Full Strawberry Blue Moon Seasonally Welcomes 2016 June Solstice

Summary: On Monday, June 20, a full strawberry blue moon seasonally welcomes a June solstice that happens 11 hours 32 minutes after lunar fullness.

June's full strawberry blue moon references June as the month for harvesting strawberries; "strawberry moon" with a strawberry photographed as the moon; Thursday, June 16, 2005: Hans Splinter (hans s), CC BY ND 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

On Monday, June 20, a full strawberry blue moon, turning full at 11:02 Coordinated Universal Time (7:02 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time), seasonally welcomes the June solstice, an astrological seasonal event occurring at 22:34 UTC (6:34 p.m. EDT), 11 hours 32 minutes after lunar fullness.

A full strawberry blue moon is a full moon occurring in June as the fourth full moon in the same season. The tradition of describing June’s full moon as a strawberry moon harks back to Native Americans, who frequently recognized June as the month for harvesting berries, especially strawberries. For example, the Anishnaabek of the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States and the Sioux of the Great Plains know June’s full moon as ode-imini-giizis (“strawberry moon”). For the Haida of Alaska and British Columbia, June’s full moon is gáan kungáay (“berries ripening moon”). The Lakota Sioux of the Northern Plains, June’s full moon is wipazatkan waste wi (“moon when the berries are good”).

Several definitions account for describing the moon’s fully illuminated, Earth-facing disk as a blue moon. The descriptor may refer to the second full moon within the same month, according to University of Oregon Extension astronomy professor James Hugh Pruett (June 20, 1886-Sept. 25, 1955). Or a blue moon may indicate the third of four full moons within the same quarter, or period of three months.

A seasonal interpretation of a quarter observes astronomical seasons, which are demarcated by an equinox and a solstice. June 2016’s full strawberry blue moon falls within the three-month period, or quarter, beginning with the Sunday, March 20, 2016, equinox and ending with the Monday, June 20, 2016, solstice, according to Coordinated Universal Time. Astronomically, the March equinox opens spring while the June solstice marks summer.

The quarter’s astrological seasonal opener, the March 2016 equinox, occurs Sunday, March 20, at 4:30 UTC (12:30 a.m. EDT). The first of the season’s four full moons reaches fullness 3 days 7 hours 31 minutes later. Fullness happens Wednesday, March 23, at 12:01 UTC (8:01 a.m. EDT).

The second of the season’s four moons turns full Friday, April 22, at 5:24 UTC (1:24 a.m. EDT). The third full moon reaches fullness Saturday, May 21, at 21:14 UTC (5:14 p.m. EDT). The seven seasonal blue moons of the next 19-year lunar cycle occur Saturday, May 18, 2019; Sunday, Aug. 22, 2021; Monday, Aug. 19, 2024; Thursday, May 20, 2027; Friday, Aug. 24, 2029; Saturday, Aug. 21, 2032; Tuesday, May 22, 2035.

Bruce McClure, EarthSky Tonight’s lead writer, notes that seasonal blue moons only occur seven times in 19 calendar years, the cycle of lunar phase recurrences on or near the same calendrical dates.

The 2016 full strawberry blue moon shares the same date with the 2016 June solstice, according to Universal Coordinated Time, the world’s official time standard. But the two events may or may not occur on the same date according to conversions to the world’s 39 local time zones.

For Montevideo, capital city of South America’s Oriental Republic of Uruguay (República Oriental del Uruguay), the two events occur on the same date. Fullness takes place Monday, June 20, at 8:02 a.m. Uruguay Time (UYT). The solstice takes place Monday, June 20, at 7:34 p.m. UYT.

For Nay Pyi Taw, capital city of South East Asia’s Republic of the Union of Myanmar, the two events fall on different dates. Fullness happens Monday, June 20, at 5:32 p.m. Myanmar Time (MMT). The solstice occurs Tuesday, June 21, at 5:04 a.m. MMT.

Local time conversions may produce date separations between 2016’s full strawberry blue moon and June solstice. Yet, different dates do not change the closeness, by only 11 hours 32 minutes, in occurrence between the two astronomical events.

The takeaway for the 2016 full strawberry blue moon’s seasonal welcome of the 2016 June solstice is the close coincidence of a seasonal blue moon with astrological summer’s opener, the June solstice.

visibility area at instant of June 2016's full strawberry blue moon, Monday, June 20, 2016, at 11:02 Coordinated Universal Time (7:02 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time); Earth imagery derived from the NASA Blue Marble Terra/MODIS cloudless Earth and Black Marble night lights images: John Walker, Public Domain, via Fourmilab Switzerland

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

June's full strawberry blue moon references June as the month for harvesting strawberries; "strawberry moon" with a strawberry photographed as the moon; Thursday, June 16, 2005: Hans Splinter (hans s), CC BY ND 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/archeon/19751235/

visibility area at instant of June 2016's full strawberry blue moon, Monday, June 20, 2016, at 11:02 Coordinated Universal Time (7:02 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time); Earth imagery derived from the NASA Blue Marble Terra/MODIS cloudless Earth and Black Marble night lights images: John Walker, Public Domain, via Fourmilab Switzerland @ http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/Earth

For further information:

“11 Things About the June Solstice.” Time And Date > Sun & Moon.
Available @ https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/facts-about-june-solstice.html

“American Indian Moons.” Western Washington University > Skywise Unlimited.
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Byrd, Deborah. “Things to Notice at the June Solstice.” EarthSky > Tonight. June 20, 2016.
Available @ http://earthsky.org/tonight/solstice-brings-northernmost-sunset

