June 24th
The 175th Day of the Year

Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.

Walt Whitman

Sunrise/set: 6:07/9:08 Day's Length: 15 hours 1 minute
Average High/Low: 84/62 Average Temperature: 73
Record High: 96 - 1910 Record Low: 46 - 1972

Weather
Fifteen percent chance for a high in the 90s today, 55 percent for 80s, thirty percent for 70s. Most of the nights are in the 60s, but 40s are recorded ten to 15 percent of the time, and 50s fifteen to 20 percent. The sun almost always shines, and rain almost never falls on June 24th: it is one of the three driest days of the Yellow Springs year.

Natural Calendar
Leafhoppers and Japanese beetles are reaching the economic threshold on the farm. Katydids are silent but roving. The first woolly bear caterpillars, harbingers of winter, cross the road. Some baby snappers and mud turtles are hatching.

Daybook
1982: Smartweed found blooming in the lawn, probably started a week or two ago. First avens and trumpet creeper seen this afternoon.

1983: First small bowl of both black and red raspberries.

1984: The end of early summer: parsnips going to seed at the mill, clustered snakeroot gone, and waterleaf. Bamboo grass has fresh growth. Wood mint is budding. Huge black cricket hunters in the garden, ready for July. First large milkweed beetle found at Middle Prairie. Butterfly weed seen on the way to Xenia. Wild lettuce full six feet. First Canadian thistles turning to down (but most full bloom).

1986: Heal-all now open in the yard, woods, fields. First large
milkweed beetle seen at South Glen. Orange butterfly weed open on the way to Xenia. Nodding and Canadian thistles going to seed quickly along Dayton-Yellow Springs Road. Wood nettle budding. Hemlock gone.

1989: Last of the mulberries.

1991: First white “fuzz bug” seen on the lilies today.

1997: Wheat golden green. Catalpas full bloom. Clear fading of the hemlock. First great blue hosta flower. First red-orange lily. First mallow. Teasel heading. Parsnips three-fourths to seed.

1998: Saw a young toad, maybe an inch long, hopping through the grass this afternoon. Aida talked about seeing one of her toads, raised from a tadpole, on this date; and Lynn told the same story about finding a toad on her land on the 24th. Gooseneck, the very first, blooms in the north garden now.

1999: Purple coneflowers open in the yard.

2001: Returning to Yellow Springs from Madison, Wisconsin: The transition from early summer to middle summer was clear by the time we reached central Illinois. Hemlock, parsnips and Canadian thistles all deteriorated quickly the further south we drove. Some fields and roadsides, however, showed a patchwork of mixed seasons, some areas holding on to June, others letting go completely.

2002: Lizard’s tail full bloom today, white and soft. Lamb’s ear, astilbe, sweet Williams, and daisies are full and late. Three Japanese iris, pale violet. Monarda and goosefoot just starting. Asiatic lilies and day lilies, heliopsis, daisy fleabane, and mallow early full. Frances Williams and great blue hosta at their peak. No rust on the ferns yet. Oak-leaf hydrangea still blossoming in town. Peaches, two inches across.

2003: First white lily opens on the west corner of the north garden.

2005: To Miami Beach: Mimosa trees and elderberry bushes in bloom from Ohio to Florida.

June 25th
The 176th Day of the Year

Inebriate of Air -- am I --
And Debauchee of Dew --
Reeling -- through endless summer days --
From inns of Molten Blue --

Emily Dickinson

Sunrise/set: 6:07/9:08 Day's Length: 15 hours 1 minute
Average High/Low: 84/62 Average Temperature: 73
Record High: 102 - 1988 Record Low: 42-1979

Weather
Chances for highs above 100 degrees today are five percent. Nineties come 15 percent of the afternoons, 80s seventy percent, and 70s just ten percent. Precipitation falls on only 15 percent of all June 25ths, making it one of the drier days of the entire year. The sun appears 95 percent of the time.

Natural Calendar
Wild garlic is blooming, and euonymus atropurpureus, the burning bush. Large, pink Rugosa roses are coming in, accompanied by the black-eyed Susans, wild petunias, and hobblebush. Staghorns have pushed out on the sumac. Cattails are almost fully developed. May apples should be ready to harvest in the woods. Blackberries have always set fruit even in the coldest years.

Daybook
1982: Wheat fields golden brown now, some sweet corn has tassels, field corn is shoulder high.

1984: First milkweed just opening.

