Prairie Verbena aka Dakota Vervain (Glandularia bipinnatifida)
Yes, I’m still taking time off to investigate and learn the flowers that are able to withstand this drought.
(click images to enlarge)
by James Brush
Tag: wildflowers
Evening Star Rain Lilies (Cooperia drummondii)
It actually rained here last week. Free water fell from the sky. Now, these starlike beauties have appeared everywhere. I stopped on my bike ride to photograph a few to ID, and was pleasantly surprised to discover their starry name.
evening-star rain lilies
along the trailside
a blanket
for a few more
cool nights
Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) at The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
(click images to enlarge)
The other day, I took a short walk down the neighborhood trail, pointing the camera down more than up. It was a gray and humid day that suggested rain but none ever really fell in our neighborhood. Even if it had, the drought would still be way ahead.
I really like this little bridge that connects two neighborhoods with the main trail. I’ve gotten a few nice shots looking downstream from it and sometimes I even see a few snakes hanging out nearby.
I probably should learn to ID some of the wildflowers around here. Until I do, though, they’re just going to have to be pretty white flowers. Whatever they are, they jumped out of the surrounding dry green like sparks.
There used to be a really nice log like this farther down the trail, but it’s gone now. Probably in someone’s house or on their porch. I hope this one goes unnoticed a little longer.
As dry as it’s been, you’d think the cacti would be loving it, but the prickly pears are suffering as much as everyone else. I saw more dried up and dead ones than usual.
A further reminder to learn the names of some flowers.
Somewhere in the archives of the City of Austin, there is probably a notation that could point some bureaucrat straight to this tree. I think the trees with numbers are the good ones.
I keep seeing this single bone in a clearing and finally took a picture of it. A mile farther down, I found a deer skeleton last spring. I wonder if this is part of the same.
There weren’t many birds out other than the Turkey Vultures, which I enjoy watching as they sail overhead.
On the tail end of a bike ride yesterday, I wanted to make it an even 23 miles so I turned on a street near our house and found a trail leading to another neighborhood. I took the trail, which led to a cul-de-sac with a small nature preserve only .25 miles from home.
The preserve is mainly a small karst formation with a cave underneath. The sign said that the cave is 85 feet by 45 feet, but only 2 feet high at its highest. The cave entrances have been gated off in such a way that bats and other wildlife can get in and out, but snooping kids are prevented from entering.
Later in the evening I walked back up with my camera to see if I could get a few pictures.
This is one of the caves that had naturally collapsed so there was no need to block it off. It’s now just a two foot deep hole.
In addition to this dragonfly, I saw mockingbirds, white-winged doves and a number of deer that seemed to be running all around me, allowing only glimpses as they raced through the cedar. One of these days, I’m going to bring the long lens and some patience and try to shoot a deer.
I liked the look of this fallen tree, rotted and teeming with life.
These flowers ignited if only for a brief moment in the sun’s fading light.
It’s easy to forget the small things, the little details that make a place whole.