Erickson, Kristen. “What Causes the Seasons?” EarthSky > Astronomy Essentials > Science Wire > Space. May 3, 2016.
Available @ http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/seasons/en/

Espenak, Fred. “Phases of the Moon: 1901 to 2000.” Astro Pixels > Ephemeris.
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Espenak, Fred. “Solstices and Equinoxes: 2001 to 2100 Greenwich Mean Time.” Astro Pixels > Ephemeris.
Available @ http://www.astropixels.com/ephemeris/soleq2001.html

Guy-Ryan, Jessie. “The ‘Strawberry Moon Solstice’ Is A Big Misunderstanding.” Atlas Obscura > Stories. June 19, 2016.
Available @ http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-strawberry-moon-solstice-is-a-big-misunderstand

“June Solstice: Longest and Shortest Day of the Year.” Time And Date > Sun & Moon.
Available @ https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/june-solstice.html

Kaler, James B. (Jim). “Measuring the Sky: A Quick Guide to the Celestial Sphere.” University of Illinois Astronomy > Stars.
Available @ http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/celsph.html

King, Bob. “Solstice Brings Late Nights, Bright Sights.” Sky & Telescope > Observing. June 15, 2016.
Available @ http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/june-solstice-means-late-nights-bright-lights/

MacRobert, Alan. “This Week’s Sky at a Glance, June 17 - 25.” Sky & Telescope > Observing > Sky at a Glance. Friday, June 17, 2016.
Available @ http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/sky-at-a-glance/this-weeks-sky-at-a-glance-june-17-25/

Marriner, Derdriu. “Blue Moon Month July 2015 Ends With Golden Full Moon and Meteor Shower.” Earth and Space News. Thursday, July 30, 2015.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/07/blue-moon-month-july-2015-ends-with.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Blue Moon Month July 2015 Opens With Full Moon Red From Wildfire Smoke.” Earth and Space News. Monday, July 6, 2015.
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Marriner, Derdriu. “Strawberry Moon: Full Moon in June Signals Strawberry Harvest.” Earth and Space News. Friday, June 5, 2015.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/06/strawberry-moon-full-moon-in-june.html

McClure, Bruce. “Earliest Sunrises Before Summer Solstice.” EarthSky > Tonight. June 12, 2016.
Available @ http://earthsky.org/tonight/earliest-sunrises-before-june-solstice-jupiter-venus

McClure, Bruce. “First of Season’s 4 Full Moons March 23.” EarthSky > Tonight. March 23, 2016.
Available @ http://earthsky.org/tonight/first-of-the-seasons-4-full-moons

McClure, Bruce. “June Solstice Full Moon in 2016.” EarthSky > Astronomy Essentials. June 20, 2016.
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McClure, Bruce. “Latest Dusk for Northerly Latitudes.” EarthSky > Tonight. June 24, 2016.
Available @ http://earthsky.org/tonight/latest-dusk-at-40-degrees-n-latitude

McClure, Bruce. “Slowest Sunsets Around Solstices.” EarthSky > Tonight. June 21, 2016.
Available @ http://earthsky.org/tonight/longest-sunsets-around-solstices

McClure, Bruce. “Solstice Eve Moon Still Near Saturn.” EarthSky > Tonight. June 19, 2016.
Available @ http://earthsky.org/tonight/solstice-full-moon-on-june-20

McClure, Bruce; Deborah Byrd. “Tonight . . . Nearly a Blue Moon.” EarthSky > Tonight. May 20, 2016.
Available @ http://earthsky.org/tonight/how-often-do-four-full-moons-happen-in-the-same-season

“Phases of the Moon.” U.S. Naval Observatory Astronomical Applications Department > Data Services > Phases of the Moon > 1986.
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Rice, Tony. “Solstice Full Moon Is Rare, But How Rare?” WRAL > Weather. June 20, 2016.
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Rosenberg, Matt. “GMT vs. UTC.” About.com > About Education > Geography > Physical Geography > Time and Time Zones.
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“Solstices and Equinoxes for Washington DC (1950 - 1999).” Time And Date > Sun & Moon.
Available @ http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/seasons.html?year=1950&n=263

2016 Peruvian Presidential Elections: Kuczynski Second-Round Winner?

Summary: Pedro Pablo Kuczynski of Peruanos por el Kambio barely leads over Keiko Fujimori of Fuerza Popular in second-round 2016 Peruvian presidential elections.

The winner of Peru's June 5, 2016, presidential election will reside in the presidential palace, which is located within the complex of Peru's Government Palace (Palacio de Gobierno del Perú); Wednesday, June 1, 2005, 11:29, image of courtyard of Peru's presidential palace: Dozenist, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Peruvians still await the official results of the second-round 2016 Peruvian Presidential elections of June 5, 2016, since Pedro Pablo Kuczynski holds a tentatively narrow lead, by 0.56 percent, over Keiko Fujimori.

The Oficina Nacional de Procesos Electorales (ONPE), the National Office of Electoral Processes, based the tentative call upon a count of 92.61 percent of the vote. The reports came at 8:30 a.m. Peru Time (13:30 Coordinated Universal Time), from Mariano Cucho Espinoza, ONPE national chief, with updates at 15:58 PET (20:58 UCT).

Dr. Cucho does not expect his office to take any longer than June 10, 2016, or June 12, 2016, to process and tally the remaining ballots. He explains the delay as the slowed access to ballots from the interior “por medidas de seguridad” ("for security measures") and from eligible voters living abroad.

The Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática (INEI), the semi-autonomous National Institute of Statistics and Informatics governmental agency, furnished June 30, 2015, population totals of 31,151,643.

ONPE gives 17,418,327 of 21,260,827 eligible voters as participating in Sunday’s second-round 2016 Peruvian presidential elections, for absenteeism and turnout rates at 18.073 and 81.927 percent. It has 71,595 electoral precincts already counted and validated, by 15:58 PET (20:58 UCT), from 72,820 precincts processed out of a national total of 77,307 precincts. Of the 94.196 percent of precincts already processed, the Junta Especial de Elecciones (JEE), Special Elections Board, is scrutinizing returns from 1,225 precincts, or 1.585 percent. The 92.611 percent of precincts whose returns passed scrutiny jumped Pedro Pablo Kuczynski of Peruanos por el Kambio (Peruvians for Change) into first with 8,218,846 votes.

Pedro Pablo Kuczynski of Peruanos por el Kambio (Peruvians for Change): PedroPablo Kuczynski @ppkamigo, via Twitter June 4, 2016

A total of 8,127,942 votes, or 49.722 percent to ex-Prime Minister Kuczynski’s 50.278 percent, keeps Keiko Fujimori of Fuerza Popular (Popular Force) behind by 90,904 votes. ONPE lists 4,487 as the number of precincts, or 5.804 percent of the total in the second-round 2016 Peruvian presidential elections, that await processing and validating. Gilbert Vallejos Agreda, general manager, mentions that consulate personnel will deliver to ONPE Monday at 17:00 PET (22:00 UCT) most of the ballots from nonresident Peruvians. ONPE needs all Tuesday morning to process ballots from as many as 884,924 Peruvians who, unlike eligible voters living in Peru, are not required to vote. Vallejos observes that nonresident tallies will be released Tuesday and that “No sabemos si la diferencia se mantiene” ("We don’t know if the difference [will] hold").

Congressional elections concurrent with the first-round 2016 Peruvian presidential elections put a majority in the hands of Fuerza Popular, with 71 of 130 seats until 2021. His party holding just 20 seats qualifies consensus-building as a priority if ex-Prime Minister Kuczynski officially becomes the Republic of Peru’s 95th President July 28, 2016. Presidential candidate Kuczynski resists victory speeches since “No hemos ganado todavía. Hay que esperar los resultados oficiales” ("We haven’t won yet. We must await official results"). Candidate Fujimori says that “Estamos contentos, optimistas, rumbo a la victoria” ("We’re content, optimistic, on the way to victory") despite “un empate técnico” ("a technical tie").

Ultimate outcomes take ironic overtones since ex-Prime Minister Kuczynski supported a Fujimori candidacy in 2011 and ONPE survives as a creation from his opponent’s father’s presidency.

Keiko Fujimori of Fuerza Popular (Popular Force): Keiko Fujimori @KeikoFujimori, via Twitter June 5, 2016

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

The winner of Peru's June 5, 2016, presidential election will reside in the presidential palace, which is located within the complex of Peru's Government Palace (Palacio de Gobierno del Perú); Wednesday, June 1, 2005, 11:29, image of courtyard of Peru's presidential palace: Dozenist, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Presidential_Palace_in_Peru_01.jpg

Pedro Pablo Kuczynski of Peruanos por el Kambio (Peruvians for Change): PedroPablo Kuczynski @ppkamigo, via Twitter June 4, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/ppkamigo/status/739183222697959428

Keiko Fujimori of Fuerza Popular (Popular Force): Keiko Fujimori @KeikoFujimori, via Twitter June 5, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/KeikoFujimori/status/739634670774542337

For further information:

“Congress of the Republic.” Election Guide > Elections > Elections in Peru > April 10, 2016.
Available @ http://www.electionguide.org/elections/id/2679/

Keiko Fujimori @KeikoFujimori. June 5, 2016. "¡Estamos optimistas y le damos gracias al Perú por su apoyo!" Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/KeikoFujimori/status/739634670774542337

Keiko Fujimori @KeikoFujimori. June 5, 2016. "Hoy es un día de gran fiesta democrática, vayamos todos a votar. Votemos sin miedo, votemos por el Perú." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/KeikoFujimori/status/739432125871620097

“Keiko Fujimori: ‘Las cifras muestran que hay un empate técnico’ [Fotos y video].” Perú 21: Política > Agradeció a quienes votaron por ella y a sus colaboradores > Domingo 05 de junio del 2016 / 20:38.
Available @ http://peru21.pe/politica/elecciones-2016-asi-reaccionaron-seguidores-ppk-difundirse-flash-fotos-2248562

Marriner, Derdriu. "Peruvian Presidential Candidate Keiko Fujimori May Win in April 2016." Earth and Space News. April 7, 2016.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/04/peruvian-presidential-candidate-keiko.html

“ONPE: “No sabemos si la diferencia se mantiene, lo que hacemos es contar votos.” AméricaTV > Noticias > Actualidad > Voto 2016 > 23:20 pm.
Available @ http://www.americatv.com.pe/noticias/actualidad/onpe-no-sabemos-si-diferencia-se-mantiene-lo-que-hacemos-contar-votos-n234026

PedroPablo Kuczynski‏ @ppkamigo. 4 June 2016. "Que mañana sea una fiesta por nuestra democracia y una victoria para el Perú. ¡Un fuerte abrazo!" Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/ppkamigo/status/739183222697959428