1986: Enchanter's nightshade in bloom. First trumpet creeper blossoms seen.

1987: Regressing in time, north to Wisconsin, multiflora roses coming back into bloom as I drove, the fields becoming brighter and greener than in Yellow Springs, shining with more gold, violet, blue.

1993: Returning to Yellow Springs from Houston, Texas, I saw parsnips going to seed through Kentucky, and nodding thistles, which had been so strong a week ago, decaying. When I got home, mallow was open in the south garden.

1996: Great mullein seen blooming along Dayton-Yellow Springs Road.

1997: Great mullein seen open along Brush Row Road. Potentilla in full bloom in town. Snow-on-the-mountain fading at the same rate as the poison hemlock. Privet season is over.

1999: North along the bikepath with Walt. We ate mulberries, perfectly dark and ripe, passed a mother groundhog with her half-grown brood. Through town, day lilies everywhere, late full yucca. In the yard, full heliopsis, yellow and pink yarrow, late lamb’s ear, mallow, flax. Hollyhocks, gooseneck, Queen Anne’s lace heading. First sweet corn from south of Xenia came in on the 24th, planted, the grower said, in early April. As the mid-season hostas bloom, the great blue ends its flower cycle.

2001: First red monarda opened in the southeast garden today. First Japanese beetle found in the roses.

2002: Driving west and north from Yellow Springs: The habitat remained relatively stable between Ohio and Iowa, but by the time we passed Iowa City, the wheat had changed from gold to a dusky blue green. White false indigo found in late bloom near Iowa City, some pink spirea full, some finished there. Hot and dry throughout.

2003: At 5:05 this morning, the robin chorus was strong. Doves and cardinals had joined in by 5:55. Two robins seen mating across the street at 7:35. When I walked Bella, I found a small osage fruit about an inch and a half in diameter, still covered with the fibers of its flower stage. First red bergamot in the south garden today.

2004: Milkweed is in full bloom at South Glen, but there were no milkweed beetles to be found.

2007: Black walnuts in the alley were at least half size – probably more. The birds were very quiet yesterday and this morning. Grackles seem to have left, and all the frantic chatter and the feeding of young have ended. Midseason hosta are fully budded, the Frances Williams bicolor hosta is in full bloom now. In the pond, the lizard’s tail has passed its best.

June 26th
The 177th Day of the Year

The earth is all before me. With a heart
Joyous, nor scared at its own liberty,
I look about; and should the chosen guide
Be nothing better than a wandering cloud,
I cannot miss my way.

William Wordsworth

Sunrise/set: 6:08/9:08 Day's Length: 15 hours
Average High/Low: 84/63 Average Temperature: 73
Record High: 98 - 1964 Record Low: 48 - 1984

Weather
Like the 25th, today is typically sunny and dry, with no rain (just a five percent chance) or clouds likely. Highs are in the 90s twenty-five percent of the time, in the 80s sixty-five percent of the time, in the 70s just ten percent of the time. Sixty-five percent of the lows are in the 60s, thirty percent are in the 50s, and 40s occur five percent of the time.

Natural Calendar
Middle summer typically begins near this date and lasts through August 10th. In those 45 days, an hour is lost from the day's length, and the year turns toward autumn. Even though night lengthens in this middle season, the amount of possible sunshine reaches its zenith, and the percentage of totally sunny days in a week climbs to 55 percent, the highest of the year. And between now and the end of the first week of August, average temperatures vary just one degree.

Daybook
1983: First quarts of pie cherries picked today. Great mullein blooming by the roadside, common sow thistle in the garden. At the Indian Mound, cottonwood cotton drifting through the air. Two May apples picked, size of a small plum, tasted bitter. Low hop clover and Indian hemp identified.

1984: North Glen status: catnip, daisies, Deptford pink, fire pink,
white sweet clover, trumpet creeper, day lilies, wild peppergrass,
Japanese honeysuckle, rough-fruited cinquefoil, yarrow, blueweed,
daisy fleabane, enchanter's nightshade, forget-me-not,hobblebush, bedstraw, bittersweet nightshade, water horehound all in bloom. Brown berries on the Solomon's plume, green berries on the poison ivy, red berries on the honeysuckles, half dhe Canadian thistles to seed, hemlock half gone.

1985: Black raspberries at their peak along the railroad tracks
north. Figwort discovered. First soapwort found.

l987: Early acorns well formed by now. Most Canadian thistles
going to seed. Sweetheart underwing moth found at school, deep
orange inner wings.

