May 16th
The 136th Day of the Year

Wherever you are is home
And the earth is paradise
Wherever you set your feet is holy land.

Wilfred Pelletier and Ted Poole

Sunrise/set: 6:19/8:44 Day's Length: 14 hours 25 minutes
Average High/Low: 72/51 Average Temperature: 61
Record High: 94 - 1900 Record Low: 32 - 1904

Weather
A morning below 32 degrees, which could be expected at
least one day in seven around the 4th of the month, can be
expected only one day in 70 on May 16th. Average highs stay in
the 70s, and typical lows come into summer-like 60s for
the first time since September. There is a 70 percent chance for a high above 70, and a 95 percent chance for a high above 60. The sun shines 85 percent of all the days. The chances for a shower are one in three. Wind is not uncommon today, as the fourth high pressure system of the month takes over the state.

Natural Calendar
Cedar waxwings migrate up Yellow Springs Creek as the last buckeye flowers fall. The first June bug clings to the screen door when the first firefly glows in the lawn and river grass is knee high. Flea beetles come feeding in the vegetable garden when white clover blooms in the yard.

Daybook
1982: First peonies and columbine seen, and first mock orange bloomed today (remained until June 10th).

1983: First clover seen at Wilberforce. Purple deadnettle yellowing along the roadside. At the Covered Bridge: fire pink, sweet Cecily, star of Bethlehem, golden Alexander, mallow.

1984: Mill Habitat: First June bug. First ducklings seen on the river northeast of the mill. Then a few hundred yards further upstream, a pair of geese with seven huge goslings swimming between them. A few bluebells left. May apple, rue anemone, phlox, water cress, ragwort, violets, spring beauties, geraniums, spring cress, crowfoot, catchweed, garlic mustard, Jack-in-the-pulpit in bloom. Redbuds and buckeyes still in bloom, yellow poplar budding. Buzzards in their tree at the bend of the river, wings outstretched to the sun. Sycamores have one-inch leaves, some oak leaves at about the same size. Canopy pubescent, half finished in a tantalizing middle season between spring and summer. Grasses up to my knees.

1986: First hemlock flowered today. Earliest crickets heard. Aloe buds are opening in the greenhouse.

1987: First strawberries for breakfast after a morning walk by the Covered Bridge. I saw hundreds of suckers and giant carp swimming the Little Miami River. When I threw in my line, I caught a shiner, a chub, a sunfish, a bluegill, and a rock bass, all very small.

1988: First hemlock flowers. High canopy full green now, but some oaks and sycamores hold out. Locusts in full bloom, mock orange in early bloom as the first comfrey blossoms. Hemlock very tall, first flowers seen in Mad River. Connie writes that water lilies have opened at Crystal Lake, and it’s the best year yet for iris pseudacorus.

1989: Late like 1984.

1990: Locust and wisteria in full bloom, and all the grasses. Dogwoods almost completely gone. Waterleaf fills the woods floor, in bloom by today every year on record. First rhododendrons seen
in town.

1991: Petals of the locust are falling today, the last wild cherry blossoms disappear: the beginning of the last days of late spring. The star of Bethlehem has just ended, garlic mustard at their final buds. The canopy has closed almost everywhere (with osage, walnut, sycamore, a few oaks holding back). Red clover and blackberries full bloom, foxglove just starting.

1993: Mother-in-law's-tongue full bloom in the greenhouse for the
past week. Several bright orange geum now completely open beside two wide daisies. Very first mock orange unravels.

1994: Spiderwort opens in the South Garden. At South Glen, sweet
Cicely and purple larkspur are in full bloom beside the last of the wild phlox and wild geraniums. In town, bridal wreath spirea is completely gone.

1995: East to New York City: Now is the time for the grasses to dominate, and all the fields and fence rows are growing tall with brome and orchard grass and timothy. Yellow winter cress appears in the pastures from Yellow Springs into New York. At the lower elevations, the canopy is half complete, cottonwoods parallel to the gums, the ginkgoes, and the oaks. In the mountains above 1800 feet, dogwoods and redbuds are still in full bloom (the redbuds have just leafed out in Yellow Springs), coltsfoot plants are marked with dandelion-like seed heads, and there is more gold in the tree line than in Yellow Springs. May apples seem just to have emerged, and fields of dandelions are still flowering near 2000 feet. At Somerset, Pennsylvania, 2300 feet on my altimeter, I saw white daffodils. A yellow swallowtail butterfly flew in front of the car there. At the peak elevations, near 2500 feet, the high trees are almost bare, and it seems I've driven back into April. Descending the Appalachians, daisies appear in the roadsides coming into Harrisburg. In New Jersey, the wheat is turning a week or two before Greene County's crop.

1996: Rain and flooding for weeks, the ground saturated, the
garlic as tall as can be, rhubarb immense. Peonies have large
buds. In the south garden, the first pyrethrum opened in a shower
last night. Rockets and buttercups have been blooming for days, and the pale lavender hyacinths are just starting. In the east garden, the dwarf iris and columbine are coming in, the azaleas at their best. At Wilberforce, the dandelions were all going to seed yesterday. No farm planting has been done so far. In the Great Plains, the wheat crop has been destroyed by drought; here, the corn and soybean crops will suffer from a late start.

1998: Honeysuckle time is ending quickly now. Full bloom of purple nightshade. Wood hyacinths wilt suddenly.

2000: Mountain maple full bloom at Antioch School yesterday. Spiderwort opened in the south garden, flags early full, achillea seen along North High Street. This afternoon, several large black flies in the bathroom, the same kind that appeared on May 14th last year: the world on schedule.

2001: First spiderwort opens. Wheat heading. Full bloom of water iris in the Grinnell wetlands. First June bug found hanging on the screen door when we got home from the symphony tonight at 10:45.

2004: The pale violet wood hyacinths are turning brown. The red azalea in the east garden is gone. The Dutch iris are coming in. The alium still holds tall and purple. Sweet rockets and sweet Williams now give color to the long north garden. The Korean lilac has peaked, its flowers collapsing all at once. Scorpion flies are suddenly everywhere this afternoon. Red and white clovers and yellow sweet clover are blooming by the side of the road. One nodding thistles is beginning to show pink near Byron.

2005: Peak of blue wood hyacinths, pale blue-violet iris and the Korean lilac.

