I noticed the first fireflies yesterday evening. They could very well have emerged before yesterday, but that’s when I thought to look for them..
I get lots of fireflies… or if you prefer, lightning bugs. They overwinter in the leaf litter that I let accumulate around the flower and shrub borders. I’m sure it also helps that I don’t use any pesticides on my back lawn.
I believe you cannot officially proclaim it to be summer until the fireflies emerge and start blinking out “it’s summer” in that special way they have of communicating.
The other day, I also noticed what I thought was a small pawpaw fruit forming in one of my two pawpaw trees. I decided to take a closer look before the sun set this evening.
I don’t want to get too excited just yet, but I do believe my one pawpaw tree has at least a dozen pawpaw fruits on it. In past years, I haven’t had that much fruit set, so the raccoons usually took all the pawpaws before I even had a chance at one. Surely, there will be enough pawpaws late this summer for me and the raccoons to share?
In other garden news, I picked a little bowl of honeyberries the other day. I ate them with what I think is the last of the strawberries. This has been one of the best years I can remember for strawberries. I feel like I’ve been picking and eating them for at least a month so far. And every time I think I’ve picked them all and there won’t be anymore, those little plants prove me wrong, and there are more ripe berries to pick.
It’s enough to make you look around to see if garden fairies are hiding behind the pawpaw tree, laughing because you cannot believe there are still more strawberries to pick. I hope those same garden fairies guard those pawpaws for me this summer so I can finally taste them in September.