1985: Figwort discovered along the tracks. Soapwort too.

1990: Lotus pads have emerged at Caesar's Creek, wrinkled at the edges, folded to the center like the claw of a Venus flytrap.

1991: Caesar Creek: Three big catfish and a carp today at far
hole in three feet of water. Butterflies come to my hand, early cicadas sporadic. Late blooming privet found in bloom at South Glen.

1996: Into South Glen all the way to Jacoby with Jean: First touch-me-nots, a total of three, in bloom. Avens is in early bloom along the river. Galls found on a few goldenrod. St. John's wort and wild petunias seen. White wild yarrow in early bloom. The woods dominated by aging honewort, maybe two-thirds of it going to seed, and old clustered snakeroot. Old wild geranium seeds gathered. First wood nettle flowers have formed. First hobblebush side flowers. Wood mint heading, maybe a week away from blossoming. First leafcup almost flowering, but most don't even have heads yet. Thin-leafed coneflower is waist high most places, sometimes chest high. Only one bright green tiger beetle seen. Has their season passed? Moneywort found, rich yellow in the dark bushes. Some buckeye leaves rusting in the undergrowth.

1997: Titmouse and flicker calls dominant these days. Blackbirds clucking in the back trees: mulberries must be ready. Into South Glen: large fritillary butterflies. Several red admirals, the old first generation faded, the younger generation bright. Thimble plant in bloom. Aging moneywort. First buds on the wood nettle. Honeysuckles, some with orange, some with red berries. Late tall meadow rue. Late honewort. One bright green tiger beetle. Timothy is bearded. Cow parsnips have gone to seed. Cabbage moths clustering on the river bank mud, river fast and clear. A few parsnip heads are brown. Great blue heron flies off, low guttural call. Box elders hang with green seeds. Catchweed seed balls yellowing. Birdsong constant. Golden Alexander all to seed. Swarms of damselflies. Peak of wild orange tiger lilies. I surprised a young wood duck, and he scooted off downstream. Very late white violets. Yellowing garlic mustard leaves and buckeye leaves, give an autumnal glow to the woods, making a small but prophetic subseason in the undergrowth.

1998: From Jacoby to High Prairie: Rugosa roses still full. Some
of their leaves had blackspot, and the small multiflora roses
were losing leaves to the same fungus. Dogbane done in
some places, some starting pods. Black raspberry still coming in.
First blackberry turning red. Rare Turk’s turban lily at the middle
of its bloom along the river, several hundred yards north of the old
bridge bed.

2001: Cardinal 5:30 a.m. To Caesar Creek: one carp, one drum,
one bullhead, two sunfish. Wood thrush heard. Baltimore oriole
seen. White beardtongue, in the middle of its season, common
along the shore. Rugosas late, but very little else flowering.

2002: Driving across Iowa: The landscape remains stable at early June for 730 miles north and west of Yellow Springs. Yellow sweet clover, crown vetch, birdsfoot trefoil, and parsnips keep the roadsides bright. The corn is deep green, the elderberry creamy white, the wheat almost blue, the soybeans a middle green. Cottonwood cotton in the wind. At Council Bluffs, banks of poison hemlock in full bloom. One butterfly weed found. Then, when we entered Nebraska, there was a quick end to the Midwestern vegetation. To complement the change, all the Nebraska wheat was golden and ready to cut.

2003: Japanese iris full bloom. The lily bed is strong now, the bright yellows and oranges complementing the violet of the mallow, the pinks of the hollyhocks, the gold of the heliopsis. More catmint in front would set them off, I think. I got my first chigger bites today; Jean was attacked yesterday.

2004: Along the bike path, the leaves are darkening, the summer deepening. Wild black raspberries are ripening. Leather flower and tall tell flowers are in bloom, but few other wildflowers visible other than honewort, an occasional jewelweed and cutover rockets. At home, the lizard’s tail is at the end of its cycle and the very last water willow. Lilies gather momentum, reaching an early bloom stability. In the vegetable garden, the great-mullein marker is in full bloom, heading the two-foot tall kale. At the farmers’ market in Dayton, the first sweet corn of the season was for sale.

