoods and the crab apples open, and winter grains are almost tall enough to ripple in the wind.
--When the pussy willow bushes start to get their leaves, meadowlarks and scarlet tanagers will return for summer.
--When chicory is nine inches high, rhubarb should be just about ready for pie, and hops vines will be crawling all over the garden.
--When you pick your first strawberry in Alabama, then you know peonies are budding in Iowa and that privets are getting leaves in Louisville.
--As soon as you see hummingbird moths at the new flowers, you may start sneezing because all the trees and grasses are coming into bloom.
--When the great annual dandelion flowering begins, then snakehead mushrooms appear.
--When ticks and mosquitoes appear, the morel season is about over, and the last frost is no more than four weeks away.
--When the clovers bloom, flea season begins for pets and livestock, and flies take over the barn.
--When wisteria comes into flower, the most fragrant time of year is here. Lilacs, mock orange and honeysuckle follow the wisteria. And that means pheasants are nesting, and warblers move north along their flyways.
--When you see admiral butterflies, that means buckeye trees will be coming into bloom.
--And when you see garlic mustard flowering in the woods, look for cutworms and sod webworms to start taking over the field and garden. Weevils are showing up in the alfalfa, too.

THE SEASONAL CALENDAR

The Week That Middle Spring Arrives

The full blooming of forsythia, glory of the snow, pushkinia, daffodils and grape hyacinths always announces the end of early spring and the arrival of middle spring. This is the time that wildflower season begins with early violet cress, twinleaf, periwinkle, spring beauty, hepatica and small-flowered bittercress. Toad trillium, early meadow rue and May apples are pushing up out of the ground. Cowslip is budding in the swamp, and leaves grow long on the skunk cabbage. Japanese knotweed, columbine, phlox and lupine emerge in the garden.
The first buckeye, apple and peach trees leaf out in the early days of middle spring. At dusk, the first frogs and toads are singing. Gall mites work in the ash trees; pine weevils and moths are eating evergreens. Birch leaf miners and elm bark beetles attack the birches and elms.
Killdeer become common, and woodcocks call near sunset with a nasal sounding "peent." When barn swallows come to the barns, and the first baby barred owl hatches, when snowdrop and aconite and snow crocus seasons end, then the first of the oats is often in the ground. The first field corn is seeded. Early sweet corn is placed in the furrows, and winter wheat is top-dressed. In town, the lawn is long enough to cut.
Nettles, chicory and leafcup are six to eight inches tall, Asiatic lilies and columbine three to five inches. Ragwort and garlic mustard are forming clumps; some sweet rockets and money plants are getting ready to send out their flower stalks. Hops vines twine around the honeysuckle. Japanese knotweed catches up with the rhubarb (just about big enough for a small pie). Water rushes and purple loosestrife, water lilies and pickerel plants have suddenly produced foliage. Small diving water beetles hunt for food.

The Week Wild Turkeys Start to Gobble

The effects of middle spring’s rising temperatures and longer days are always cumulative. Suddenly, the tree line is greening. Mulberry, locust, tree of heaven, viburnum and ginkgo send out their first leaves.
As lawn-mowing season enters its second week, wild turkeys are starting to gobble and tulip season peaks. The delicate fritillarias blossom. Although some snow trillium and twinleaf are done flowering, it’s budding time for peonies, meadow rue, large-flowered trillium, trout lily, Jacob's ladder, ragwort and sedum. Bellwort leaves unravel. Hepatica, periwinkle, toad trillium, cowslip, rue anemone, shepherd's purse, ground ivy, violet and small-flowered buttercup are now all in bloom.
Pastures are filling with golden winter cress, purple henbit and dandelions. Blossoms could be out on a few strawberry plants, and hearts are forming on the bleeding heart. Pussy willow catkins have fallen. Asparagus is coming up in the sun. Summer's jumpseed and zigzag goldenrod sport four to six leaves apiece. Comfrey and lily-of-the-valley are seven inches high. In the herb garden, wood mint is at least eight inches tall, and sweet for tea. Chives are ready for salads.
When turkeys gobble, raccoons are born in woods. The earliest grasshoppers and tadpoles swarm from their eggs. The first goslings are born. Tent caterpillars appear in the wild cherry trees. Aphids hatch, and ladybugs come looking for them.

