June 1998

     Happenings in and around Linnaeus Arboretum

Listed below are a few observations from a year ago in the Linnaeus Arboretum area, and out of the area when indicated. These events can be used to anticipate June 1999 happenings and will help to compare this year with last.

1 - Red-tailed hawk young about ready to fly. Tartarian honeysuckle, common purple lilac, bridal wreath spirea and orange hawkweed all blooming nicely in Duluth. Lupines flowering at Lutsen.

2 - Tulips, crabapples, and lilacs bloom in Grand Marais.  Water level of Lake Superior is 14 inches below normal because of lack of snow and rain so far in 1998.

3 - Garden strawberry picking is excellent.  In Grand Marais area this frosty morning, white-throated sparrows sing on territories; Canada mayflower and bunchberry bloom nicely in forest areas; and spring peepers call in the evening.

4 - Juvenile American robins, common grackles and European starlings are being fed by their parents on one Brooklyn Park lawn.  At Artists' Point, Grand Marais, song sparrows sing, herring and ring-billed gulls call, columbine and clintonia bloom.  Commercial fishing catch at Grand Marais includes herring and white fish.

5 - American crows molting flight feathers.  Common mullein first flowering.  Field corn is knee high or a bit more in Fairmont area.  First radishes from Grygla area garden.

6 - Showy blooming roadside plants in Twin Cities area include yellow sweet clover, ox-eye daisy and staghorn sumac.  Big double garden peonies still blooming nicely.

7 - Canada geese have begun losing their flight feathers and will soon be in their flightless condition which will last until about mid-July.  White-tailed deer fawns have been arriving the last two weeks.  Statewide, the first cutting of alfalfa is completed on about 74 percent of the acreage; well ahead of the five-year average of 18 percent.

8 - Catalpa trees and Japanese tree lilacs blooming nicely.  Cedar waxwings feeding on scarlet elderberry fruit.  Tree swallow pair feeding young nestlings.  Golden Valley gardener harvested his first zucchini.

9 - Large sulphur shelf mass on an old oak tree early for this orange and yellow fungus.  Blue vervain begins blooming.  Narrow-leaved cattails shedding pollen.

10 - Tawny daylily begins blooming.  Thousands of fireflies on the wing this evening, near Fairmont.  Much alfalfa haying going on in Hewitt area.  Orange hawkweed blooms in Park Rapids area.

11 - American goldfinches feeding on goat's-beard seedheads.  Honey bees working white Dutch clover.  Snapping turtles laying eggs at Isabella.

12 - Common milkweed begins blooming.  Both hairy and downy woodpeckers bringing fledglings to suet feeders.  Common tree frogs vocal tonight.  Our Minnesota state flower, the showy pink and white lady-slipper, blooms nicely in Park Rapids area.

13 - Catalpa trees at bloom peak and very showy.  American robins foraging on ripe juneberry fruit.  Common elderberry shrubs begin blooming.

14 - Brown thrashers, house wrens, warbling vireos and common yellowthroats all very vocal this morning.  Garden roses at overall bloom peak at the University of Minn. Landscape Arboretum.  Statewide, the average height of field corn is 19 inches; five-year average is 8 inches.

15 - Swamp milkweed and prickly pear cactus blooming.  Adult coloration visible on many Canada goose goslings; tail feathers and necks showing black.  Baltimore and viceroy butterflies on the wing.

16 - Canada thistle and yarrow are blooming.  Green peas for canning being harvested in Cannon Falls and Northfield area.  In Finland, Minn, area thimbleberry plants flower nicely, and the first fireflies were observed this evening.

17 - Common cattails first shedding pollen.  Bees forage on littleleaf linden flowers.  Nodding thistle and staghorn sumac at bloom peak.

18 - Giant garden sunflowers begin blooming.  Second cutting of alfalfa near Cologne.  On Linnaeus Arboretum (St. Peter) prairie, butterflyweed, black-eyed susan, northern bedstraw and prairie phlox are colorful blooming plants.

19 - In Waconia area, much field corn is knee to waist high.  At Green Lake Bible Camp (Spicer), purple martins are quite numerous and vocal, and the lake surface temperature is 72o F.

20 - Snow-on-the-mountain blooming nicely.  Bumble bees visit crown vetch flowers.  Surface temperature of Lake Waconia is 74o F.  At St. John's University, tall meadowrue, yarrow, harebell, Japanese tree lilac and linden trees are blooming.

21 - Lawns nice and green.  First annual sunflower blooming along roadside.  Ruby-throated hummingbirds come to fuchsia flowers.  American robins eating ripe red-osier dogwood fruit.

22 - Purple loosestrife begins blooming in wet ditches.  Common elderberry shrubs at peak of bloom.  Adult purple martins feeding young nestlings.  Tartarian honeysuckle has much ripe and ripening fruit.

23 - Baltimore orioles (mostly males) seen busily feeding their very vocal fledglings.  At Brooklyn Park, first sweet corn is tasseling.  In St. Peter, first ripe garden raspberries picked and first hollyhock flowers open.

24 - Jackman clematis at bloom peak.  Thirteen-lined ground squirrel young out exploring on their own.  Blue flag iris blooms in Finland area wet spots.

25 - Red fox kits out of their den and playing at dusk.  First cicada heard buzzing in Delano.  Trumpet vines blooming in St. Peter.

26 - Smooth sumac shrubs blooming nicely.  On prairie at Linnaeus Arboretum, in St. Peter, leadplant, butterflyweed, white prairie clover and giant hyssop are all blooming nicely.

27 - Chimney swifts are nest building.  Chorus frogs calling after heavy rains.  Fireweed starts blooming at Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center, located near Finland, Minn.

28 - Much haying of second crop of alfalfa going on in central Minnesota.  At Alexandria, cliff swallows are building bulb-shaped nests of mud, chimney swifts and house finches vocal, and native basswoods have first open flowers.  First ripe dewberries and wild raspberries at Finland.

29 - Waterfowl are mostly all in a flightless condition now.  Young common loons are seen with thier parents on many northern Minnesota and Wisconsin lakes.  On summer evenings we can observe common nighthawks flying, calling and feeding over most of our cities and towns.  They nest of roof tops.

30 - Native basswood trees blooming nicely and are fragrant.  First field corn is tasseling in Waconia area.  First tiny American toads up on land.  Field corn about 5 feet tall in Plato area.  First new potatoes from Grygla area garden.