2007: One yellow rose flower destroyed by several Japanese beetles; no other beetles found. The birds are louder this morning, constant chatter in the woods – after last night’s rain. In the afternoon, I went to the Beavercreek wetlands, a brushy cutover swath in the middle of suburbia. The sun was hot, high humidity. Scrub trees and plants, noise of earth movers all around as more condominiums go up. Habitat of blackberry and black raspberry bramble, wild cherry and honeysuckle. Close to the ground, old sweet clover, aging white yarrow, seeded honewort, red clover, red black raspberries, dry blackberries, late parsnips, faded hemlock all to seed, late Rugosa roses, one delicate Deptford pink, many goldenrod and wingstem stalks, some boneset shoulder tall, not budded. One beautiful clump of full-blooming milkweed, but no milkweed beetles found. Dogbane with white flower buds nearby. A few St. John’s wort, and a shrub with 5-pataled flower clusters, palmate leaves. Some web worms had emerged on one of its leaves. A few damselflies by the water, one horsefly, no mosquitoes, two small moths, a cabbage butterfly.
June 27th
The 178th Day of the Year

Hey, Old Midsummer! are you here again,
With all your harvest-store of olden joys,
Vast overhanging meadow-lands of rain,
And drowsy dawns, and noons when golden grain
Nods in the sun....

James Whitcomb Riley

Sunrise/set: 6:08/9:08 Day's Length: 15 hours
Average High/Low: 84/63 Average Temperature: 73
Record High: 98 - 1971 Record Low: 48 - 1927

Weather
The chances for precipitation jump suddenly from near zero to 30 percent. Sun, however, is still the rule, with completely overcast conditions occurring just 15 percent of the time. Highs are usually in the 80s (seven days out of ten), climb to 90 fifteen percent of the time, reach the 70s another 15 percent.

Natural Calendar
The Ohio canola harvest starts near this date. Winter wheat is usually a third ripe, five percent cut. Cabbage gathering ends in most of the state. Summer blueberries are being picked. . Earliest corn fields start tasseling. Cottony maple scale eggs hatch on the silver maples.

Daybook
1987: To Kentucky: Butterfly weed common by the roadsides below Cincinnati. First corn tassels seen in southern Ohio, angelica all gone to seed. Some sycamore bark has fallen. Teasel blooms near Lexington.

1989: South Glen: Avens in early full bloom, lower buckeye leaves
are starting to weather and yellow. First leafcup blooms, some
wood nettle full. Last moneywort seen, late tall meadow rue,
timothy completely bearded, Virginia roses full like at Caesar
Creek. A field of daisy fleabane, more fields of full Queen Anne’s lace. Huge prickly sow thistle, six feet high. Lesser stitchwort identified in late bloom, germander heading, last of the blueweed, last of the yellow sweet clover, last of the parsnips. Dozens of cabbage butterflies in a field of Canadian thistles gone to seed.

1993: Home from Houston to a whole new season. The black and red raspberries are coming in now, the Asiatic lilies are in early
full bloom, first yellow day lily in the yard. Hosta budding
along the north wall, seen blooming other parts of town. The
garden is overgrown, lettuce all gone to seed, tomatoes with
fruit an inch in diameter, the second crop of radishes ready to
pull, the carrot patch filled in with foliage, the rows indistinguishable. The carnations are done after just seven or eight days, and the sweet Williams have decayed, are tattered and fallen. The cosmos are waist high, some of the first flowers starting. The tall yellow yarrow is open, and the Queen Anne's lace is taller than the rose bushes, the first head blooming. Cherries all red now, branches hanging heavy and low.

1997: First yucca seen open in Kettering.

1998: Jacoby to High Prairie: Some of the wild yarrow fading. Osage fruit maybe a third size. Elderberry bushes half in flower, half berries. Canadian thistles full bloom here. Teasel big, but no flowers. Showers of yellow leaves when I stepped inside a locust grove. Moth mullein late, early Queen Anne’s lace, baby robins, field thistles waist high, avens full, first touch-me-nots open, honewort done. Enchanter’s nightshade, purple vetch, Deptford pink, hobblebush, wood mint, St. John’s wort, thimble plant, sweet clovers, brome grass, wood nettle, daisy fleabane, milkweed, thin leaf plantain all in bloom. Gray tree frogs heard in another locust grove. Timothy heavily bearded but still sweet to chew. Black butterfly with golden eye on wings. May apples, garlic mustard, rusted buckeye leaves bring faded gold to the woods. One hickory nut fallen, seemed full size. Woods wet and dewy, mosquitoes very bad, river and brooks strong from the rain.

