Special Plants

One of the great aspects of moving to a new part of the country is the discovery of plants that I never knew existed and the chance to grow plants that would never have survived in cool New England.

First of all, bougainvillea.  Yes, I have known bougainvillea, and I have seen it growing, but I never had a chance to have it in my own garden.  This is a plant that seems like it belongs in the plastic flower section of Hobby Lobby--it is just too gaudy to be real.  Except it is.

This is a totally un-retouched photo.  The flowers are tiny white blossoms; the color comes from the bracts surrounding the simple flower. Place your cursor on the picture and click it to enlarge the image.  You almost need sunglasses to look at this magnificent plant in bloom.

The new species for me is the anacacho orchid tree, a variety that is indigenous to a very small range in this part of the country.  We found the anacacho orchid tree shortly after we moved here last year in a nursery south of Kerrville that specializes in native plants.  We planted it right away, but this is our first opportunity to see the tree in bloom.  Look at the little orchid-like blossoms:

Not only is the tree beautiful in bloom, but it also has a delightful fragrance!

You will have to imagine the delicious vanilla scent.

The Queen of Flowers?

The English poet A.E. Housman (1859-1936) included a wonderful poem in his volume A Shropshire Lad called "Loveliest of Trees":
          Loveliest of trees the cherry now
          Is hung with snow along its boughs...
From the pictures I have seen of cherry trees in blossom along the Potomac, Housman may be right: these trees covered in blossoms do look indeed as if they were blanketed in snow.

As I watch iris blossoms opening daily in the garden, these lines of Housman come to mind.  Is there any flower more magnificent than the iris?

It is no wonder that the French--who love all things beautiful--adopted the iris as a national symbol (the fleur-de-lys).  It is fitting that this lovely flower has always been associated with the Virgin Mary.  There is no flower that seems so ravishingly beautiful and so vulnerable at the same time.  And for all of the iris' external beauty, it always seems willing to open its inner self to the world.

These two blossoms emerged from a spring shower as if to celebrate the season and life itself.  And, what the Cajuns would call lagniappe--deer don't bother them!

A Day among the Wildflowers

We took a day to drive through Gillespie and Mason Counties, northwest of us to seek out more  wildflowers during this extraordinary year for blossoms.  We were so delighted with the display, for mile after mile.

Sometimes it was a spread of bluebonnets that caught our eye, and sometimes it was the magic of a single flower.

Sometimes the joy comes from the combination of colors provided by the various varieties.

When you find a spot with plein air painters working busily, you know you have a great spot for viewing nature's splendors.

The pictures give an idea of what the scenes were like, but what they cannot communicate is the fragrance.  When we got out of the car to wander around this field, the fragrance was overpowering--not sickly sweet, just delicious.

Since we were gone all day, and the weather was mild, we took Sammy along for the ride.  As you can see, he enjoyed the flowers as well!

Wildseed Farms

Today we took a drive to Wildseed Farms, the nation's largest working wildflower farm--200 acres!  Over 350,000 people each year drop into Wildseed Farms, which is located seven miles east of Fredericksburg, Texas and about 10 miles west of the LBJ ranch.

Maybe many do not know that wildflowers were the passion of Lady Bird Johnson.  She made her influence felt while first lady by pressing for highway beautification across the United States.  Before Lady Bird began her crusade, our highways were often cluttered with litter.  Today the crusade for unlittered highways is a joint operation of state highway departments and countless organizations and individuals who "adopt"  sections of roadways to keep theme pristine. 

After the Johnsons returned to Texas, Lady Bird threw herself into promoting and preserving wildflowers--one of the reasons that Texas enjoys such massive wildflower displays annually.  It is not surprising that the Wildseed folks named their meadow after the former first lady.

Today we viewed a profusion of corn poppies in the meadow, which is landscaped with broad walkways so that guests can stroll through the bright blooms.

The last time I saw anything to rival this display of poppies was during a vacation in the Dordogne region of southwestern France.  The Hill Country and southwestern France have a lot in common agriculturally--chalky soil, miles of lavender, and a large wine industry.

