Deep into middle spring, the effects of rising temperatures and the longer days overwhelm the land. Suddenly, the tree line is greening. Mulberry, locust, tree of heaven, viburnum, the maple and ginkgo send out their first leaves. Magnolias, redbuds, lilacs, dogwoods, cherries, peaches, apples, quinces and pears are almost always flowering.
As lawn mowing season enters its second week, wild turkeys mate in the wood lots. Late and mid-season daffodils are at their peak in town, and earlier varieties are gone. Tulip time is here. The delicate fritillaria blossoms.
Pastures fill with golden winter cress, purple henbit and dandelions. Wheat is luminescent green. is like no other green in the year. The low, ascending sun and the cross-quarter angle of the space between March and summer solstice makes the new stalks radiant, gives them a golden shine of young life.
Columbine, meadow rue and peonies are budding. Pussy willow catkins have fallen. Summer's jumpseed and zig-zag goldenrod sport four to six leaves apiece. Comfrey and lily-of-the-valley are seven-inches high. Wood mint is sweet for tea. Chives are ready for salads as morel mushrooms swell in the undergowth, and all the fruit trees blossom.
More skunks, oppossums and raccoons are born in suburban woods. More eagles and goslings hatch along rivers and lakes. Tent caterpillars crawl from their tents in cherry trees. Bellwort leaves unravel. Virginia bluebell, hepatica, periwinkle, toad trillium, cowslip, rue anemone, chickweed, henbit, spring beauty, small-flowered bittercress, shepherd's purse, ground ivy, violet, small-flowered buttercup, thyme-leafed speedwell are now all in bloom.
This is Bill Felker with Poor Will’s Almanack. I’ll be back again next week with notes for the fourth week of middle spring. In the meantime, notice the great patches of dandelions in the lawns and roadsides; they are easiest signal for the peak of middle spring.
