Showing more signs of Summer #phenology

Hoary puccoon has started to blossom. We noticed some in the field yesterday while we were walking the dog. We've some pictures as early as May 24, and some as late as June 13. In either case, blossoms might have existed for several days before we took the pictures. Minnesota Wildflowers lists a bloom season of May to August, so it's possible our seasons are starting to shake off Spring's tardiness and approaching what passes for normal around here. We'll see.

June rhymes with hoary puccoon, and bloom

Photo by J. Harrington

We were even more pleased yesterday to see almost a "flock" of dragonflies that we managed to disturb while doing some yard chores. Earlier this year we've seen on or two dragonflies, but yesterday was the first time we saw them in numbers. More were visible today, but primarily in ones and twos, not in "flocks." It's possible to have a totem insect and we'd like to believe the dragonfly is ours.

four-spotted skimmer dragonfly

Photo by J. Harrington

The Vanity of the Dragonfly

By Nancy Willard

The dragonfly at rest on the doorbell— 

too weak to ring and glad of it, 

but well mannered and cautious, 

thinking it best to observe us quietly 

before flying in, and who knows if he will find 

the way out? Cautious of traps, this one.

A winged cross, plain, the body straight 

as a thermometer, the old glass kind 

that could kill us with mercury if our teeth 

did not respect its brittle body. Slim as an eel 

but a solitary glider, a pilot without bombs 

or weapons, and wings clear and small as a wish

to see over our heads, to see the whole picture. 

And when our gaze grazes over it and moves on, 

the dragonfly changes its clothes,

sheds its old skin, shriveled like laundry, 

and steps forth, polished black, with two 

circles buttoned like epaulettes taking the last space 

at the edge of its eyes.

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