2002: Catnip, cattails, milkweed provide roadside color across Nebraska. Past the desert in Wyoming, yellow sweet clover reappears. At the Utah border, wild lupine found.

2003: Cardinals, robins, doves loud at 5:35 a.m. A monarch butterfly visited the north garden at mid morning.

2007: First dark green midseason hosta flowers open. First violet monarda blooms – the red are in full bloom. Sticky buds noticed on the burdock in the alley. All morning, robins have been peeping something like their autumn migration call, but this is faster and more intense – still, not a whinny. More rain last night, the drought certainly at an end in Yellow Springs.

June 28th
The 179th Day of the Year

One's own landscape comes, in time, to be a sort of outlying part of himself; he has sowed himself broadcast upon it, and it reflects his own moods and feelings.... How has the farmer planted himself in the fields; builded himself into his stone walls, and evoked the sympathy of the hills by his struggle!

John Burroughs

Sunrise/set: 6:09/9:08 Day's Length: 14 hours 59 minutes
Average High/Low: 84/63 Average Temperature: 74
Record High: 101 - 1934 Record Low: 52 - 1926

Weather
Temperature distribution for today: 20 percent chance for 90s, seventy percent for 80s, ten percent for 70s. Skies are partly cloudy to sunny 80 percent of the days; precipitation, however, occurs 40 percent of the time as the final high pressure system of the month approaches and the Corn Tassel Rains get underway. Those rains typically take place in a two-week period between the end of June and the middle of July.

Natural Calendar
Coneflowers, white vervain, oxeye, horseweed, germander, teasel and wild lettuce blossom in the fields; tall bell flowers open in the woods. Thimble plants set thimbles.

Daybook
1984: Nodding thistles going to seed.

1985: Creeping bell flower identified, has probably been open for almost a week.

1987: Rose of Sharon is blooming early.

1990: This has been the greenest June that I remember. And the cardinals have been singing just as loud as in May all month, and the decline of spring not so obvious, the roadsides lush.

1991: Mallow still full bloom, lychnis fading.

1992: Astilbe complete for the year. More raccoons killed along
Grinnell, foretaste of the Dog Days.

1993: The Corn Tassel Rains, coming a week before they should,
two weeks before the corn tassels this year, batter the
perennials. The coreopsis are drooping, lilies and cosmos
leaning, hollyhocks broken and fallen forward into the vegetable
garden, weeds starting to get the better of us now. Lettuce has gone to seed, and the radishes are hot.

1997: First coreopsis blooms today, planted from seed in March. Ride along bike path: First dogbane in bloom, first pokeweed. July and August’s plants getting tall: leafcup, wild lettuce, ironweed. On the way down Limestone Street, I passed a mulberry tree: black mulberries all over the road.

1998: First cicadas heard today.

1999: Red bergamot opened today. Suddenly coneflowers are everywhere. Birds much quieter now throughout the day.

2000: Portland through eastern Washington, June 27th – the 29th: Cow parsnips, which had been in full bloom a week ago when we arrived in Portland, now mostly gone to seed. Blackberries have set fruit, bushes darkening, many thimbleberry flowers gone, fruit formed. Cattails have emerged now and show their pollen. Rhododendrons, late a week ago, are now gone. Blue-tint snowball viburnums large, full flowered in Portland, the smaller variety just opening at Quinalt Lake in southwestern Washington. Full-blooming escaped sweet peas along the river gorge, and common throughout the trip.

2001: First hollyhock opens.

2002: We left dry Wyoming and came into the green Salt Lake valley. The corn is Ohio height, haying in full swing, some of the wheat is gold. In Ontario, Oregon (southeastern Oregon): milkweed, pink spirea, hollyhocks, potentilla all full bloom. Salsify, yellow sweet clover, and teasel seen here and there along the roadsides.

2003: Several lilies done for the year, the pale pink and the tall orange. The rest of the lily bed is opening nicely, complemented by pink and cream hollyhocks and violet mallow. Large blue hosta remain at full bloom along the west border. Green thorax noticed on a small thin bee that was visiting the mallow. Small beeflies noticed around the yard the last few days. In the Caribbean, Hurricane “Bill,” the second hurricane of the season, is moving north toward Louisiana.

