Widely Scattered Flowers

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

The very high wind yesterday was powered by another very powerful cold front. It brought blizzard conditions to the Texas Panhandle and points east, but all we got here was the wind and a return to seasonally normal temperatures. Our seasonally normal temperatures are pleasantly mild by much of the rest of the country's standards. It was a reminder that winter isn't quite ready to completely relinquish its grip.

As I have pointed out in several recent posts, the late winter, early spring wildflowers are beginning to appear along the trails. They are still widely scattered. Generally, one must specifically search for them.

This set of photos was taken on my walk along the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River yesterday (Monday, February 25, 2013). I would venture a guess that the cyclists riding by along the trail would not have seen any of these flowers:

If we don't have a widespread, soaking rain by the end of March, my forecast is for widely scattered flowers to continue through Spring.

• The first photo is a Mealy Blue Sage.
• The second and third photos are Scrambled Eggs. For real; that is one of its common names. It is also known as Curvepod and Golden Smoke.
• The fourth, fifth and sixth photos are Pink Evening Primrose.
• The seventh and eighth photos are another two flower heads on a Mealy Blue Sage.
• The ninth and tenth photos* are Shepherd's Purse. This is a weed originally from Eurasia. From my perspective, it is beautifully photogenic with its long, curvaceous branches.
• The eleventh through the fourteenth photos are Texas Bluebonnets, the State Flower of Texas.

* Updated February 27, 2013 at 1:34 PM. Shepherd's purse is a distant cousin of Peppergrass as I had identified this plant in the original post.  I didn't think the leaves looked quite right to be peppergrass, but I couldn't find an alternative match in any of my field guides. A special note of thanks goes to Floyd Waller for the correct identification.