2007: Last night, rain for the first time this May, a hard rain at first with thunder, then soft, lasting until near dawn. In the lawn, I noticed that white clover has followed the seeding of the dandelions. Bittersweet budded. Almost all of the wood hyacinths are gone now, but the golden ranunculus by the east side of the house are in full bloom. The garden mirrors what I noted here May 16th of 2004. Near the peach tree, the new Dutch iris continue to unravel: one blue and yellow, one pure yellow.

2008: Weigela in bloom in Wilmington and here. Hawthorns stay white with flowers. The circle garden keeps all its blue and violet, the same as in 2005. Mock orange struggles to open, but the day remains in the 60s, still a little cold.

 

May 17th
The 137th Day of the Year

I cannot meet the Spring unmoved –
I feel the old desire –
A Hurry with a lingering mixed,
A Warrant to be fair.

Emily Dickenson

Sunrise/set: 6:18/8:45 Day's Length: 14 hours 27 minutes
Average High/Low: 73/51 Average Temperature: 62
Record High: 93 - 1900 Record Low: 33 - 1895

Weather
Highs in the 90s are rare on the 17th and 18th of May, but
80s occur 30 percent of the afternoons; 70s take place 40 percent
of the time, and 60s twenty percent. Cold 50s take the remaining ten percent. Under the influence of the fourth high pressure system of the month, skies are partly cloudy to clear today, and there is only a 15 percent chance for completely overcast conditions. Rain showers occur one day in three.

Natural Calendar
Locust flowers open as the high canopy slowly closes in. Black walnuts, silver olives, and oaks become the other major sources of pollen. Tall meadow rue is knee high now in the wetlands and fields, pacing the angelica. In the river, lizard’s tail has three leaves. Golden ragwort, pale violet Jacob’s ladder, columbine, and the wild geraniums are still full flower. July’s wood nettle is a foot tall. Deep red ginger has replaced the toad trillium close to the ground around the small open fingers of white sedum.

Daybook
1982: Lilacs done, comfrey blooming, first red clover seen.

1983: Daisies blooming at King's Yard. Jumpseed and Canadian thistles nine inches at South Glen, waterleaf early bloom, pink trillium grandiflorum holding. May apple, toad trillium, phlox, sweet Cicely, catchweed, golden Alexander, sweet rockets, geranium, henbit, winter cress, celandine, fleabane, chickweed, small flowered buttercup, spring cress, wild ginger, swamp buttercup in full bloom. The tree line still yellow and brown rather than the glowing greens of late spring and summer. A black butterfly, with orange and white on its wings - a red admiral.

1984: Chives blooming in the garden. First firefly seen glowing in the night lawn. Dandelions finished.

1986: First firefly seen, but not glowing. Robins and blackbirds loud all day.

1987: First damselfly by the river, and first bite by a horsefly. Wild cherry, black walnut and locust still in full bloom, and the rest of the canopy complete. Some parsnips coming in by the roadsides. Angelica is past knee high, pacing the wood nettle. Orchard grass is excellent for chewing, will soon be past its prime and hard to pull. Dock flowering at Middle Prairie. Big red-horse sucker caught at Far Pool; it got off the line as I brought it to shore, eluded me, flopping in the grass and then jumped back into the water.

1989: First daisies. Black walnuts and oaks becoming the major sources of pollen.

1991: Lily-of-the-valley and bleeding heart seasons are over.

1992: Locust full bloom, mock orange holding, sweet rockets full. One young squirrel exploring, got stuck on top of the utility pole in the back yard, finally came down. Canopy near complete, cherries half formed. Blue jays and crows loud like they have been for the last two weeks. Poppies and iris, comfrey, and horseradish full bloom. Siberian iris full budding.

1993: First purple clematis, first red sweet William today. All the Siberian iris are budding. Buttercups, iris, and rockets full bloom. Quince gone. Wild onion heading. First yellow and black swallowtail seen on Wilberforce-Clifton. At South Glen, waterleaf has tall violet flowers, all open. Twinleaf and toothwort and early meadow rue have their seed pods. Toad trillium is tattered and decaying. Jack-in-the-pulpit, wood nettle, touch-me-nots, and leafcup are all up to my thighs, the undergrowth surging up as the canopy closes in.

1994: Spanish scilla/blue wood hyacinth is in full bloom in the south garden today. The first daisy opens, first iris, first sweet William. Siberian iris budding. Poppies and peonies seen in Xenia. Along the river, the lizard’s tail is up about six to nine inches, three leaves on each plant. First red admiral seen along the south wall.

1995: The last clumps of creeping phlox have completed their bloom now; their best time is April.

1996: Brief stop at the mill with Buttercup and Fergus. I saw meadow goatsbeard and corn salad opening there, catchweed and wild geraniums full bloom, parsnips heading, wild phlox at their last. Foliage of ironweed and thin-leafed coneflower is up to my knees.

1998: First two red water lilies opened in the pond overnight. Across from them a lavender water hyacinth is flowering. Along the east fence, the first foxglove is open. At Antioch School, the first yellow swallowtail of the year and a white spotted skipper. Out on the road in Greene County, the first yellow sweet clover seen. White clover is blooming in the grass. Hemlock is blossoming and the first parsnips. Some of the locusts are falling. Blue Siberian iris in the north garden are full now. First flea bit Jean.

1999: First sweet William. Robin calling at 4:00 a.m. (EST). Jean gives me a yellow poplar blossom. Sweet Cicely to seed.

2000: Up at 3:00 a.m. this morning, I listened for the whinny of the screech owl, but it didn’t come. Is that call only for late winter and early spring? Out in town, the yellow roses are in full bloom, have been for some time. Wild grapes open, perfection of iris, blue flags, peonies, poppies. Sweet Cicely gone to seed. First water lily opens in the pond this afternoon.

2001: Tulip tree and lupines full.

2002: Sudden end to the wood hyacinths. Orchard grass was too tough to pull today, a pivot to summer. And the first of June’s gold-collared blackflies.

2003: First strawberries are ripe in the garden.

2004: The first purple spiderwort opened today. In the north garden, the white flowers of the lily-of-the-valley have started to brown, the Korean lilac browning above it. In the triangle park, the Kousa dogwood blossoms have taken form.

