Now, almost the end of August, fields and roadsides are turning yellow with goldenrod flowers. There are about 75 native goldenrod species in North America, 60 of which are found mainly in the east of the country.

Like other well-known flowers that most people notice, there are many unproven symbols associated with them. The most common is that goldenrods mean wealth because goldenrods near your house bring good luck. But if that’s true, then David and I must be very rich.

Another common belief about goldenrods is that they symbolize good luck or can indicate a golden treasure. To be honest, I’m not even sure what that means. However, they also represent change, which is evident from the fact that they bloom so late in the summer.

Goldenrods are members of the sunflower family. They’re pretty and good for pollinators and birds. But they’re mistakenly blamed for hay fever or allergies because they bloom when pollen from weeds, grasses, and especially ragweed is abundant. Goldenrod pollen doesn’t fly around much, but one ragweed plant can send millions of pollen particles into the air.

Many black walnut trees also have some yellow leaves now, not because there is anything wrong with them, but because they will soon begin to shed their leaves. Black walnut trees are one of the last trees to get leaves in the spring and one of the first to lose them towards the end of summer.

Another plant that shows color early in the summer is Virginia creeper. It climbs up trees and across open spaces and its leaves are already beginning to turn red or purple.

I currently have leaves from an oak tree in my office, but not because they fell from the tree. Most oak leaves change color or fall off in late fall, and I have these leaves just to get a good look at them.

They are from a large white oak tree that fell in our pipeline cut. The tree was about 40 feet tall, but apparently its trunk was not fully connected to the roots as it should be, so it fell due to high winds and rain.

One evening last week I was sitting on the deck watching hummingbirds chasing each other, but my mind was on another species of bird. For most of the 45 years I have lived here on the farm, nightjars could be seen on August evenings at this time of year, migrating south through the valley. But in the last few years I have rarely seen them.

As with the Little League World Series in Williamsport and professional baseball games, night hawks have been associated with night baseball games over the years. These dark birds with white wings were always seen flying around the lights, searching for and catching insects on the wing. Anyone over 50 who goes to these games will almost certainly remember seeing them.

However, although they were once expected, they are not seen as often today. The population of nightjars in the east has declined sharply, mainly due to construction activity. They also used to nest in the gravel of roofs, but this has largely been replaced by tar.