“Población total al 30 de junio de cada año, según departamento.” INEI > Estadísticas > Índice Temático > Población y Vivienda > Población > Estimaciones y Proyecciones de Población.
Available @ https://www.inei.gob.pe/estadisticas/indice-tematico/poblacion-y-vivienda/

“PPK: ‘Tenemos que ser vigilantes para que no nos roben los votos en las mesas’ [Fotos y video].” Perú 21 > Política > Domingo 05 de junio del 2016 / 19:52.
Available @ http://peru21.pe/politica/elecciones-2016-asi-reaccionaron-seguidores-ppk-difundirse-flash-fotos-2248562

“Segunda Elección Presidencial 2016: Resultados Presidenciales.” ONPE > Presentación de Resultados > Resúmen General > Presidencial.
Available @ https://resultadoselecciones2016.onpe.gob.pe/PRP2V2016/Resumen-GeneralPresidencial.html#posicion

Prostrate Knotweed: Garden Gate Weed of the Month for June 2016

Summary: Garden Gate magazine calls prostrate knotweed, also known as bird-weed, low-grass and pig-weed, the weed to tame, terminate or tolerate in June 2016.

closeup of prostrate knotweed Polygonum aviculare, Reilingen municipality, Rhein-Neckar-Kreis district, northwestern Baden-Württemberg state, southwestern Germany; Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013, 16:03: AnRo002, Public Domain (CC0 1.0), via Wikimedia Commons

Prostrate knotweed appears as the weed of the month to avoid tripping over and to think about controlling in the Weed Watch department of the June 2016 issue of Garden Gate magazine.

Shoots become visible after early spring rains jumpstart germination of the Polygonaceae smartweed family member’s brown-colored, curvy-topped, grainy-surfaced, triangle-shaped, 0.05- to 0.16-inch (1.2 to 4.2-millimeter) seeds. They carpet January in hardiness zone 9, February in zones 7 and 8, March in zones 5 and 6 and April in zones 3 and 4. Their fresh, intense blue-green deceives gardeners into assuming that grass is growing early because of globally warmed climate change and into neglecting earlier, easier weed-controlling measures.

Prostrate knotweed elicits sympathy as a ground cover where vegetation fears to grow and for descriptions in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus (May 23, 1707-Jan. 10, 1787).

Recognition of growth pattern and wildlife value furnish prostrate knotweed the scientific name, Polygonum aviculare (many knees [and] small birdlike), and two of four common names.

Prostrate knotweed grows jointed, long, wiry stems 3.94 to 15.75 inches (10 to 40 centimeters) upward and 3 to 4 feet (0.91 to 1.22 meters) outward. Also called bird-weed, low-grass and pig-weed, it has a stubborn taproot whose fiber-riddled sides push 10 inches (25.4 centimeters) downward into the driest, most compacted soils. It is not so anchored above ground where ribbed, rounded, sheathed, unattached stems turn football field entry points, goal mouths and hash marks into tripping hazards.

Flowers that bloom between May and November, foliage that displays red-greens before blue-greens, and fruits that emerge in July and in August join to distract passersby.

The unassuming clusters of two to eight green-colored, pink- and white-edged, 0.14- to 0.16-inch (3.5- to 4-millimeter) flowers keep up almost inconspicuous presences atop short stalks.

Magnifying glasses let through the daintiest details of delicate cymes, each of whose diminutive blooms sport five to eight stamens, three carpel-fused pistils and three styles. The alternate, hairless, 1.18- to 4.72-inch- (3- to 12-millimeter-) wide, smooth-margined, 0.39- to 1.57-inch- (1- to 4-centimeter-) long blades may be egg-, ellipse-, lance- or spoon-shaped. Flower petals and sepals need to be removed to access achenes, fruits that each encase one seed and that altogether produce 200 seeds per prostrate knotweed.

Prostrate knotweed offers not only flowering, fruiting greenery for crevices, gravel, roadsides and wastelands but also ingredients for Russian herbal medicines and Vietnamese soups and stews.

The culinary, herbal and landscape contributions prove important since deep mulching, manual weeding and shallow hoeing may work faster and longer with organic, not chemical, controls.

Core or spike aeration, lawn over-seeding and supplemental irrigation qualify as organic control measures that alter the habitat niches that dry, compacted soil-loving prostrate knotweed seeks. Prostrate knotweed resists even timely applied pre-emergent Dithiopyr, Isoxaben, Napropamide, Oryzalin, Pendimethalin, Prodiamine and Pronamide and post-emergent Bromoxynil, Carfentrazone, Chlorsulfuron, Clopyralid, Dicamba, Fluroxypyr, Metribuzin and Sulfentrazone. Weeds rarely survive past one or two years any two of the three stresses of controlled burns, herbicide treatments and severe trims in altered habitat niches.