2005: Robins quiet at 3:40 a.m. EST, began to chirp very faintly at about 3:45. By 4:00, they were in full song. Doves were singing at 4:45, cardinals late at 4:50. First scorpion fly noticed on the parsley this morning.

2007: Mateo’s multiflora rose has started to come out. Blue eggshell noticed on the walk in front of the house. Hemlock blooming on the way to Dayton.

May 18th
The 138th Day of the Year

A garden or nature journal becomes an autobiography, the act of watching becoming watching the self, and forming the self out of and in front of nature. I am this person who is observing leaf after leaf, field after field. Following these seasons, I become myself.

Bradford Townsend

Sunrise/set: 6:18/8:46 Day's Length: 14 hours 28 minutes
Average High/Low: 73/52 Average Temperature: 62
Record High: 93 - 1962 Record Low: 35 - 1973

Weather
Today is often the beginning of a wetter-than-average period during May, the time of the Strawberry Rains. Between the 18th and the 29th, the average likelihood for precipitation grows to near 50 percent. There are a few times, however, in the next dozen days when fields may dry out a little: the 20th and 21st, the 24th, and the 28th. Today's chances are not so good: 55 percent chance for showers by nightfall. Highs in the 80s on this date come 20 percent of the time, 70s fifty percent of the time, 60s twenty-five percent, and an occasional day just in the 50s comes once every 15 years or so. Almost 40 percent of May 18ths are completely overcast.

Natural Calendar
When ragweed has grown two feet tall, and cow vetch, yellow sweet cover, wild parsnips, poison hemlock, angelica, motherwort, wild roses, locusts, blackberries, and yarrow are flowering, then the last of the leaves come out for summer. Under the closing canopy, spring's garlic mustard, chickweed and catchweed die back, their yellow foliage accentuating a major decline of April growth.

Daybook
1982: Canopy complete.

1984: At the Covered Bridge: A flock of cedar waxwings along the river. Most buckeye flowers done blooming, falling to the ground. Two geese seen with five goslings. The upper path shows its late spring undergrowth, colored with the purple of phlox and geraniums, and the gold of ragwort. Ginger has replaced the toad trillium close to the ground. First poison ivy seen. A few wilting bluebells. Jacob's ladder still in bloom, swamp buttercups too. Sedum open, columbine still blooming on the cliffs, redbuds fading, locusts starting to flower.

1986: First catbird in the yard. In the Vale, blackberries and wild roses opening. Very early hemlock, and
budding, and yarrow, and privet. Wild lettuce, wood mint, and wingstem up to my waist, the railroad tracks lined with sweet rockets and old honeysuckle, fading garlic mustard, yellowing toothwort leaves, new clustered snakeroot. Almost all the canopy complete. Indian hemp and touch-me-nots are knee high. The plumes of smooth brome sway in the wind.

1987: Great mullein thick-leafed and huge, past knee high. First
yellow sweet clover seen at Wilberforce. Fleas appearing
on the animals.

1989: First mock orange barely opening. First iris seen in town. First meadow goat’s beard seen on the way to work.

1990: South Glen: wood nettle almost full grown now, waist high, cohosh berries forming, goldenrod, touch-me-not, wingstem, and dogbane two feet tall. Star of Bethlehem still open, last of the phlox, ragwort still strong. High canopy still thin. First daddy-longlegs seen. Red admiral butterflies everywhere: this is the first day of their first cycle. First cricket heard, the Northern Spring Field Cricket. Sweet Cicely almost gone. Last of the phlox. Mulberries are setting fruit. Yarrow budding, leaning into the sun. Wind in the clover and orchard grass. First blues, a pair of them, seen in the garlic mustard.

1991: First bowl of strawberries from the garden.

1992: Starlings talking back and forth: guttural coaching of the parents and the imitation from the young. Continual chatter, encouragement, demonstration, excitement, panic in the old dying locust. In the south garden, it is full season for sweet rockets, poppies, daisies, pyrethrums, geums, and ranunculus.

1994: First goat’s beard noticed today, and the lupine opened overnight. Bainberry discovered along the path to Grinnell Pond.

1995: Clematis comes in all at once. Now the daisies are starting. Overnight, the snow-on-the-mountain sent up its flower umbels.

1998: Summer headlong. A grasshopper flying and a lightning bug found.

1999: Now sudden full comfrey, now the peonies, pyrethrum, daisies, poppies in full bloom, locusts and honeysuckles, mock orange holding, rhododendrons full, thyme full. Some locust petalfall begins. Multiflora roses have been open for the last few days. Rhubarb and horseradish to seed. First lamb’s ears blossoming. Full bloom flags. In the pond, arrowhead is long, about six inches, and very thin. Loosestrife full size at three feet. No tadpoles seen today.

2000: First tiger lilies opening along Grinnell Road.

2001: First water lily in the pond. Blue eggshell found under the apple tree.

2002: First daisies in the yard.

2003: Snakeskin found by the side of the pond.

2004: Coral bells are blooming. The first periodical cicada found by John Sturm along the bike path.

2005: Purple lilacs end today. Toads or frogs calling in the distance at about 10:00 p.m.

2007: Fringe tree in bloom throughout middle May in the village – and at nurseries.

May 19th
The 139th Day of the Year

Summer set lip to earth's bosom bare,
And left the flushed print of a poppy there.

Francis Thompson

Sunrise/set: 6:17/8:47 Day's Length: 14 hours 30 minutes
Average High/Low: 72/53 Average Temperature: 62
Record High: 92 - 1962 Record Low: 37 - 1894

Weather
Chances for rain are high today: 55 percent. Completely overcast skies come one year in three. Highs in the muggy 90s occur five percent of the afternoons; 80s are recorded 30 percent of the time, 70s on 30 percent of the days, 60s on 30 percent, and 50s the last five percent. As the fifth high pressure system of the month approaches, the barometer is usually dropping, and the wind is down - conditions which typically improve prospects for fishing as well as for allergies.

Natural Calendar
Pheasant, grouse, and turkey chicks appear along the fence rows. Half of the season's new ducklings and goslings swim the creeks. Bullfrogs call all along the rivers. Catfish, bullheads, northern pike, bluegills, largemouth and smallmouth bass, white bass, spotted bass, striped bass, and crappies spawn when the water temperature reaches 65 degrees.

