August

Time rushes forward in August.  For the first two weeks, the aroma of sweet pepper fills the air. I see tansy at the corner of Burnell and New Street and on the bike path near Sesachacha.  The rose mallow is in bloom, along with the butterfly milkweed at the Land Bank meadow near the Creeks.

Butterfly Milkweed,
Asclepius Tuberosa

Swamp Rose Mallow, 
Hibiscus Palustris

Grandchildren fill the house, our begotten biomass blooming, so different from one summer to the next. Frankie and Noa are learning to boogie board and body surf, and Simon is dolphining at the edge. Arthur is focused on Minecraft.

By mid August, the Bush clover is wagging; Sweet pepper is waning and the insects are buzzing. I anticipate the next major aroma of the waning summer: fox grapes- still green now.  Little Ladies Tresses are blooming at Squam Farm.

I took a rainy walk at Windswept Bog on August 13 and time marched on to the first slender golden top goldenrod and false foxgloves (Gerardia) . Although there are still the ghosty pillars of mullein and Yarrow and Queen Anne's Lace along the paths, the landscape is weighted by maroon grasses and brownish sedges.

Little Ladies Tresses

Spirantheses tuberosa

Norwood Oak

By  August 17 at Norwood Farm, the Sweet Pepper is on its last legs...and I see my first aster of the year. There are Meadows of spirantheses tuberosa mixed with slender golden top (euthamia Caroliniana) and pink bush clover and golden grasses. Little Ladies tresses in numbers I have never seen before!  Is this another result of the rainy July?  Rain was 1.17 inches in June and July of 2025, compared to3.02 inches in 2026. They are in meadows before the Norwood oak rather than just at the verges, and all along the paths, even on the Pout Ponds Road. 

The cotton grass is blooming at the corner pond, along with pickerel weed and many Virginia meadow beauties. Yellow-eyed bog grass Xyris Difformis is blooming there too.  Not much visible water in it or in the Norwood Pond or Almanac Pond. Nantucket is still considered to be in a Level 2 drought, although the Wannacomet Water Company argues it should be a Level 1.

Cotton grass at Corner Pond

We see the impact of more rain this summer in fewer deer coming to eat my garden.  The anemone are flourishing, when last year every bud was eaten by deer .

Solitary and Least Sandpipers
at Reyes Pond

American Oystercatcher 

Purple False Foxglove,
Agalinis purpurea