2004: One last Japanese honeysuckle flower dies back, the peak of bloom having passed maybe two weeks ago. The red June phlox continues to bloom (it began in early June), even as midsummer phlox is starting and the first blackberries are reddening at a few locations around town. The second budding of comfrey is beginning. The final flowers on the pink spirea are rusting, and the spiderwort seems to be declining.

2007: Driving north of Springfield, I saw the roadsides full of the pale green decay of hemlock, the blackening seed clusters of angelica. Coming back from Xenia, I saw a few corn stalks with tassels. Late this afternoon, crows were whining and calling in the back trees – adults and fledglings arguing about something.

June 29th
The 180th Day of the Year

I hear the wild bee wind his horn,
The bird swings on the ripened wheat.
The long green lances of the corn
Are tilting in the winds of morn,
The locust shrills his song of heat.

John Greenleaf Whittier

Sunrise/set: 6:09/9:08 Day's Length: 15 hours 59 minutes
Average High/Low: 84/63 Average Temperature: 74
Record High: 100 - 1934 Record Low: 49 - 1905

Weather
The likelihood of precipitation is 35 percent, and clouds
completely obscure the sky 25 percent of the days. The chance for
a high in the 90s is 25 percent, for 80s fifty percent, for 70s twenty to 25 percent. This is one of only two middle-summer days when a cold afternoon in the 60s is possible (July 13th is the other).

Natural Calendar
Maroon seed pods have formed on the locusts. Some green-hulled walnuts are already on the ground. The earliest cicadas start to chant. This year's ducklings and goslings are nearly full grown.

Daybook
1982: First chigger bites from walk in the woods. Common sow
thistle blooms in the garden.

1983: South Glen, evening: Early leafcup, wood nettle first blooms, first touch-me-nots. Parsnips are going to seed, wild onions, angelica, too. Tall meadow rue, violet bush clover, water willow, elderberry, panicled dogwood are in full bloom. Osage fruits are an inch and a half in diameter.

1987: First cicadas heard in the yard.

1988: Belize: The abundance of new plants to watch: I think about
micro habitats, like archeological squares for excavations,
artificial limitations, roping off of climate and landscape, each day or plot or field an extensive case study.

1990: Sundrops almost gone, foxgloves gone. Peak lily time.
Milkweed and butterfly weed beginning. Red and violet bergamots throughout town, and many types of daisies. Veronica late, astible late full. First leek seed heads breaking apart. Blackbirds are still loud in the mulberries, yucca still open.

1991: Teasel early full bloom south toward Kettering. First local
sweet corn at the farmer's market. First field corn is tasseling.

1997: Yellow Asiatic lily blooms today. Now the progression is orange, yellow, pink, red-orange and yellow. First purple loosestrife today. Almost no yuccas in bloom yet – the latest they’ve ever been. Tall cressleaf groundsel suddenly gone from the roadsides and fields.

2000: Central Washington State: Milkweed full bloom, wheat pale brown, potatoes lush and two-feet tall. Haying everywhere, field corn knee high, full potentilla. Great mullein open, trefoil, yellow sweet clover. At the gardens in Spokane, a wonderful variety of summer flowers in early full bloom, while the last of the spring poppies, iris and Dutch iris were losing their petals, and a small-flowered mock orange and a privet still blossomed.

2001: Cardinal sings 5:18 a.m.

2002: From southeastern Oregon to Portland: Catalpas and yucca in full bloom, full poison hemlock at Pendleton (about 3,500 feet above sea level), placing the area about ten days behind Yellow Springs. Rugosa roses, white yarrow, tall cinquefoil, salsify, thin-leafed St. John’s wort, purple loosestrife open.

2004: At 9:30 this morning, I followed a hummingbird with pale green markings through the red bergamot to the first rose of Sharon along the south border. In the stump garden, the violet daylily opened overnight. Midseason hostas are coming in throughout the yard.

2007: More rain. The lawn is saturated now, squishes when I walk across to the garden. This morning at about ten o’clock – the crows were back, more whining and talking between parent and children. Still very few Japanese beetles around. None at all found yesterday. The ramps are in full flower under the mock orange bush.

June 30th
The 181st Day of the Year

Summer reaches critical mass: so much color, so much new life, so much perfection that the weight of one more insect or the exotic scent of one more milkweed, or the ecstasy of one more butterfly suddenly pierces the spinning ascension of time, and the season topples over of its own weight, the last infinitesimal addition pulling the vast earth over, tilting it top heavy toward winter.