Prostrate knotweed tends to be terminated where traffic, tripping and visibility overlap mightily and tolerated where trimming, ventilating and wilding overwhelm weeds into obeying “Sit! Stay!”

prostrate knotweed in Old World habitat, Sierra Madrona, Ciudad Real province, autonomous community of Castilla-La Mancha, south central Spain: Javier martin, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

closeup of prostrate knotweed Polygonum aviculare, Reilingen municipality, Rhein-Neckar-Kreis district, northwestern Baden-Württemberg state, southwestern Germany; Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013, 16:03: AnRo002, Public Domain (CC0 1.0), via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20131017Vogelknoeterich_Reilingen5.jpg

prostrate knotweed in Old World habitat, Sierra Madrona, Ciudad Real province, autonomous community of Castilla-La Mancha, south central Spain: Javier martin, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Polygonum_aviculare_Habitus_2011-6-26_SierraMadrona.jpg

For further information:

Calhoun, Ronald. 2016. “Prostrate Knotweed (A) -- Polygonum aviculare – Family: Polygonaceae – Smartweed.” Michigan State University Turf Weeds > Browse Weeds by Name.
Available @ http://www.msuturfweeds.net/details/_/prostrate_knotweed_37

“Common Knotweed.” University of California Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program > Homes, Gardens, Landscapes, and Turf.
Available @ http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7484.html

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Available @ http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/WEEDS/common_knotweed.html

Johnson, Kimberly. “How to Kill Prostrate Knotweed in Lawns.” eHow > Garden > Garden & Lawn > Pests, Weeds & Problems.
Available @ http://www.ehow.com/how_8313795_kill-prostrate-knotweed-lawns.html

Kim, Hyoung Ja; Eun-Rhan Woo; and Hokoon Park. May 1994. “A Novel Lignan and Flavonoids from Polygonum aviculare.” Journal of Natural Products 57 (5), pp 581-586. DOI: 10.1021/np50107a003

“Knotgrass.” Crop Protection Online > Weed Biology > Agro-region: Denmark > Identification Key.
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“Knotweed, Prostrate.” PennState College of Agricultural Sciences > Ag Sciences > Plant Science > Research > Broadleaf Plants.
Available @ http://plantscience.psu.edu/research/centers/turf/extension/plant-id/broadleaf/prostrate-knotweed

Linnaeus, Carl von. 1753. "15. Polygonum aviculare." Species Plantarum, tomus I: 362-363. Holmiae [Stockholm, Sweden]: Laurentii Salvii [Laurentius Salvius].
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/358381
Available via Missouri Botanical Garden Library's Botanicus Digital Library @http://www.botanicus.org/page/358381

“Polygonum aviculare L.” Altervista Flora Italiana > Schede di botanica > Elenco delle famiglie > Polygonaceae > Elenco dei generi > Polygonum > Elenco delle specie > aviculare L.
Available @ http://luirig.altervista.org/flora/taxa/index1.php?scientific-name=polygonum+aviculare

"Polygonum aviculare L." Tropicos® > Name Search.
Available @ http://www.tropicos.org/Name/26000064

“Polygonum aviculare Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 362. 1753.” Flora of China > Family List > FOC Vol. 5 > Polygonaceae > Polygonum.
Available @ http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200006713

“Polygonum aviculare Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 362. 1753.” Flora of North America > Family List > FNA Vol. 5 > Polygonaceae > Polygonum.
Available @ http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=200006713

“Prostrate Knotweed.” LawnCare > Common Lawn Weeds.
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“Prostrate Knotweed Control.” WeedsInLawn > Blog > Portfolio > Common Lawn Weeds > 11 Apr, 2011.
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“Prostrate Knotweed (Polygonum aviculare).” Better-Lawn-Care > Weed ID > Knotweed.
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rioMoros. "El Ciennudos: Polygonum aviculare (http://riomoros.blogspot.com.es)." YouTube. Sept. 14, 2012.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USn-TUMcP_w

Sherratt, Pamela; and John Street. “Prostrate Knotweed Is Rampant.” The Ohio State University > Buckeye Turf > News & Notes.
Available @ http://buckeyeturf.osu.edu/index.php?option=com_content&id=631&Itemid=170

Weed Moats: Fences, Mulches, Strips, Trenches as Organic Weed Controls

Summary: Weed moats, as meshed fences or mulched strips and trenches, are organic weed controls that bolster cover cropping, hoeing, mulching and weeding schedules.

illustration by Elara Tanguy: Mother Earth News @motherearthnewsmag, via Facebook May 19, 2016

Weed moats are organic weed controls that team well with cover cropping, deep mulching, manual weeding and shallow hoeing, according to an article in the June/July 2016 issue of Mother Earth News.

Barbara Pleasant, author of Control Weeds Without Chemicals and contributing editor at Mother Earth News magazine, bases weed moats upon weed-fighting chicken moats and chicken runs. Covers, moats, mulches and runs catch weeds in the growth stages and in the habitat niches where they have competitive advantages over edibles, ornamentals and wildflowers. Weeds, as plants whose beneficial roles are unappreciated or unknown, dig in when gardens have bare patches, where soil is disturbed and wherever sunlight remains unfiltered.

The savviest gardening emphasizes covering and mulching uncultivated spots, introducing weed-eating predators and preventing weed rhizomes, roots, seeds and stolons from accessing light, moisture and nutrients.

Weed moating follows chicken moat and chicken run principles since physical barriers, such as fenced or mulched runways, strips or trenches separate gardens from weed-prone yards.

Mesh-fenced passages that set gardens off from lawns give famished chickens and hungry songbirds access to flowering, fruiting and leafing weeds and to germinating weed seeds. Such hallways or laneways have the look of arbors and pergolas when their vertical fence pillars or posts support open air, open ceiling, open lattice cross-beams. It is possible to control and shade out weed growth within the corridors by growing light-filtering grapes (Vitis vinifera) and kiwifruits (Actinidia deliciosa) over the cross-beams.

Edible herbs, such as comfrey (Symphytum officinale) and rue (Ruta graveolons), join to embellish field, meadow, pasture, yard sides of mesh-fenched weed moats at ground levels.

Organic gardeners typically keep posts secured 1 foot (0.31 meters) downward in soil and six to 8 feet (1.83 to 2.44 meters) upward into the air.

