I may or may not be still working through photos I took in Austin last spring. Yeah…. I love milkweeds not only because of their host food abilities for monarch caterpillars but because they are just a beautiful native plant to grow. A great Texas milkweed website for reference.
The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center | Part I
So way back in March when we went to Austin we went to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Sunday morning before driving home. And yes, here it is late June and I am just now posting photos from them! I can’t believe I have been so unattentive to my photo processing and writing about […]
The Ditch Iris
As I walked to the corner where I start my runs the other day I was admiring nature as I walked. A ditch is to the right as I pass by, and there wasn’t much blooming. At first I thought the dark color was a browning leaf, stuck on top of other vegetation. Nearly continuing […]
Trout Lilies | In Macro
Remember back in February how I photographed trout lilies at Tandy Hills? Well, I finally finished processing my macro shots taken with our 65mm macro. And let me tell you, I think this lens is the sweetest thing ever! The photos were awesome and now that we bought the flash to go with it I’ll […]
Lovely Lupinus texensis
We have one plot in our garden that has radishes growing but otherwise we have filled it with bluebonnets we bought at a garden center and bluebonnets we seeded, along with a few other non-edible flowering plants. I like having a small section dedicated to flowers, especially since we aren’t focusing on collecting plants right […]
Texas Wildflowers | Erythronium albidum, Trout Lily
Trout lilies are wonderful and beautiful native wildflowers, blooming early in the spring, really late winter. The last two years we’ve ventured out to Tandy Hills to check them out. The first year we found many blooms, but last year not so much. This year I ventured out with with my brother to show him […]
Adiantum capillus-veneris | Southern maidenhair fern
A few weekends ago, New Years Eve weekend to be exact, we stopped by Westcave Preserve on our way home. We’d been by there a year before but did not have time to go in. I will have more on Westcave itself in two later posts, but this one is specifically about the beautiful maidenhair […]
Texas Wildflowers | Vernonia missurica, Missouri ironweed
While we were doing our field work in the Big Thicket this late spring and early summer we kept coming across this plant in its pre-blooming stage. No one could figure it out until finally it was identified by Ron Lance. And not much later the plant started blooming and it was beautiful! The tell-tale […]
Texas Wildflowers | Eustoma exaltatum ssp. russellianum, Texas bluebells
This annual Texas native is not very common, though we did see the ones shown above at Tandy Hills. The subtle blue-purple flower deserves more respect than it gets, being out shown by other grand Texas natives like the bluebonnet. You may know this genus as also Lisianthus, which can be found at garden centers. […]
Texas Wildflowers | Campsis radicans, trumpet creeper
This beautiful vine can sometimes be mistaken for Bignonia capreoleta, or cross vine. While the similar red flowers might fool you, taking a look at the leaves will change the story as the trumpet creeper vine has pinnately compound leaves. While this is a native plant, it is also quite weedy and can be invasive. […]
