“To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.”  (Pete Seeger, 1959 and made famous as “Turn! Turn! Turn!” by The Byrds, 1965)

“A time to plant, a time to reap that which is planted….A time to keep, and a time to cast away.”  (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)

Phenology:  the study of cyclic and seasonal natural phenomena such as migration, flowering, seed formation, spawning…repeated life cycle events.  Changes in the timing of these events from year to year reflect seasonal changes in temperature, moisture, disturbance, daylight and in the interconnections of the individuals living in an area.

I made this little table with its 2023 dates in order to inform this older person next year approximately when to collect some rare early prairie species and when to go after small areas of pesky weeds that I’m particularly suited to tackle (because focusing on smaller, picky tasks is sometimes better left to the slower moving).  You’ll note that some of the more “famous,” meaning in-your-face large, labor intensive weed problems, that even Pleasant Valley Conservancy still has, have been left out:  for example, garlic mustard, reed canary grass and the sweet clovers.  Amanda takes care, mostly, of the big nasties.  (This chart ends where July ends, but collecting seeds and weeding will be ongoing.)

Our website has a table of yearly seed collecting times for a much wider list of species: https://pleasantvalleyconservancy.org/seedcollectingtimes.html

At right are seed pods of Bird’s-Foot Violet (Viola  pedata) copied from Tom’s Blog.  I mostly missed the seeds this year, and noticed that Tom’s collecting time differs somewhat from my estimated times.  My chart is not his chart and these charts are not your chart.  You are making your own – to remind yourself to keep coming back.   Next year’s first wood lily blossom may be on June 5 instead of June 8.  I only hope I am there to see it, after a winter and a spring.  But if I miss it, I will not be so sadly at a loss as will the warbler who misses an early or late oak bloom, or the pollinator who emerges after the blossom wilts.

Asymmetric phenological shifts or mismatches, such as de-coupling of plant-pollinator or predator-prey interactions, are becoming more common as we warm the planet.  Hardly the comedy of my dog Luna not fitting (unexpectedly) through the cat door, but the misfortune of food spoiling before the guests arrive, of a bee waking up before the dandelions bloom, of baby birds needing insects that have already blown in the wind.

“In our sad mismatch, that unforgettable encounter –

that was never completed.”  (alkas poetry)

“…why, since these be changed since May, shouldst thou change less they they?”   (Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Change upon Change)