Seasons at Bean Hill: August 2018

Black Swallowtail on butterfly bush

Looking at NOAA's National Climate Report for July 2018, we didn't fare too badly at Bean Hill. In the contiguous U.S., the average high temperature was 1.9⁰ above the 20th Century average. Ohio's overall high for the month was above average. Despite a scary too-hot start to the month (the first five days our highs ran 90-93⁰ which were 8-10⁰ above normal) with only a trace of rain, by July 6 things dramatically improved. Thankfully, there were only two more 90⁰ days, and two "almost" days (89⁰). We ended up with sixteen of the month's highs being slightly below normal, as were more than half of the month's low temperatures. Bean Hill's average high for July was one degree below the historic average, and the average low was 2.4⁰ below the historic average. Rainfall was down; almost 3/4" below the month's historic average, but we've had a lot of rain during the previous months, so at this point, we're not part of the 34.1% of the nation experiencing drought. That percentage, by the way, is up from 29.7% at the start of the month.

We worried about the absence of bees since May so we added a tiny garden around the base of a central bird-feeding station, packed with plants approved by butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds: Liatris, butterfly weed, echinacea, monarda, sunflower, thyme, borage. I doubt that little patch of pollinator-heaven is responsible, but there have been lots of bees and butterflies in the area this month, and a fair number of hummingbirds. We also introduced seventy-five leafcutter bees this month. Like the mason bees, they're tiny native bees, so not as readily seen as their larger kin.