Daybook
1982: Clustered snakeroot has small yellow flowers now.

1984: On the way to Indiana, buckeye flowers seen along the freeway, sweet clover foliage prominent but no flowers yet.

1986: English plantain in bloom - probably began a week or so ago.

1987: Cardinal singing at 4:07 a.m. Peaches one inch in diameter, apples half an inch, cherries maybe a third grown. Rhubarb blooms done, snowball viburnum and bridal wreath spirea fade. First peony opens (gone in the yard by the 30th of May).

1988: Ferns almost completely unfurled now.

1993: Lupine full bloom, spears of violet and blue. Some bridal wreath browning. First sweet William opens in the north garden. Opossums half grown, three killed in two days on Grinnell. From Minnesota, John says that peony buds are half an inch across, lilacs are budding, strawberries starting to bloom, rhubarb pie size.

1995: Mock orange and the first iris opened together today. Osage was beginning to leaf out. North to Norwalk: lilacs were still in full bloom there, a hundred miles or so due north of Yellow Springs. The tree line was thinner. A few apples were still in bloom, fields of late dandelions still in bloom, some tulips and some oaks, redbuds all still flowering. Ten to fifteen miles equaled a day of spring progress: Norwalk was back at the end of Yellow Springs April or the first week of May.

1997: First lupine is blue today. Honeysuckles coming in now. The Siberian iris put out buds two days ago. Mock orange still holding back. Dogwoods still keep their flowers. The first pink azalea petals fell. On the way to work, I almost hit the first monarch butterfly of the year! In the courtyard at Wilberforce, tall cressleaf groundsel in full bloom. At Jacoby, buckeye blossoms are aging. May apples in bloom, the last spring beauties, fading late yellow toad trilliums. Among the giant skunk cabbage leaves: water cress, spring cress, golden buttercups and ragwort full bloom in massive patches at the swamp. The canopy maybe a third complete. This is the finest of Jacoby, so bright. Up the ridge, purple waterleaf late full, a few purple violets, lots of purple phlox, toothwort foliage bleached pale yellow, new sweet rockets pink and violet. And a flock of crows above me screaming.

1998: Lamb’s ear opens overnight. Young grackle or starling in the lawn.

2000: Honeysuckle flowers suddenly decline. Pond iris are open. End late spring.

2001: First sweet William.

2002: Frost on the grass this morning, but the first of summer’s yellow sweet clover opened, and nodding thistle buds showed a little pink.

2003: Driving south 30 miles to Washington Court House, I saw the first parsnips, first yellow sweet clover, first red clover. There were still great fields of golden cressleaf groundsel, and the wheat was turning a pale gray green. At South Glen, sweet Cecily is almost gone, wood nettle knee high, the canopy full. At Antioch School, cecropia moths were mating.

2005: The iris in the north garden is completely open. The first sweet William has flowered. Hemlock is six-feet tall and budded. Rhododendron is starting. Asian ladybugs seen in the undergrowth.

2007: Mateo’s Jerusalem artichokes are past knee high now, and all the geraniums at Mrs. Timberlake’s are done blooming; her poppies are still strong. Meadow goatsbeard was opening in front of Don’s house. Mock orange still full bloom, honeysuckle flowers starting to fall.

And May has come, hair-bound in flowers,
With eyes that smile thro’ the tears of the hours,
with joy for to-day and hope for to-morrow
And the promise of Summer within her breast!

Gerard Manley Hopkins

May 20th
The 140th Day of the Year

The summer winds is sniffin' round the bloomin' locus' trees;
And the clover in the pasture is a big day fer the bees,
And they been a-swiggin' honey, above board and on the sly,
Tel they stutter in theyr buzzin' and stagger as they fly.

James Whitcomb Riley

Sunrise/set: 6:16/8:48 Day's Length: 14 hours 32 minutes
Average High/Low: 73/54 Average Temperature: 63
Record High: 90 - 1977 Record Low: 37 - 1894

Weather
Today and the 21st can offer relief from the late May rains 65 percent of the time as the fifth major high pressure system of the month moves through the Midwest. Wind speed often picks up throughout the day, and the sun shines through the cumulus clouds. Frost is not common with this fifth cold front, but morning temperatures drop into the upper 30s once in a decade. Highs reach above 80 degrees 35 percent of the afternoons, the first time chances have been so good for heat since May 16th. Mild 70s come 50 percent of the time, with highs staying in the 60s ten percent of the afternoons, and in the chilly 50s five percent. After today chances for highs in the 80s or 90s do not fall below 30 percent until the middle of September.

Natural Calendar
Snow-on-the-mountain blossoms, along with the first of the sweet Williams, the first clematis, first spiderwort. The first shiny blue damsel flies emerge by rivers and ponds. White spotted skippers and red admiral butterflies visit the garden. Gold-collared black flies swarm in the pastures. Leaf hoppers look for corn. Scorpion flies make their appearance in the barnyard.

Daybook
1982: The latest of the tulips has dropped its petals. First red strawberry in the garden. First daddy long-legs.

1983: Siberian iris and roses with large buds. Mock orange blooms today (lasts until the 12th of June). First meadow goat’s beard noticed.

1984: Cascades: toad trillium and dogwoods holding. Shooting star, white baneberry, dwarf larkspur, golden alexander, meadow parsnip full. Trillium grandiflorum are pink and old now, nodding trillium tattered. First spitbug seen, first spider in a web. Jacob's ladder fading.

1985: In this warm May, mock orange almost done blooming. At the Covered Bridge, parsnips, hemlock, clustered snakeroot, and angelica in full bloom. First striped cucumber beetle seen. First cricket heard, first black damselfly seen. Daisy fleabane tall and budding. Ragwort going to seed, the last of late spring in the swamp. Blue speedwell almost gone under the pussy willow.

1986: Locusts in full bloom, osage and mulberry leaves getting near summer size.

1987: Bluegrass identified, poa sylvestris, in flower as orchard
grass comes into full bloom with its yellow and tan heads. Siberian iris and the first day lily opened today. Hemlock and parsnips in bloom. Garlic mustard almost done for the year, its lanky stems bowing to set their seeds.

1988: Wild cherries full bloom, parallel with the locusts. Connie reports goat's beard and cinquefoil open at Medway, ten miles north of Yellow Springs.