Apple Blossom Week

When apples blossom, then redbuds and dogwoods blossom, too. When all those trees are blooming, honeysuckles and spice bushes have developed enough to turn the undergrowth pale green, and color rises through the tall tree line as rose of Sharon, ginkgo, elm, tree of heaven, black walnut, pussy willow, box elder, sweet gum, ash, locust and mulberry change their flowers for foliage. Now winter wheat, the pastures and the lawns are the brightest of the year, and morel mushrooms swell in the cool, wet nights.
Pheasants are nesting, and whip-poor-wills, red-headed woodpeckers, catbirds, cedar waxwings, yellow-throated vireos, meadowlarks, indigo buntings, scarlet tanagers, Baltimore orioles, cowbirds, kingbirds, and more than a dozen varieties of warblers move into Ohio and Pennsylvania.
When apples blossom in Indianapolis and Pittsburgh, aspens flower in Yellowstone. Wood ticks follow the receding snow, and grizzly bears come out of hibernation in Montana. Crocuses are blooming in Minneapolis. Azaleas are open in Norfolk, rhododendrons in St. Louis. Dogwoods are at their best in Atlanta, and New Orleans is all decked out like a Chicago June.

The Week Late Spring Arrives

Late spring arrives when the antlers of deer begin to grow, when the first parsnips bloom, and the first indigo bunting arrives. The first blue jay is born in the first days of late spring, and all major garden weeds are sprouting. Wild phlox, wild geranium, wild ginger, celandine, spring cress, sedum, golden Alexander, thyme-leafed speedwell, garlic mustard and common fleabane are budding.
Summer is right behind them. Sweet clover and parsnips and wild lettuce are already a foot high. Hosta spears and lily-of-the-valley will be six to nine inches, poison ivy and Virginia creeper two inches, mint and dock and great mullein and comfrey eight inches, Dutch iris twelve inches, cattails and pokeweed up to twenty-four.
Black tadpoles swim in the backwaters. Bass move to the shallows. Termites swarm. Bumblebees come out with the sun. Cabbage butterflies visit the fresh cabbage sets. June bugs begin their evening flights.
Allergy season intensifies with late spring, the time when trees are in full flower throughout the Great Plains, the Northeast, the Northwest and the Rocky Mountains. And in the Southeast, all the grasses are coming into bloom.

A Floating Sequence

For the Blooming of Shrubs, Trees and Perennials

April 1 Grape Hyacinth, Ground Ivy
April 2 Forsythia, Box Elder
April 3 Small-flowered Buttercup, Creeping Phlox
April 4 Swamp Buttercup
April 5 Wood Hyacinth, Pushkinia
April 6 Dwarf Plum, Red Maple, Wind Flower
April 7 Violet, Toad Trillium
April 8 White Magnolia, Red-flowered Quince
April 9 Early Season Tulip, Star of Holland, Fritillary
April 11 Cowslip, Decorative Pear, Ash, Sugar Maple
April 12 Crabapple, Cherry, Peach, Bleeding Heart
April 13 Mid-Season Daffodil
April 14 Hawthorn, Wisteria
April 15 Redbud, Mid-Season Tulip, Trout Lily
April 16 Pink Magnolia, Domestic Strawberry
April 17 Buttercup, Money Plant, Thyme-Leafed Speedwell
April 19 Dogwood, Blue Speedwell, Watercress
April 20 Lilac, Azalea, Raspberry, Ragwort
April 21 Snowball Viburnum, Greek Valerian, Early Meadow Rue, Rue Anemone, Columbine
April 22 Bridal Wreath Spirea, Late-Season Tulips and Daffodils
April 23 Wild Geranium, Large-flowered Trillium, Winter Cress, Miterwort, Wild Phlox, Celandine
April 24 Clematis, Wood Hyacinth
April 25 Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Wild Ginger
April 26 Meadow Parsnip, Wood Betony, Honeysuckle, Buckeye, Red Horse-Chestnut
April 27 Early-Season Iris, Thyme, Horseradish, Garlic Mustard, Common Fleabane
April 28 Osage Orange, Lily-of-the-Valley
April 29 Wild Cherry, Star of Bethlehem, Spring Cress
April 30 Sweet William, Korean Lilac, Catchweed, Nodding Trillium, Larkspur

THE APRIL ALLERGY INDEX
Estimated Pollen Count
(On a scale of 0-700 grains per cubic meter)
Major pollen source: box elders, maples, pussy willows, flowering crabs and cherries.
April 1: 10 April 5: 50
April 10: 50 April 15: 100
April 25: 200 April 30: 400

Estimated Mold Count
(On a scale of 0 - 7,000 grains per cubic meter)
April 1: 1300 April 20: 1900
April 5: 1600 April 25: 2000
April 10: 1700 April 30: 2100
April 15: 1800