Wild Nantucket: Before the Fourth

The traffic on the roads and the bike paths has announced the formal arrival of summer. The hydrangea haven’t opened yet, but the New Dawn roses are in their glory days. The garden daisies are ready to burst open. The smell of uncut privet fills the air.

The humidity is now regularly in the high eighties and nineties, another mark of summer, brought by the southwest winds. Changes are everywhere: whether it is the lack of masks on people in the Stop N Shop (and the lines), or the filling up of the social calendar to greet new arrivals. Josh and I took a first swim at Bunny Mellon Beach (AKA Beach 29A.)

I sought the two spotted sandpipers that were seen in the Milestone Bogs on June 27, and came up empty. But I was treated to fields of Aletris (colicroot) and Pasture Thistle (Cirsium Pumilum). The yarrow (achillea) is opening, as is the St. Johnswort. A few laggard blue flag irises were tucked in the bogs. There are still Quaker Ladies blooming amidst the grasses! They are the longest blooming wildflower in Nantucket, I think. I first saw them very early in the spring at Squam Farm, and on every walk over the past two months.