It's no wonder that we love both southwestern France and the Texas Hill Country!

Back Roads

Driving to Austin, we stay on the back roads as long as possible.  The interstate is faster, but it is scenes like this that make the meandering state highways so inviting.

This lovely scene is located just north of the cement plant in Hunter.  Who cares if the trip is a little longer with vews like this?

Pied Beauty

GLORY be to God for dappled things—
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough; / 5/
And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change: / 10/
Praise him.
Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1899)

Pollen!

I guess unless you live in a desert, you have pollen.  Have we got pollen!  The offender is the live oak tree--that magnificent twisty, gnarled tree that can survive for years and years in the Texas heat and drought.  Live oak trees, for all their beneficial shade, do have a couple of drawbacks:  first, millions of tiny leaves that fall not in the autumn, but the spring!  Just when you want to start cleaning up the yard for spring, there is a deluge of tiny leaves, quickly followed by new leaves on the trees.  The good thing is, there are leaves all winter.  The bad aspect is cleaning up all those leaves when you really want to be planting.

And then there is the pollen.  The pollen explosion this year is the worst in 25 years--and the volumes are off the charts.  The local television stations post the pollen counts.  4,000 is considered high; today the count was at 11,000; Sunday it was over 40,000!  Everything is coated in yellowish-green pollen.  My black car is no longer black; my gardening shoes look as if I had been mowing the yard (I have not).

Luckily, we do not have pollen allergies, as some people do--and they are miserable right now.  I did find that, after a day of working in the garden, I had to take out my contact lenses, however.  My eyes did react to the pollen explosion.  How long does it last?  Would you believe until the end of April?

A Wealth of Wildflowers

The wildflowers just keep coming in our corner of the Hill Country.  These images are from (of all places) the cement plant located between New Braunfels and San Marcos.  The meadow was seeded last fall, and our abundant fall and winter rains worked their magic.

Thank you, Texas Industries.  And thanks be to God!

Jerry Jeff Walker Birthday Bash

As usual, Jerry Jeff Walker returned to Gruene Hall to celebrate his birthday.  Just like last year, we had a table near the front of the hall for the great show.  For all those who wonder how we get such "preferential" treatment for these sold-out shows, the secret is to log onto the JJW website the minute that the virtual ticket window opens.  It's worked two years in a row.

The "man"  ambled into the hall just as I was checking out the tee shirt table, and I was able to get a close-up shot:

As I wrote last year, Gruene Hall is the perfect venue for Jerry Jeff's music: it is old, funky, and loaded with posters and pictures of performances over the years--not to mention neon beer signs of all the favorite Texas brews. Here are some of the satisfied patrons:

All eyes, of course, were on center stage, where there was great music--and two stepping in the aisles.

Yes, we will be back next year--and as long as Jerry Jeff chooses to celebrate his birthday at Gruene Hall.

Wildflowers

It is wildflower time in Texas--the state with more varieties of wildflowers and more miles of wildflower-strewn roads than any other state.  And this year--thanks to the abundant fall and winter rains, the wildflowers are putting on a show that is spectacular.

Last week we took our visitors from Connecticut and Kansas City to Wildseed Farm, a 200 acre farm that specializes in raising wildflowers and harvesting the seeds for resale.  Wildseed is located about 7 miles east of Fredericksburg, in the Texas Hill Country.  The many varieties on the Wildseed plots were just beginning to come into bloom--promising many weeks of colorful displays.

We will be back--this show is too good to miss!

Meanwhile, here in New Braunfels, 70 miles south, the flowering has already begun--even in our own back yard.

Last year we bought three bluebonnet plants and placed them in the back of the yard where we have a rocky meadow.  Bluebonnets are an annual--not a perennial--so the spreading of bluebonnets comes from the seeds that fall from mature plants and lay fallow until the following year.  Our three bluebonnet plants have seeded themselves and we are enjoying these lovely flowers right out our windows.

More to come!