Casius Cajuvian

Sunrise/set: 6:09/9:08 Day's Length: 14 hours 59 minutes
Average High/Low: 84/63 Average Temperature: 74
Record High: 98 - 1913 Record Low: 46 - 1943

Weather
Statistically, this is the coolest day of middle summer,
recording a 55 percent chance for a high only in the 70s. The
last time such odds occurred was June 4th. September 3rd will be the next time the chances return to 50 percent. Highs in the 80s occur 35 percent of the time, 90s fifteen percent. Chances for rain are good: 40 percent of June 30s bring a thunderstorm.

Natural Calendar
June's berries are disappearing: black raspberries decline quickly; the best mulberries have fallen. July's wild cherries are ripening, and elderberries are setting fruit. Thistle down lies across the pastures in the windless afternoons. The oats ripens and the first tier of soybeans blooms.

Daybook
1983: All strawberries gone now.

1985: South Glen: Enchanter’s nightshade full bloom, some avens fading, scattered daisies, thimble flower a few days old, galls on some goldenrod, wood mint open maybe a week, wild lettuce budding, privet seeding, pale touch-me-nots in bloom, ironweed with small tight heads, white snakeroot – two plants budding, first lopseed flowering, some angelica left.

1987: Katydid seen today, not heard tonight.

1990: To Falling Water, Pennsylvania: More bright orange butterfly weed flowering, more parsnips gone to seed (maybe half of them now), and most hemlock brown. Clovers and black-eyed Susans still strong, teasel taller but still green, elderberries more than half with fruit set. First sundrops noticed, cattails fully out in places, some catalpa flowers still holding in the Pennsylvania mountains, weeks later than in Yellow Springs. Back at home, lightening bugs are as thick as they've been for years.

1991: Yucca gone now, catalpa beans long, first red garden phlox.

1992: Cosmos and zinnias are in early full bloom. Gay feather budding, lilies early full, mallow full, yellow yarrow just becoming bright. Full yellow squash harvest, a few peas left, a few tomatoes golf-ball size. Corn still low, no tassels, sweet corn will be late too. Today is the peak of black raspberries in the yard, the last days for cherries and rhubarb. A large number of raccoons, young and old, were killed on the highways this past week, just prior to the worst heat and humidity of the summer.

1993: First Japanese beetles found in the roses, have probably been out a couple days. Sundrops mostly gone now.

1998: At the orchard, the first peaches have started coming in, and the first of the summer apples. Rugosa roses are gone along Dayton-Yellow Springs Road.

1999: First rose of Sharon blooms.

2000: Home to Yellow Springs after 13 days away: The north garden lush with full orange and yellow day lilies and Asiatics, violet mallow, bright yellow and orange Shasta daisies, achillea, drooping white cones of goosefoot, tall hollyhocks. Ironweed full size and budded. The roses are mostly gone, but only two Japanese beetles found. Under the apple tree, the hostas are open, most of the astilbe rusted. In the south garden, last year’s snapdragons and bachelor’s buttons have finally died back, but the orange perennial gladiolas are open beside the yellow yarrow. Daisies and lamb’s ear all gone, and most flax and spiderwort, leaving that far south garden pretty bare. In the pond, purple loosestrife is in bloom now, water willow done, the whole pond overgrown with weeds and flowers, needing a full thinning. The fish are doing well, even after two weeks without their waterfall.

2001: Young raccoons continue to be struck along the highway. First yellow coneflower opens at the south wall. Mid-season hosta well underway.

2002: The beach at Tillamook, Oregon: Blackberries and salmon berries in full bloom. Foxglove-like fireweed in mid to late bloom.

2003: First Japanese beetles found in the roses. Lilies coming in strong now. A few peach-leafed bellflowers still in bloom. Yellow primrose declining quickly.

2004: At 5:00 a.m., silence outside; at 5:05 the first distant robin chatter; by 5:30, the cardinals come in, doves by 5:45. In the north garden, the first Shasta daisy opened.

2007: Cardinals and doves strong this morning by 5:30. Sun and cool after days of humidity and storms. The lilies are coming in strong now, red monarda full, violet monarda close to full, purple coneflowers filling in the east side of the north wall garden with color, midseason hostas budded and some are coming in. The first rose of Sharon bloomed a few days ago (one flower only) and has faded now. Zinnias in the east garden have put out six or seven blossoms now. One blue bellflower has opened near the geraniums. One rudbeckia has opened at Don’s yard. First cicada heard at about noon.