Goldenrod and asters have fairly begun.

July 28.


P. M. —To Yellow Pine Lake. 

Epilobium coloratum, roadside just this side of Dennis's. 

Water lobelia, is it, that C. shows me? 

There is a yellowish light now from a low, tufted, yellowish, broad-leaved grass, in fields that have been mown. A June-like, breezy air. 

The large shaped sagittaria out, a large crystalline- white  three-petalled flower. 

Enough has not been said of the beauty of the shrub oak leaf (Quercus ilicifolia), of a thick, firm texture, for the most part uninjured by insects, intended to last all winter; of a glossy green above and now silky downy beneath, fit for a wreath or crown. The leaves of the chinquapin oak might be intermixed. 

Grasshoppers are very abundant, several to every square foot in some fields. 

I observed some leaves of woodbine which had not risen from the ground, turned a beautiful bright red, perhaps from heat and drought, though it was in a low wood. 

This Ampelopsis quinquefolia is in blossom. Is it identical with that about R. W. E.'s posts, which was in blossom July 13th? 

Aster Radula (?) in J. P. Brown's meadow. Solidago altissima (?) beyond the Corner Bridge, out some days at least, but not rough-hairy. Goldenrod and asters have fairly begun; i. e. there are several kinds of each out. 

What is that slender hieracium or aster-like plant in woods on Corner road with lanceolate, coarsely feather-veined leaves, sessile and remotely toothed; minute, clustered, imbricate buds (?) or flowers and buds ? Panicled hieracium?  

The evenings are now sensibly longer, and the cooler weather makes them improvable.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, July 28, 1852

Epilobium coloratum, roadside just this side of Dennis's. See July 28, 1858 ("From wall corner saw a pinkish patch on side-hill west of Baker Farm, which turned out to be epilobium . . .This pink flower was distinguished perhaps three quarters of a mile.")

There is a yellowish light now from a low, tufted, yellowish, broad-leaved grass, in fields that have been mown. See July 26, 1854 ("One reason why the lately shorn fields shine so and reflect so much light is that a lighter-colored and tender grass, which has been shaded by the crop taken off, is now exposed, and also a light and fresh grass is springing up there."). See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Haymaking

A June-like, breezy air. See June 30, 1860 ("Seen through this clear, sparkling, breezy air, the fields, woods, and meadows are very brilliant and fair.")

The beauty of the shrub oak leaf (Quercus ilicifolia) . . . intended to last all winter; of a glossy green above and now silky downy beneath, fit for a wreath or crown. See November 20, 1858 ("The rare wholesome and permanent beauty of withered oak leaves of various hues of brown mottling a hillside, especially seen when the sun is low, — Quaker colors, sober ornaments, beauty that quite satisfies the eye. ") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Shrub Oak

Goldenrod and asters have fairly begun. See July 18, 1854 ("Methinks the asters and goldenrods begin, like the early ripening leaves, with midsummer heats.");  July 26, 1853 ("I mark again, about this time when the first asters open . . . This the afternoon of the year.")

What is that slender hieracium or aster-like plant in woods on Corner road? See July 31, 1856 ("Hieracium paniculatum by Gerardia quercifolia path in woods under Cliffs, two or three days."); August21, 1851 ("Hieracium paniculatum, a very delicate and slender hawkweed. I have now found all the hawkweeds. Singular these genera of plants, plants manifestly related yet distinct. They suggest a history to nature, a natural history in a new sense.”)

The evenings are now sensibly longer. See July 24, 1853 ("For a week or more I have perceived that the evenings were considerably longer and of some account to sit down and write in"); September 11, 1854 ("For a week or so the evenings have been sensibly longer, and I am beginning to throw off my summer idleness")

July 28. See A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, July 28

Yellowish light now.

Tufted yellowish broad-leaved

grass in new mown fields.

A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau

 "A book, each page written in its own season, 

out-of-doors, in its own locality."

 ~edited, assembled and rewritten by zphx ©  2009-2024