1989: Orange blight well established on the black raspberries. Mountain maple full bloom. First raspberry flowers in the late afternoon. First cinquefoil blooms. The last quince flowers fall, and lilacs decay. Star of Bethlehem in full bloom, and most honeysuckles and snow-on-the-mountain. In the Vale settlement south of town, I found clumps of wild red columbine along the railroad tracks and wild grapes budding. Honeysuckle and sweet rockets full, corn salad early, yarrow and hemlock budding. Fire pink and dogwood full. Hackberry finally leafing.

1990: Mock orange and rhododendrons are in full bloom, follow the hardy azaleas with just a little overlap in perfect sequence. Osage is budding. First strawberry ripens. Red admirals continue all around the yard. Purple spiderwort opens.

1991: Wild grapes full bloom. First foxtail grass seen.

1993: Frost on the roof this morning, with airport temperature officially 40. John calls, says there was snow in New York Mills, Minnesota on Saturday, the 15th. The first of his strawberries are flowering, his rhubarb full grown.

1996: Spring has finally come. The cold and gray disappeared three days ago, and highs have been in the 80s and 90s. Poppies and iris are out in town. Strawberries have large green fruit now. Comfrey is budding. The east garden is at its best, with the columbine and late azaleas and bleeding hearts, dwarf iris, dead nettle. Rockets and buttercups and deep red pyrethrums blossoming in the south garden. The daisies are about to open (have already seen some in town). Along the west wall today, the clematis bloomed, three purple flowers all at once. At South Glen this evening, soft glow of dusk and violet rockets, wild phlox, honeysuckle. Found the rich scented four--petaled flowers of the silver olive, wild at the Butterfly Preserve. The woods floor is speckled with tiny petals from the locust trees above.

1999: Crows 4:51 a.m. (EST). Fishing with John: six catfish, three carp, lost four big cats. Yellow swallowtails common. Canopy complete except late locusts.

2001: Blackbird feeding its baby across the street in the driveway.

2003: Doves and cardinals calling at 4:55 a.m. Multicolored Jacob’s coat rose in bloom, and some dark reds. Yellow multifloras seen about town.

2004: Seventeen-year cicadas common at Antioch School.

2005: At South Glen, waterleaf is declining, sweet rocket, bedstraw, corn salad, sweet Cicely full. Half-inch fruits have formed on the buckeye branches. Goslings maybe a week old seen in the undergrowth with their parents. Locusts full bloom throughout the village, even the late locusts in the back yard. Dahlias transplanted to the southeast east garden. The frog sang in the pond this afternoon before the rain.

2007: Blackberries blooming the alley, black raspberries setting fruit. The first pond iris bloomed overnight, and the first peony in the yard opened. Growing color from Dutch iris and flags, sweet Williams, sweet rockets in the north garden. One flower cluster on the porch wisteria is starting to flower. Lettuce thinned in the evening, looking good.

***

Perchance the beginning of summer may be dated from the fully formed leaves, when dense shade begins. I will see.

Henry David Thoreau, May 20, 1852

May 21st
The 141st Day of the Year

For us, the winds do blow,
The earth doth rest, heaven move,
and fountains flow.
Nothing we see but means our good,
As our delight, or as our treasure.

George Herbert

Sunrise/set: 6:15/8:48 Day's Length: 14 hours 33 minutes
Average High/Low: 74/53 Average Temperature: 63
Record High: 92 - 1902 Record Low: 32 - 1907

Weather
As the fifth high pressure system of the month becomes fully entrenched, today brings a slight increase in the possibility of a high just in the 50s: ten percent of the years get that cold. Most of the time (85 percent of the time), however, May 21st is in the 70s or 80s, with 60s occurring the remaining five percent. Two years out of three, the Strawberry Rains let up on May 21st, and this date records just a 35 percent chance for showers. Skies are at least partly cloudy 70 percent of the time.
The Yellow Springs Torch of May 24, 1895 noted that on this date and the next in 1883, snow fell intermittently for 18 hours, bringing a total accumulation of seven inches in the village. This is the latest record I have of local snow in May.

Natural Calendar
Daddy longlegs are all over the undergrowth, partial to clustered snakeroot and its pollen. Bright green six-spotted tiger beetles race along the maze of deer paths in South Glen. Grasshoppers come to the fields. Northern spring field crickets, the first crickets of the year to sing by the Covered Bridge, are singing. Baby robins are out of the nest. The antlers of Glen Helen bucks are a third grown.

Daybook
1981: The mock orange opened today.

1982: First peonies today. Bridal wreath through for the year.

1984: First white clover at Wilberforce. First black flea beetles
noticed in the garden.

1985: Catalpas bloom.

1986: First four strawberries picked.

1988: First poppy and first peony today at home.

1993: First poppy opens in the yard, well behind others in the village. Clematis full boom now. First patches of red clover seen. First parsnip noticed at Goes Station. Geum now full bloom in the east garden, forget-me-nots lanky and old. Pair of catbirds in the back bushes, singles seen before but never a pair. In the windstorm this afternoon, last year's maple seeds fell all at once throughout the village.

1995: At Grinnell Pond, maple waterleaf is in full bloom, its pale violet flowers pushing up above its leaves. Honeysuckle flowers are all out, heavy and lush along the path. The canopy overhead still needs its high locusts, osage, and sycamore to be complete. In the east garden, columbine are still all out, astilbe keeps reddening, bleeding hearts are almost gone. The first strawberries ripen in the new patch. In the south garden, the red pyrethrums and dusky sweet rockets are all open, daisies coming in, yellow ranunculus still full, that garden's finest time. Along the north row, half a dozen blue Siberian iris in bloom, the other iris, white, pale gold, purple have come in, sweet William underway, lupine just starting.

1997: Throughout town, bridal wreath and poppies are in full bloom. In the north garden, the first sweet Williams open, and the lone purple iris unravels. Honeysuckles full bloom. By St. Paul’s church, oak leaves are about a fourth of their full size, the shagbark hickory leaves beside them maybe a sixth or seventh of their full size. Along Corry Street, the tree line of the Glen is pale green, with the canopy filling in to perhaps a fourth.

1998: Flickers mating in the back tree 6:45 a.m. Hard mock orange petalfall. Japanese honeysuckle full bloom in the forsythia hedge.