Mesh-fenced weed moats look uninviting to deer because of their double barrier and to rabbits because of their outer side topping leporine-proof lowers with chicken-wire uppers. Heavy galvanized rabbit-proof sheeting may run 1 foot (0.31 meter) downward and 2 feet (0.61 meter) outward in the soil and 4 feet (1.22 meters) upward. Organic gardeners need cover cropping, deep mulching, manual weeding and shallow hoeing for what chicken and songbirds avoid: poisonous burdock, pigweed and pokeweed and prickly nettles.

Mulched strips operate best when turned, and mulched trenches spaded, every three weeks, excepting summer, when moat-jumping weeds must be searched and severed every 14 days.

Cover cropping, deep mulching, manual weeding and shallow hoeing provide complimentary support inside edible, ornamental, wild flowering gardens to the fenced or mulched weed moats encircling them.

Slow, upright growth qualifies carrots (Daucus carota subsp. sativus) and onions (Allium cepa) for a third or fourth weeding beyond the first two every ten days. Aged leaves, clipped grass or shredded straw layered atop cardboard or newspaper after the month of manual weeding and shallow hoeing result in nutrient-rich, self-composting mulch. Spring-grown mustard greens (Brassica juncea) and summer-grown buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum), cowpeas (Vigna unguiculata), oats (Avena sativa) and radishes (Raphanus sativus) serve as fertility-building, self-composting cover crops.

Organic weed controls translate non-chemical, non-genetically modified, non-toxic techniques into “less time [spent] on labor-intensive weeding -- and more time enjoying the fruits” of a gardener’s labor.

Chicken moats, or runs, inspire weed moats; illustration by Elayne Sears: Mother Earth News @motherearthnewsmag, via Dec. 5, 2013

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

illustration by Elara Tanguy: Mother Earth News @motherearthnewsmag via Facebook May 19, 2016, @ https://www.facebook.com/motherearthnewsmag/photos/a.310229215412/10157125920900413/

Chicken moats, or runs, inspire weed moats; illustration by Elayne Sears: Mother Earth News @motherearthnewsmag, via Dec. 5, 2013, @ https://www.facebook.com/motherearthnewsmag/photos/a.310229215412/10153770507820413/

For further information:

Foreman, Patricia; and Cheryl Long. April/May 2013. "Chickens in the Garden: Eggs, Meat, Chicken Manure Fertilizer and More." Mother Earth News > Homesteading & Livestock.
Available @ https://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/raising-chickens/chicken-manure-fertilizer-zm0z13amzkon

Jason. 2 December 2014. “Chicken Moats: Permaculture Ideas in the Garden.” OurOchreway.com > Kuska Wiñasun Homestead.
Available @ http://www.ourochreway.com/chicken-moats-permaculture-ideas-in-the-garden/

Mother Earth News @motherearthnewsmag. 5 December 2013. "As if fresh, nutritious eggs and homegrown roast chicken dinners weren't reason enough to raise your own poultry: You can 'recoop' much of the expense of raising chickens by putting their manure to work in your garden and enlisting your birds for organic pest control." Facebook.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/motherearthnewsmag/photos/a.310229215412/10153770507820413/

Mother Earth News @motherearthnewsmag. 19 May 2016. "Use these organic weed-control methods to control common garden weeds so that your vegetable garden can thrive." Facebook.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/motherearthnewsmag/photos/a.310229215412/10157125920900413/

Pleasant, Barbara. 25 October 2013. "7 Ways to Use Leaves in Your Garden." YouTube.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tO4EXqrURO8

Pleasant, Barbara. June/July 2016. “Garden Know-How: Control Weeds without Chemicals.” Illustrations by Elara Tanguy. Mother Earth News.
Available @ http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/gardening-techniques/control-garden-weeds-organically-zm0z16jjzbre.aspx?PageId=1

Southern Cassowary Natural History Illustrations: Australian Big Bird

Summary: Southern cassowary natural history illustrations share a dark- and vivid-colored flightless bird that agro-industrialists stress, researchers study and villagers snare.

southern cassowary with chick; South Mission Beach, Cassowary Coast Region, Far North Queensland, northeastern Australia; Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011, 18:14: Donald Hobern, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

Southern cassowary natural history illustrations allow armchair acquaintance with, and admiration of, Australian and New Guinean flightless birds that appreciate alone time and never avoid daily, healthy fruit, protein and water requirements.

Southern cassowaries bear the additional common names Australian, double-wattled, kudari and two-wattled cassowary, the Papuan name kasu ("horned") weri ("head") and the scientific name Casuarius casuarius. They count, as a curious collectible from Seram among Indonesia's Maluku Islands, among animal specimens classified, in 1758, by Carl Linnaeus (May 23, 1707-Jan. 10, 1778). They dwell just below 3,600-foot (1097.28-meter) altitudes above sea level along the eastern Cape York Peninsula and north of Townsville in Queensland Province of northeastern Australia.

Southern cassowary natural history illustrations sometimes elaborate double-wattled, kudari, two-wattled cassowary homelands in eastern, northwestern and southern New Guinea and on the Aru and Maluku Islands.

Southern cassowaries favor dense, undisturbed lowland tropical mangrove stands, rainforests and savannah forests and flourish just below 1,600-foot (487.68-meter) altitudes above sea level on New Guinea.

