The experts said that this would be a great year for wildflowers in Central Texas because of sufficient rains last fall and this winter. They were right. The drought is still with us, unfortunately, but over the past two weeks I’ve found an abundance of flowering plants, many of which are new additions to my website. You can see all the recent additions at the site, but I wanted to highlight a few here.
All of these were shot with a Nikon 70-180mm macro zoom lens and a macro flash attachment. They are single shots.
Blue-curls (Phacelia congesta), member of the Forget-Me-Not family. I found a couple of these plants next to the river at Pedernales Falls State Park near Johnson City. You can almost see the “curl” on this one, and imagine why another name for the plant is “caterpillars."
Red Buck-Eye (Aesculus pavia var. pavia), member of the Soapberry family. This photo was taken at McKinney Falls State Park, southeast of Austin. I found only one of these bushes hidden away in the cedar forest. It was about 10 ft tall and loaded with large clusters of these pink blossoms.
Texas Clematis or Scarlet Leatherflower (Clematis texensis), member of the Buttercup family. While shooting the red buckeye above, I noticed these bright red blossoms just behind me, and the more I looked, the more I found. The clematis vines are several feet long and sparse except for a few leaves and the occasional blossom.
Silver Puff (Chaptalia texana), member of the Aster family. The inconspicuous little white flowers are often seen as nodding buds, not usually opened up like this one. I found a couple opened along a greenbelt in northwest Austin. They open during the day, but this one’s nearby buddies were sleeping in.
False Dayflower (Tinantia anomala), member of the Spiderwort family. This odd looking blossom with the big blue ears was found at St. Edward’s Park in northwest Austin. I also found specimens a few miles away at Mayfield Park. The anthers resemble eyes and a bulbous nose, sort like a cartoon character. One white variant of the plant, which seems to be quite rare was found, too.
Mexican Buckeye (Ungnadia speciosa), member of the Soapberry family. Several plants with these beautiful pink blossoms were found at McKinney Falls State Park and at Mayfield Park. The bushes are small to fairly large, and very conspicuous.