summer's last day

it has been warm here ( first photo )the last day of summer and the warmth is forecast to go on for a time...at least the next week...summer may be meteorologically finished tomorrow but it seems to want to linger...given the past few years it may want to linger beyond the end of the month..or possibly the year...so...counter-intuitively i will begin with winter rye...the small patch that i planted five days ago is up and looking robust ( second ) although i cannot see any tillers yet ( third ) still if the warmth continues both the rye and the wild strawberry daughters...

9 one for Jean )will have ample time to become well established before actual winter weather sets in...the northern tepehuan teosinte ( fourth ) has better defined ears forming today ( fifth through eighth ) and even a tandem set of ears ( ninth )...warmth extended deep into autumn is not a good sign or an especially good thing in terms of destructive insect survival and an overall warning shot across the bow of the species..it might lead to viable teosinte seed...it might lead to some other things less benevolent...we'll see...stay tuned...finally the zea mays parvaglummis in the last photo looks well...it also shows no sign of flowering any earlier than it did last season...we will see about that too.