Southern cassowaries get helmet-like casques, inner-toed claws longer and sharper than each foot's two other clawed toes, snapping, strong bills and ultraviolet and visible light-sensitive eyes. Gray, individualized, 5.1- to 6.7-inch- (12.95- to 17.02-centimeter-) high casques perhaps help as breeding displays, head-butting defenses and offenses, helmut-like protection against collisions and sound resonation. Cassowary communication systems include species-specific grunts, hisses, peeps, rumbling booms and whistles and perhaps involve identification of long-distance, low-frequency infrasound that head casques intend to intensify.

Southern cassowary natural history illustrations juggle two dagger-like, gray, 5-inch- (12.7-centimeter-) long inner-toe claws and two red, 7-inch- (17.78-centimeter-) long wattles (loose-hanging, lower throat, turkey-like wrinkled skin).

Australian, double-wattled, kudari, southern, two-wattled cassowaries know 5-plus-foot (1.52-meter) jumps vertically downward and upward, karate- and soccer-like powerful kicks and 31.07-mile (50-kilometer) running speeds per hour.

Black, coarse, glossy, mane-like, shaggy, stiff plumage, blue heads, gray bills, casques, feet and legs and red-patched blue throats let southern cassowaries live amid tropical lushness. Southern cassowaries and their genus's other extant species move toward fruit-filled bleeding-heart, buckthorn, cassowary pine, plum and satinash, celerywood, lemon-aspen, nutmeg, onionwood, palm, quandong and silkwood. Proper exercise, hydration, nutrition and rest nets mature southern cassowaries 4.9- to 6.2-foot (1.49- to 1.89-meter) heights and 4.17- to 5.58-foot- (1.27- to 1.70-meter) long bodies.

Southern cassowary natural history illustrations offer 37- to 154-pound (16.78- to 69.85-kilogram) weights, with 64- to 75-pound (29.03- to 34.02-kilogram) male and 129-pound (58.51-kilogram) female averages.

Dark, dense, habitat niches prompt solitary lifestyles for all extant cassowary species, except around full-fruited woody plants, at watering holes and during breeding and chick-raising seasons.

June through July queue up maternal clutches of four green 6.3- by 4.1-inch (16.0- by 10.41-centimeter) eggs for 47- to 61-day incubations by forest floor-nesting fathers-to-be. Single fathers raise black-, brown-, white-striped hatchlings into all-brown five-month-olds and emancipated 9- to 18-month-olds that relocate and, as two- to four-year-olds, reveal mature, vivid coloring. Fatherly droppings and ticks and carrion, frogs, fruits, insects, lizards, mice, rats, snails and snakes respectively strengthen chicks and adults stressed by agro-industrialists, traders and villagers.

Southern cassowary natural history illustrations tackle the genus's largest juvenile and mature cassowaries, whose sustainability the International Union for Conservation of Nature tags as "least concern." 

southern cassowary, illustration by English ornithologist and avian artist John Gould (Sept. 14, 1804-Feb. 3, 1881), lithography by English zoological illustrator Henry Constantine Richter (June 7, 1821-March 16, 1902); J. Gould's The Birds of Australia Supplement (1868), Plate 71: Public Domain, via Internet Archive

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

southern cassowary with chick; South Mission Beach, Cassowary Coast Region, Far North Queensland, northeastern Australia; Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011, 18:14: Donald Hobern, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Casuarius_casuarius_(Carmoo_QLD,_Australia).jpg; Donald Hobern (dhobern), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/dhobern/6547888321/

southern cassowary, illustration by English ornithologist and avian artist John Gould (Sept. 14, 1804-Feb. 3, 1881), lithography by English zoological illustrator Henry Constantine Richter (June 7, 1821-March 16, 1902); J. Gould's The Birds of Australia Supplement (1868), Plate 71: Public Domain, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/birdsAustraliasSuppGoul#page/71/mode/1up; Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/48517585;
Biodiversity Heritage Library (BioDivLibrary), Public Domain, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/biodivlibrary/36871291151/

For further information:

"Cassowaries." Tropical Topics 2012. Cairns, Queensland, Australia: Wet Tropics Management Authority.
Available @ https://www.wettropics.gov.au/site/user-assets/docs/Cassowaries.pdf

Davies, S.J.J.F. (Stephen John James Frank). "Cassowaries (Casuariidae)." Pages 75-81 In: Michael Hutchins, Jerome A. Jackson, Walter J. Bock and Donna Olendorf, eds. Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. Second edition. Volume 8, Birds I: 75-81. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group, 2002.

Gould, John. 1865. "Sp. 494. Casuarius australis, Wall. Australian Cassowary." Handbook to the Birds of Australia, vol. II: 206-207. London, England: Printed for the Author by Taylor and Francis.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/13966231

Gould, John. 1868. "Casuarius australis, Wall. Australian Cassowary." The Birds of Australia. Supplement: pages 141-142, Plates 70-71. London, England: Printed for the Author by Taylor and Francis.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/birdsAustraliasSuppGoul#page/70/mode/1up

Linnaeus, Carl. 1758. "2. Struthio casuarius." Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, Secundum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, cum Characteribus, Differentiis, Synonymis, Locis, Tomus I, Editio Decima, Reformata: 155. Holmiae [Stockholm, Sweden]: Laurentii Salvii [Laurentius Salvius].
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727062

June 2016 Lunar Perigee Is Friday, June 3; Apogee Is Wednesday, June 15

Summary: Moon’s June 2016 lunar perigee, or orbital closeness, happens Friday, June 3, at 10:55 Coordinated Universal Time (6:55 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time).

