June 18-24, 2012

The heaven is now broad and open to the earth in these longest days. The world can never be more beautiful than now.

-Henry David Thoreau

The Firefly Moon, new on June 19 at 10:02 a.m., waxes throughout the week, entering its second quarter on June 26 at 10:33 p.m. Rising in the morning and setting in the evening, this moon moves overhead in the afternoon.

Lunar lore suggests the moon above you will make afternoons the most productive for fishing next week, but the least satisfying for dieters – especially as the barometer falls in advance of the cool front that typically arrives around June 23. All kinds of summer planting is recommended as the waxing moon passes through fertile Cancer June 19-21.

After dark, Scorpius is centered in the southern sky and dominates it until the middle of July. Its great red star, Antares, is the brightest light close to the horizon. To the west, Cygnus, the Northern Cross, is poised to fill the sky of late summer.

When you do morning chores, you’ll see the Milky Way above you and the Great Square moving in from the east, fertile Pisces right behind it. To the far west, Arcturus is the brightest setting star. At noon, Orion covers the south, promising the dog days of middle summer.

The likelihood of rain diminishes this week of the year, and the period brings at least four days that are usually favorable for fieldwork. Chances for completely overcast conditions decline to less than 20 percent.

The June 23 high-pressure system is typically cool and dry, and it is often followed by some of the sunniest and driest days of all the year. Cooler conditions in the 70s or even the 60s are most likely to occur on June 23-24, as the front arrives, but then the afternoons usually warm to the 80s or 90s.

The moon’s entry into its second quarter on June 26 should lower the chances for thunderstorms.

Zeitgebers of next week include the shedding of sycamore bark, the seeding of poison hemlock along the roadsides, the soft heads of cattails full of pollen in the wetlands and golden-brown wheat being harvested all along the 40th Parallel.

June 18: Across the countryside, garden seasons include great blue hosta season and Russian sage season. Damselfly season and lizard’s tail season are open by the water. Elderberry blooming season is visible from the freeways. Enchanter’s nightshade season joins honewort season in the dark woods.

June 19: Stimulated by today’s new moon, giant cecropia moths emerge. Mosquitoes, chiggers and ticks have reached their summer strength. As the moon waxes, plant the last patches of zinnias and marigolds for autumn flowers.

June 20: Mosquitoes, chiggers and ticks have reached their summer strength. Long black cricket hunters hunt crickets in the garden. Grackles have come for the cherries. Orange and pink Asiatic lilies are reaching full bloom.

The yellow day lilies lead the orange day lilies. Primrose, foxglove, pink and yellow achillea, late daisies and purple spiderwort shine in the garden.

June 21: When the wheat harvest begins, then bright orange butterfly weed opens and acorns become fully formed. Hemlock season is complete, stalks collapsing into the tall grasses. Clustered snakeroot has gone to seed like the waterleaf. Parsnip heads brown in the sun.

June 22: Leafhoppers and Japanese beetles are reaching the economic threshold on the farm. Daddy longlegs are mating. Katydids are silent but feeding. The first woolly-bear caterpillars, harbingers of winter, cross the road. Some baby snappers and mud turtles are hatching.

June 23: Poison ivy has green berries. The first touch-me-nots and thimble plants are budding. Wild garlic and euonymus atropurpureus, the burning bush, are blooming.

Rugosa roses are coming in, accompanied by black-eyed Susans, wild petunias and hobblebush. Staghorns have pushed out on the sumacs.  Cattails are almost fully developed.

June 24: 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.