Texas
-
July at Watson Rare Native Plant Preserve
At the end of July, Chris and I went over to Watson Rare Native Plant Preserve to do some archival document scanning for the weekend. Forest was in DFW with grandparents and it provided the opportunity to do this work without the angst of an almost 9 year old wondering when mom and dad were going to be done with their boring volunteer work! I actually didn’t get to walk around the Preserve that much because I was mostly stuck inside the gallery scanning—plus it was hot—but I did get out and see things a few times to take a breather. The area that was prescribed burned earlier this year…
-
Variations on a Species
I’m struggling with what to write here these days. Summer has breezed by, school has started (third grade for Forest!), and we’re limping along with summer until we can get to fall. I suppose the best way to write here is to actually just sit down and write. I almost put this off for yet another day/week because I haven’t actually edited my camera photos of these and so you’ll have to suffice with mediocre phone photos. At the end of July, Chris and I spent a weekend at Watson Rare Native Plant Preserve scanning in some documents there for preservation reasons. We took a break late in the afternoon…
-
Chance meeting with Lindheimer’s beebalm (Monarda lindheimeri)
In early June I drove up to Fort Parker State Park hang out with a couple of friends for the weekend. Typically we get an Airbnb or a cabin at Fort Boggy State Park, but Stephanie and her husband recently bought a travel trailer and we have upgraded our options for meetups! I’ll write more on that trip later, but before I left I scouted directions on how to get there. I chose a slightly slower route in favor of looking for wildflowers and the chance to iNat in some lesser known locations. That decision paid off really well! I wasn’t more than 30 minutes from home when I spied,…
-
Mothing at Watson Rare Native Plant Preserve
A couple of years ago Chris bought lights and gear to set up so we could go mothing when we were camping, or even in our own backyard. What is mothing? Well, it’s looking for moths, of course! You can do it in a very basic manner, using a flashlight or porch light and try to attract moths that way, which does work to a limited extent. Or you can buy special lights, get a white cloth like a sheet or something similar, hang it up between some trees, and you can really get going with attracting moths! We’ve mothed in our own backyard and at many places we’ve camped…
-
Weekend at Ivy’s
A few months ago I was on the Texas Land Conservancy website looking into a property I wanted to get onto near Angelina National Forest. Unfortunately that property was closed to the public and so I went digging into their website a little more to find out just what public lands they had available that I could get onto. That’s how I ended up coming across the Spring Weekend at Ivy’s. I emailed the TLC first to ask if their $50 pricing included the entire weekend for the whole family and it did! I sent the link to Chris and after a brief conversation I officially paid the money and…
-
Agalinis fasciulatus, Beach False Foxglove | Wildflower Wednesday
The Agalinis species can be a little confusing to tell apart, well, at least I tend to think they are. I’m trying to get better at identifying them so if I’m completely goofed, let me know! These were seen in Angelina National Forest last October, along the Sawmill Trail. We were in the area again two weekends ago but the bustling area of various blooms from October didn’t exist quite yet. I was a bit disappointed not to see at least something blooming there–I was mostly on a lepidopteran and insect hunt and was thus disappointed. A couple of guides for figuring out this species: pfau_tarleton’s iNat journal entry and…
-
Cemetery Botanizing – Tillis Prairie Cemetery | 3
Oxalis dillenii Carolina anemone, Anemone caroliniana – so glad I got to enjoy these this spring! More prolific than I expected. Missouri violet, Viola missouriensis The non-native largelower sorrel, Oxalis debilis Sidewalk firedot, Xanthocarpia feracissima – I think. Cemeteries are a great spot to find interesting lichens! Bulbous woodrush, Luzula bulbosa – I’m beginning to really love this plant and wish I saw it sold in garden centers. Beaked cornsalad, Valerianella radiata Another Missouri violet Stemless spiderwort, Tradescantia subacaulis What remains of a poor armadillo. It has been a couple of weeks since I’ve done any cemetery botanizing (or naturalizing!) and I’m feeling it a bit. Twice a week physical…
-
Butterflies at Medina River Natural Area
Little yellow, Pyrisitia lisa Dainty sulphur, Nathalis iole Orange sulphur, Colias eurytheme Gray hairstreak, Strymon melinus Reakirt’s blue, Echinargus isola Orange skipperling, Copaeodes aurantiaca Gray hairstreak, Strymon melinus Ailanthus webworm moth, Atteva aurea Vesta crescent, Phyciodes graphica We went to San Antonio for a weekend getaway back in January with no real plans other than going to the zoo, eat at La Gloria on the Riverwalk, and going to the Alamo. I hadn’t been to the Alamo since I was in high school and I don’t know if Chris recalled when he had been, and it was Forest’s first time. We had driven by it several years ago but now…
-
Big Sky Country
A week in the Davis Mountains, spring this time instead of our usual Thanksgiving. Which meant warmer, but much windier weather, and the beginning of spring blooms for plants we haven’t gotten to see bloom before. All the warm weather and early blooms will be dusted with snow this weekend as a cold front came through last night, our last night. The city of Fort Davis was preparing for the storm by salting the roads and brought out a big truck with some weird thing on the front, and after our southern sensibilities faded we realized was a snow plow! Hah! You certainly don’t see those around our part of…
-
Goodbye to a State Park | Fairfield Lake State Park
Carolina larkspur, Delphinium carolinianum Rose bluet, Houstonia rosea Prostrate grapefern, Sceptridium lunaroides Trout lilies, Erythronium sp. Spiranthes tuberosa Carolina violet, Viola villosa—so many all over the park! I have never seen so many. Parlin’s pussytoes, Antennaria parlinii “One waxes pessimistic? Not so much … There is a pessimism about land which, after it has been with you a long time, becomes merely factual. Men increase; country suffers. Though I sign up with organizations that oppose the process, I sign without great hope.… Islands of wildlife and native flora may be saved, as they should be, but the big, sloppy, rich, teeming spraddle will go. It always has.” ― John Graves,…