1999: Full crappie season continues at the lake. Starlings still building nests. Dragon flies, small and large. Frogs croaking. Cressleaf groundsel full bloom. Lots of geese pairs but no goslings. Two catfish caught and two large ones lost. Along the roadsides, full blackberry, early full parsnip, early hemlock. First of our garden roses blooms, but the yellow roses in town were open more than a week ago.

2001: Osage flower stems falling. First dark purple Japanese water iris opens in the pond. Another young blackbird seen in the yard.

2002: First pale pink peony. Very last Korean lilac flower falls.

2003: Korean lilac now done, but pale pink peonies and blue flags are in full bloom. The ramp leaves have disappeared, replaced by a thin three-inch stalk and a reddish, elongated bud. The tall purple allium loses its color in Liz’s garden as locust flower clusters come down in the wind. In Dayton, the very first pink spirea is open along First Street. Poison hemlock seen open on the way south to Washington Court House.

2004: The first privet, peach-leafed bellflower, white penstemon, lamb’s ear and lady’s mantel bloom today. First pink flowers noticed on the spirea on Limestone Street. Tall rhubarb stem with flowers noticed in the Stafford-High Street alley. Casey’s red-flowered buckeye past its best.

2005: Viburnum budding in the pine forest. Dwarf larkspur in bloom in the North Glen.

2006: Jeanie reports that one of her students showed her a giant cecropia moth emerging near school.

2007: To Clifton Gorge with Jeanie: A few last wild geraniums seen, a few white sedum flowers, clustered snakeroot common, maple waterleaf and thin-leafed waterleaf in full bloom – providing some of the only real color to the forest floor, one fire pink bud just showing red, a few Solomon’s plume left, a few white violets, Solomon’s seal with triangular seed pods, miterwort with seeds, tulip trees in bloom – two of their fallen flowers on the path, bluettes seen on the high path – foliage gone and their petals white, daddy longlegs in the snakeroot and the wood nettle (which was waist high). In town, most of Liz’s poppies are done for the year, her alliums all going to seed. Iris are in full bloom all around the village, privet bushes budded along High Street. Honeysuckle coming to the end of its season, mock orange holding well so far. Tall yucca stalk seen on Davis Street.

May 22nd
The 142nd Day of the Year

See, the sweet sun shines,
The shower is over,
Flowers preen their beauty,
The day how fair!

Walter de la Mare

Sunrise/set: 6:14/8:49 Day's Length: 14 hours 35 minutes
Average High/Low: 74/53 Average Temperature: 63
Record High: 92 - 1902 Record Low: 32 - 1883

Weather
The likelihood of precipitation rises sharply to over 50 percent, but temperatures are typically mild to warm: 80s on 40 percent of the days, 35 percent in the 70s, a fourth of the days in the 60s. The sun shows through the clouds three days out of four.

The Week Ahead
The final week of May is typically a wet one, with completely overcast conditions more common than during any other time of the month. On the 25th, 26th and 27th rain falls between 50 and 60 percent of the time and the 29th is one of the rainiest days in the whole year - bringing precipitation 70 percent of the days. Average temperature distribution for this time of the month is as follows: five percent chance for highs in the 90s, thirty percent for 80s, thirty percent for 70s, twenty-five percent for 60s, and ten percent for 50s. The brightest days of the week are usually the 27th and 30th, both having an 70 percent chance for sunshine. The darkest day is the 25th, which has only a 50 percent chance for a break in the clouds.

Natural Calendar
After dark, Cassiopeia has moved deep into the northern sky behind Polaris, the North Star, by this time of May, and Cepheus, which looks a little like a house lying on its side, is beginning to come around to the east of Polaris. When Cepheus is due east of the North Star before midnight, then it will be the middle of July. When it lies due south of Polaris, then the leaves will be turning. When it lies due west, the land will be cold and still under the cover of winter.

Daybook
1982: First Siberian iris opens. Wild parsnip blooms.

1983: Wisteria full bloom. First red clover seen. Catalpas and osage starting to leaf along King Street. Poppies full bloom, lily-of-the-valley late full.

1987: Siberian iris have all come in at once. Snowball viburnum gone, locust flowers disappearing, osage flowers at their peak.

1988: Middle summer's wild lettuce, wingstem, and wood nettle are as tall as my hip, grasses past my waist, sweet Cicely gone to seed, phlox worn. Mosquitoes pesky. First damselfly. White spotted skipper. Ragwort with fluffy white seed heads. First wild rose open.

1991: First sweet William opens in the yard.

1992: At home, the peonies all opened at once this morning, iris near full bloom. Into South Glen, gold-collard blackflies are out. The last of the garlic mustard is blooming. Full late phlox, late star of Bethlehem. Rockets continue near perfection, wood nettle past knee high. White violets blooming. Late and tall catchweed, lanky and falling, tinted with yellow. Chickweed tangled and old, henbit bright blue and gangly, honeysuckle still full, damsel flies and daddy longlegs common. A few late sweet Cicely. Seed pods on the wild geraniums, angelica six feet and headed, locust still blooming, parsnips, blackberry flowering. Lots of white clover, some very very late winter cress. Continuous songs of cardinals, robins, warblers, finches. Red-winged blackbirds whistle. Wild cherry full, rich, heavy fragrance, wingstem up to the bottom of my pocket. The canopy is complete but still not mature; there are shadows, patches of paler green all along the tree line. Some Canadian thistles budding. Spitbugs on the goldenrod, yarrow heading. A blackbird female hovers above me as I walk; I'm near her nest. First brilliant green tiger beetle of the year seen. Dogbane up to my thighs. Sweet clover budding. In the deeper woods, full bloom of the blackberries. Wild strawberries climb, bright yellow though the blue ivy and the catchweed. Sycamore leaves still just half size. Queen Ann's lace and teasel mostly small, basal leaves only, wild lettuce still basal plus a foot or so. One high ragwort, the last, and the last spring beauty. Blue-eyed grass found. Clustered snakeroot with golden pollen, fields of corn salad, rockets and corn salad, hundreds of yards ahead and back as far as I can see, giant tall buttercups, full meadow parsnips. Three carp, one white sucker, one bluegill caught in the weed bed at Far Hole, constant bites for an hour and a half. Coming home at five o'clock, I heard the first cricket of the year.

