June Gardening Tip

Plant sweet corn a second time, about two weeks after your first planting in late May, to extend the harvesting season.

Veronica Lorson Fowler with the Federated Garden Clubs of Iowa, Gardening in Iowa and Surrounding Areas

Midwest Nature Quote of the Week

The simplest description of a wood thrush song is a flutelike eee-o-lay, but that does not describe its complexity. One summer evening at twilight, I sat on my porch, watching mist rise from trees and grass. The rain had just passed. When the song began, I closed my eyes and listened to the rising then falling notes, music rolling around the clearing, bouncing off the edge of the forest as the thrush harmonized with himself.

Nancy Overcott, Fifty Uncommon Birds of the Upper Midwest

Plant of the Week

Spotted St. John’s–wort
Hypericum punctatum Lam.
other common names: St. John’s–wort
Hypericum: the ancient Greek name for this genus
Punctatum: from Latin, meaning generally “dotted,” for the conspicuous marking of black and clear glandular dots on its leaves and flowers
St. John’s–wort family: Hypericaceae (The family name is derived from an ancient legend that the bloodlike spots on the leaves appeared immediately after St. John was beheaded.)

Photograph by Thomas Rosburg, Wildflowers of the Tallgrass Prairie: The Upper Midwest, Second Edition