After a brief pause last week, this issue arrives on Memorial Day with the Ozarks moving fully into early summer rhythm.

The shift is visible almost everywhere now. Hardwood shade has deepened across the hills, and stretches of gravel road that sat bright in April are now tunneled in green. Creeks remain clear but fuller again after repeated rounds of rain, with sycamore leaves spreading broad shade over shallow crossings by late afternoon.

Warmth and humidity are beginning to settle together rather than arriving separately. Mornings start soft and damp, with dew holding longer in unmowed grass and low fields. Afternoons are pushing into the upper 70s and low 80s between scattered storm chances. Thunderheads have become part of the daily horizon again, especially toward evening.

Field edges are thickening quickly. Blackberry blooms are giving way to small green fruit in sunnier patches, while ironweed and goldenrod are climbing taller in ditches and along fence rows. The woods themselves have gone quieter visually—less flowering now, more texture, shade, and layered growth.

After dark, the seasonal sound has changed again. Spring peepers have mostly faded from the low chorus, replaced by steady insect hum and the occasional call of whip-poor-wills from wooded ridges. Fireflies are appearing more consistently in grassy hollows shortly after sunset.

Start Date: Monday, May 25, 2026
Sunrise: 5:47 AM
Sunset: 8:17 PM
Daylight Length: 14 hours, 30 minutes
Daylight Gain Since Last Week: ~9 minutes

Moon Phase: Waxing Gibbous
Average High: ~81°F
Average Low: ~61°F

Warm and increasingly humid conditions continue through the week with periodic chances for thunderstorms, especially during afternoon and evening hours. Overnight temperatures remain mild, generally in the low 60s.

Common milkweed is beginning to open in sunnier field edges and roadsides. Blackberry blooms are fading into early fruit set, while clover remains heavy across unmowed pasture and ditch margins. Elderberry has started flowering in wetter ground near creeks and low crossings.

Along wooded slopes, mayapple leaves are beginning to flatten and weather from heavy rain, while ferns remain dense and fully unfurled beneath the canopy. Coral honeysuckle is still active where established near old fence lines and homesteads.

A young opossum was spotted moving slowly along the edge of a wet roadside ditch shortly after dark, pausing repeatedly to nose through flattened grass left down by recent rain. This is the time of year when younger animals begin ranging farther from nesting sites and become more visible near roadsides and barn edges.

Tracks are holding longer now in softened soil near culverts and creek banks, especially after humid nights with scattered rain.

While much of the Ozarks is associated with limestone and dolomite, sandstone appears throughout the region in thinner layers and isolated formations. It forms from compacted sand deposited by ancient rivers and shallow coastal environments long before the modern hills existed.

Compared to dolomite, sandstone tends to weather faster and break into flatter, rougher fragments. In places where it is exposed, water often cuts narrow ledges and shallow overhangs into the rock surface.

Sandstone also affects soil differently. Areas with heavier sandstone influence usually drain quickly and dry faster during summer heat. You can often notice the shift by vegetation alone—shorter grasses, thinner soils, and more exposed stone near the surface.

The main planting window is fully open now across the central Ozarks.

Mulch is becoming more important as temperatures climb. Even after rain, exposed topsoil is drying quickly under afternoon sun and wind. Watch closely for fungal pressure around dense tomato growth as humidity increases.

This is also a good week to leave portions of clover and field edge unmowed where possible. Pollinator activity is noticeably increasing by midmorning.

Grass growth has shifted from spring surge into steady weekly cutting.

Fireflies now appearing consistently in low grass after sunset.

Garden weeds pulling easier after humid nights than after direct heat.

The woods smell less like wet leaves now and more like warm bark and crushed grass.