1993: Iris at their best now. Violets noticed gone - I always miss the end of their season, they are so strong for such a long time. Flicker call heard this afternoon for the first time in weeks.

1994: First clematis opens along the west wall, first poppy in
the south garden. Lupines and iris full bloom, last of the bleeding hearts. At South Glen, owl heard in the late afternoon calling, “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you?”

1996: The locusts and wild cherries are in full bloom all over the county. The first mock orange unraveled today. The first iris bloomed last night. The daisies are coming in early full now, and the rockets are at their best. Garlic mustard late but strong. Violet hyacinths in the south garden hold, columbine hold. Honeysuckles still full, bleeding hearts almost gone. The cressleaf groundsel, tansy
cressleaf groundsel (or golden cressleaf groundsel) is in full bloom scattered throughout the pastures from Fairborn into Wilberforce, maybe three feet high.

1998: End rhododendrons. Most mock orange fall. Peonies decline, many Siberian iris.

2000: To Caesar Creek with John: One catfish in two days, ten bluegills yesterday, but none today. Hundreds of carp mating in the backstreams. Zebra swallowtail, tiger swallowtail, black swallowtail, and a viceroy seen. Rockets and cressleaf groundsel are the flowers in bloom. River willow trees shedding their cotton now, tufts gathering in the sloughs. The yellow-headed warbler just seen once yesterday, not at all today. Geese still loud, but bird activity much less this time than my last time out earlier in May. Canopy of leaves appears complete here. Bullfrog calling.

2001: Cardinal calls in the rain at 5:35 a.m. Doves at 5:50. Blue flags gone now. Full bloom of white clover in the fields at Washington Court House. Tulip tree flowering at Antioch, catalpas in Dayton. Privet just barely opening. Red admirals and skippers have been out maybe a week and a half.

2002: Robins still talking back and forth to their young. First nodding thistle opening on the freeway to Dayton.

2003: First dark purple iris blooms in the pond. One water lily bud has appeared. The rhododendrons are declining.

2004: First water lily opened at home today. On Kelleys Island, wild grapes and cottonwoods have budded, willows and honeysuckles are in bloom, mulberries just half size (half Yellow-Springs size). A flower similar to hemlock parsley is in late bloom all along the banks of the lake. Balsam ragwort identified, the dominant plant on the quarry floor. Wild madder is in full bloom, as is herb Robert and a pale violet penstemon.

2005: Many blue flags fully budded. First yellow swallowtail seen in the honeysuckles this morning – the first large butterfly all year. Ranunculus is flowering in the south garden, and the first pale pink peonies.

2006: First pale pink peonies have opened. Bittersweet above the sidewalk at the corner of Limestone and High Streets is blooming, flower hulls falling to the sidewalk. Under the apple tree, the first sage blossoms have appeared. Kousa dogwoods are coming in at the triangle park. Iris, locust, mock orange full bloom everywhere in town. First scorpion fly noticed near the pond.

2007: Moya, our next-door neighbor, reported that the deer that lives in the woods behind our houses gave birth to a fawn about a week to ten days ago. At the park, all the crabapple trees that were so hurt in the April freeze have recovered most of their foliage. In the back yard, our Osage and locusts are leafing but not complete. Spiderwort now full bloom, purple-stemmed penstemon budding, first candy lily just barely starting to unravel, peak of Dutch iris, reddening of astilbe, budding of purple coneflowers. Mallow dug up and moved yesterday, suffering in the 80-degree heat today.

May 23rd
The 143rd Day of the Year

Doest thou not see the little plants, the little birds, the ants and the spiders, the bees working together to put in order their several parts of the universe?

Marcus Aurelius

Sunrise/set: 6:14/8:50 Day's Length: 14 hours 36 minutes
Average High/Low: 75/54 Average Temperature: 64
Record High: 90 - 1939 Record Low: 33 - 1889

Weather
The chances for rain decline from yesterday's 55 percent to 40 percent, and the likelihood for sun increases to 85 percent. Highs in the 80s come 30 percent of the time; look for 70s on 65 percent of the days, and 60s the remaining five percent. There is a possibility of light frost tomorrow morning and on the morning of the 25th since the sixth high pressure system of the month is due on the 24th.

Natural Calendar
Mulberries and wild grapes flower. Multiflora roses, spirea, boxwood and yellow poplars are ready to bloom). Evergreens have four to six inches of new growth. Sycamore and ginkgo leaves are half size, and the rest of the maples fill in. Rhododendrons open after azalea petals fall. Wild strawberries wander, bright yellow, though the purple ivy and the sticky catchweed. Blue-eyed grass is open. Wild iris blooms in the wetlands. Golden alexander and meadow parsnips become common at South Glen, white clover common in the lawn.

Notes on the Possible Effects of Global Warming in Yellow Springs - 2007
Bruce Stutz’s Chasing Spring notes that the growing season in Europe now begins 8 days earlier than it did in 1970 and that North American tree swallows lay eggs 9 days earlier than they did in 1959. “Worldwide studies of more than 1,500 species,” says Stutz, “show that frogs mate, birds nest, and trees bud on the average more than a week earlier than they did 50 years ago.”
Reports this year from places as diverse as the Shanghai Botanical Gardens and the New York Botanical Gardens emphasize the unusual nature of this past winter-spring season. The first four months of 2007 in Yellow Springs brought extremely early blooming of trees and perennials – as well an timely freeze that produced the only April in recent memory without significant color from redbuds and crabapples.
And that was enough of a surprise to send me to my daybook to look for more evidence that our climate might be in flux. Although my phenological records of the past quarter century in Yellow Springs are not exactly rigorous (I did not record blooming or leafing dates for many species some years), they offer an interesting perspective on blossoming times since the early 1980s.
To test the hypothesis that some flora are flowering earlier than they did 25 years ago, I checked my first blooming dates for common shrubs that grow in my yard, shrubs for which I have the best records: forsythia, redbuds and mock orange.
I recorded the first flowers of forsythia as early as February 25 in 1998 and as late as April 3 in 2001, with March 25 the mean blooming date. Among the earliest years, 3 occurred in this century, 4 in the 1990s and 3 in the 1980s. Among the latest years, 3 occurred in this century, none occurred in the 1990s, and 6 occurred in the 1980s and 1970s. Although an easy progression was not clearly visible, more forsythia have bloomed before March 25 since 1990.
I came up with similar results when I checked my notes on redbud blooms. While earliest flowers occurred as early as March 17 in 1990 and as late as April 21 in 1989, with the mean of April 13, almost all of the earlier flowering occurred after 1990.
Most striking because they displayed the clearest progression were my notes on first blooming dates for mock orange. The earliest day I have recorded for mock orange is May 5 in both 2006 and 2000. The latest date is May 25 in 1984, with the mean being May 15. Ten out of 12 of the earlier dates occurred after 1990. Seven out of 12 of the later dates occurred before 1990.
The results of this unofficial overview? Yellow Springs may be experiencing the same kind of changes already noted in so many other locations. Even though every spring is different, it appears that 1) forsythia is more likely to flower before March 25 than it was in the 1980s), 2) redbuds are more likely to flower before April 13 than they were in the 1980s, and 3) mock orange bushes are more likely to bloom around May 8 instead of around May 18, the expected average date in the middle 1980s.