Moon's elliptical orbit accounts for monthly nearest point (perigee) and farthest point (apogee): NASA Science, Public Domain, via NASA Science/Science News

The moon’s June 2016 lunar perigee (Ancient Greek: περί, perí, “near” + γῆ, gê, “Earth”), when the lunar orbit reaches the month’s closest center-to-center distance between Earth and moon, happens Friday, June 3, at 10:55 Coordinated Universal Time (6:56 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time).

The June 2016 lunar perigee represents a center-to-center distance of 361,142 kilometers (224,403.23 miles). The June 2016 lunar perigee bests the previous month’s perigee by 3,314 kilometers (2059.22 miles). On Friday, May 6, at 4:14 UTC (12:14 a.m. EDT), the previous month’s lunar perigee measured a center-to-center distance of 357828 kilometers (222,344.01 miles).

The June 2016 lunar perigee does not best July 2016’s perigee. The July 2016 lunar perigee bests the June 2016 lunar perigee of 361,142 kilometers (224,403.23 miles) by 8,517 kilometers (5,292.22 miles). On Wednesday, July 27, at 11:25 UTC (7:25 a.m. EDT), the lunar orbit marks a center-to-center distance of 369,659 kilometers (229,695.45 miles).

Next month’s perigee does more than best this month’s perigee. The July 2016 lunar perigee claims the year’s closest center-to-center distance, known as proxigee.

Eccentricities in the moon’s orbit around Earth explain monthly occurrences of perigee and its opposite, apogee (Ancient Greek: ἀπόγειον, apógeion, “away from Earth” + ἀπό, apó, “away” + γῆ, gê, “Earth”). On NASA’s Eclipse Web Site, NASA astrophysicist Fred Espenak, known popularly as “Mr. Eclipse,” gives 363,396 kilometers (miles) at perigee and 405,504 kilometers (miles) at apogee as mean values for variations in the moon’s center-to-center distances from Earth.

Fred Espenak details the moon’s elliptical orbit as having a mean eccentricity of 0.0549. Contrastingly, Earth has an orbital eccentricity of 0.0167. A perfectly circular orbit has an eccentricity of zero. Numbers higher than zero denote somewhat elliptical orbits.

Factors perturbing, or affecting, lunar orbital parameters include gravitational forces between sun and moon and between moon and Earth; changes in distance and relative position between the trio of Earth, moon and sun; lunar orbital inclination; other planets’ gravitational attractions. The lunar orbit inclines, or slants, 5.1 degrees with respect to the plane of Earth’s orbit.

Lunar apogee, or farthest distance, happens Wednesday, June 15, at 12:00 UTC (8 a.m. EDT). The June 2016 lunar apogee measures a center-to-center distance of 405,022 kilometers (251,669 miles).

The June 2016 lunar apogee is closer than the previous month’s apogee. On Wednesday, May 18, at 22:06 UTC (6:06 p.m. EDT), apogee logs a center-to-center remoteness of 405,934 kilometers (252,235.69 miles).

This month’s apogee, though, is farther than next month’s apogee. On Wednesday, July 13, at 5:24 UTC (1:24 a.m. EDT), lunar apogee measures a center-to-center distance of 404,272 kilometers (251,202.97 miles).

The October 2016 lunar apogee claims the year’s farthest apogee. On Monday, Oct. 31, at 19:29 UTC (3:29 p.m. EDT), lunar apogee measures a center-to-center remoteness of 406,660 kilometers (252,686.8 miles). The October 2016 distance bests the June 2016 lunar apogee of 405,022 kilometers (251,669 miles). October’s lunar apogee is 1,638 kilometers (1,017.8 miles) farther than June’s apogee.

The takeaway for the Friday, June 3, lunar perigee and Wednesday, June 15, lunar apogee is the reality of Juliet’s description of the “inconstant moon, that monthly changes in her circled orb” (Act II, scene 2) in William Shakespeare’s popular tragedy, Romeo and Juliet.

comparison of moon at apogee and at perigee; Dr. Tony Phillips, production engineer at NASA Science, explains that perigee moons are 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than apogee moons: NASA Science, Public Domain, via NASA Science/Science News

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

moon's elliptical orbit accounts for monthly nearest point (perigee) and farthest point (apogee): NASA Science, Public Domain, via NASA Science/Science News @ http://science1.nasa.gov/media/medialibrary/2008/12/09/09dec_fullmoon_resources/diagram.gif

comparison of moon at apogee and at perigee; NASA production engineer Dr. Tony Phillips explains that perigee moons are 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than apogee moons: NASA Science, Public Domain, via NASA Science/Science News @ https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/16mar_supermoon/

For further information:

Espenak, Fred. “2016 Calendar of Astronomical Events.” Astro Pixels > Planetary Ephemeris Data > Calendar of Astronomical Events.
Available @ http://astropixels.com/ephemeris/astrocal/astrocal2016gmt.html

Espenak, Fred. “SkyCal Sky Events Calculator.” NASA Eclipse Web Site > SkyCal.
Available @ http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SKYCAL/SKYCAL.html?cal=2016#skycal

“Lunar Perigee and Apogee.” Time And Date > Sun & Moon.
Available @ http://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/moon/lunar-perigee-apogee.html

Phillips, Tony (Dr.). "Super Full Moon." NASA Science > Science News. March 16, 2011.
Available @ https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/16mar_supermoon/

Walker, John. “Lunar Perigee and Apogee Calculator.” Fourmilab Switzerland > Earth and Moon Viewer. May 5, 1997.
Available @ http://www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/pacalc.html

Webb, Brian. “Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).” Space Archive. March 27, 2016.
Available @ http://www.spacearchive.info/utc.htm