Daybook
1981: Peonies bloom. Columbine almost done blooming. Wild parsnips are open, Jack-in-the-pulpit gone, phlox gone, water cress almost done. Fire pink discovered, wild onion flowering.

1982: First black damselflies.

1984: Mountain maple full bloom.

1986: First cricket heard.

1987: Cardinal sings at 4:04 a.m. The 17-year cicadas, the red, spotted cicadas, emerged after the last of the yellow poplar blossoms fell. Peonies early full bloom.

1988: Honeysuckles are declining with the garlic mustard, osage flower clusters falling, village iris in late bloom, birdsong lighter.

1992: The first rose opens: it’s the Peace Rose, says Ruby Nicholson from down the street.

1993: Catbird pair seen in the back honeysuckles. Daisies, iris, and sweet William fall over in the rain: another sign of summer, the lodging of lush growth. The very first deep red peony was opening this morning along Dayton Street. In the yard, the first pale pink peony started, and wild mallow opened. At Wilberforce, the leaves on the Virginia creeper around my window are complete, and new tendrils are a foot long, beginning their outward summer reach. In southern Wisconsin, Maggie says the lilacs and bluebells are almost done, wild geranium just beginning.

1995: At Grinnell Pond, Solomon's plume is in full bloom. May apples are done flowering. Wheat turns a little now, becomes pale along Wilberforce-Clifton Road.

1998: The yellow poplar flowers are in full bloom along Livermore and Herman Streets. The blue flags come to an end, the sweet Williams and the foxglove still full. No more bleeding hearts. Late rockets. Blackbirds mating in the back yard, flying back and forth with nest material. Around the township, green frogs are calling, and the gray tree frogs are starting to sing.

1999: At the pond, swamp iris head up. Pink and orange poppies full late, last ranunculus, full spiderwort and daisies, fleabane, early lamb’s ear, late toad flax, late full rhododendrons, red wild strawberries, late full peonies and mock orange, flags, sweet rockets, clematis. Very last bleeding heart, late lungwort. Wild geraniums have disappeared, last days of locust bloom.

2000: Purple rhododendrons ending, white beginning, honeysuckle gone, mock orange nine tenths fallen, Siberian iris suddenly completely wilted, pond iris full bloom, poppies and standard iris declining quickly, lamb’s ear early, fireflies glowing faintly in the night grass.

2001: First gold-collared black fly. Pokeweed six feet high, wild garlic heading up.

2002: First pale violet pond iris opens in the pond.

2003: First water lily blooms in the pond.

2004: On Kelleys Island, robins began singing just a minute after 5:00 a.m.
At home in the afternoon, I entered South Glen from Grinnell Road at about five o’clock, I made my way along the path above the river. Ash seeds and clusters of spent osage flowers covered the ground. A few gnats and mosquitoes touched my neck and face. A broad-winged damselfly looked down at me from a box elder tree. An Alypia moth with white stripes on its wings fluttered back and forth in the undergrowth. New gold-collared blackflies explored the foliage and flowers of sweet rockets, multiflora roses and waterleaf.
But there were no cicadas. I wondered if I were too early, or maybe even too late to find Brood X.
Then a hundred feet or so from the road, I saw one of the telltale brown hulls of the nymphs from which the adult cicadas emerge. I walked a little farther, found half a dozen nymph shells hanging to the underside of hickory and honeysuckle leaves, then more on buckeye, elm, garlic mustard and sweet Cicely.
I started searching under the low, two-foot canopy of touch-me-nots and wood nettles. A fat toad hopped ahead of me down the path. Daddy longlegs crouched on the black snakeroot. Scorpion flies hunted for prey.
Then I found the elusive magicicadas themselves. They were resting quietly all around, waiting for me. They were an inch or two in length. Their wings were shiny and gold, their eyes red, their bodies black.
I approached them slowly, carefully stepping off the trail and entering the inner sanctum of their habitat. I reached down and touched one on the back, then stroked its soft wings. The creature remained still, seemed completely unafraid, and accepted my caress as though it had been expecting my curiosity.
I went deeper into the green waist-high world of touch-me-nots and nettle, and the cicadas allowed me to observe and handle them there, confident, perhaps, in their great numbers (my sources suggested there could be up to a million of them in the small forest glade I was exploring).
With only slight encouragement, one climbed up on my index finger and looked at me benignly while I studied its angelic wings, and wondered at its docility and its trust. In a week, I whispered to my guest, all of this soundless, contemplative, prepubescent innocence would be gone. He (if he were a he) would be mad with lust, loud and frantic, charging into trees and automobiles or plunging into the river. And she (if she were a she) would be watching, listening, waiting, loving the grand display.
But both sexes, would be equally disdainful of human observation and intervention, blindly confident in their overwhelming numbers and in their biological imperative, “to put in order their several parts of the universe.”

2006: Yellow floribunda roses seen in full bloom at Liz's house this afternoon. Her purple allium bed is still holding.

2007: Jean saw a cedar waxwing in the mulberry tree this morning at about 9:00 a.m. One yellow swallowtail and one black swallowtail came by early this afternoon. Allium and Indian hyacinth now completely done, and mock orange are shedding quickly. Peonies are still full, as are the Dutch iris and blue flags.