A Hill Country Journal

Look At All the Beautiful DYC's

2007-10-16T00:03:00Z

This past weekend I hosted a gardening booth at our local wildlife refuge. I think the question I heard most often was, "What are all those yellow flowers along the road into town?"

Well, I didn't have the answer so today I stopped to satisfy my own curiosity.

I think all the rain we had this summer has a lot to do with the acres of Hairy Zexenia (or Orange zexenia, Rough zexmenia, Texas creeping oxeye, Hairy wedelia, Orange daisy or-my favorite-Devil's River we're seeing. This zexmenia by any other name is still Zexmenia hispida. See how the botanical names can cut through the confusion.

Central Texas has hundreds of yellow daisy type flowers called composites. It gets a bit confusing so there is another official name for these wildflowers, DYC's. That's D!#%ed Yellow Composites! How's that for accuracy.

The Blazing Star of Autumn

2007-09-03T10:35:00Z

The other day I was traveling down Lohman Ford Road when I caught a flash of bright purple color out of the corner of my eye. Sure enough there was another clump, and another. The tall purple spikes of Blazing star are growing along the road bank south of the now defunct Issimo restaurant. Yesterday I noticed more stands of this striking perennial along RR 1431 just below the newspaper office.

Blazing star or gay feather is a member of the Liatris family and several species are native to Texas. A favorite

nectar plant for butterfliesand bees,
Blazing star has also been called Colic Root alluding to it's use as an intestinal antispasmodic and Devil's Bite, perhaps because the powdered root was used for treating snake bites.

The First Sign of Autumn

2007-08-30T12:18:00Z

The Prairie Flameleaf sumacs are budding out, a sure sign of the coming fall season.

Right now most of the six inch long flower stalks are showing a bit of white at the tips but here and there I'm seeing the red color as the buds open. In a few weeks these natives will be easily identified by their "flaming" tips.

The fruit of these Texas natives have been used for flavoring water, as a dye and for tanning leather. Wild turkeys, grouse, bobwhites, pheasants and songbirds all feast on these berries. Of course our whitetails find them delectable too.

Feeding Frenzy

2007-08-30T11:57:00Z

Yesterday the hummingbird feeder on the front deck got a real workout. Usually I see one or two hummers coming in for a sip and taking turns at the feeder. Yesterday there were five of the little guys doing their aerial acrobatics all around the feeder. What fun!

I'm guessing they were Ruby-throats migrating south. Unfortunately I was running late for work and the birds were in silhouette so I didn't get a chance to identify them. My usual guests are Black-chins and just a couple of Ruby-throats.

Anyone else seeing an increase of feeding frenzy?

Farewell to our Flower Godmother

2007-07-13T10:35:00Z

Oh, Lady-bird, lady-bird
Why dost thou roam
So far from thy comrades, so distant from home?
Why dost thou, who canst revel all day in the air,
Who the sweets of the grove and the garden canst share;
In the fold of a leaf, who canst form thee a bower,
And a palace enjoy in the tube of a flower......
Catherine Ann Turner Dorset

Claudia Alta Taylor has died, the shy young girl from Texas who changed the countryside.

We all know Lady Bird for her work on beautifying our roadsides and those of us in Austin especially for the Wildflower Center named in her honor.

Few know how this extremely shy woman took over her husband duties in Washington when then Congressman Johnson joined the war effort. She met with constituents, cooked for the other young Congressmen and kept things flowing, she who was too shy to speak at her own graduation.

All of America has seen the results of her conservation efforts in the wildflowers that line our highways and we in Texas are most grateful, We see the her work in the bluebonnets and paintbrush, the bee balm and greenthread every day.

Thank you Lady Bird.

Bumper Crops

2007-07-09T13:50:00Z

By now everyone in the country has heard about the rain we've had in the Hill Country. Though there have been some horrendous consequences all that rain has produced a bumper crop of wildflowers.

The Lemon Beebalm (Monarda citridora) is dwindling down now but I've never seen such a prolific display. This is a great hummingbird attractant.

If you spotted what looks like crazy bouquets of pink plastic flowers stuck here and there you're looking at the Mountain Pink (Centaurium beyrichii). No, it's not a practical joke.

Popping up in bare rock and infertile soil the Mountain Pink is the harbinger of hot weather ahead!

Spring in the Hill Country with Thanks to Ladybird

2007-04-06T09:52:00Z

The Hill Country is definitely coming into it's full Spring glory and folks are searching out the best patches of bluebonnets for their Easter pictures.

But, bluebonnets aren't the only wildflowers that adorn our Texas roadways. Those white patches you see along Ranch Road 1431 and Lohman's Ford are the hardy Blackfoot daisies. Indian paintbrush is popping up here and there and yellow swaths of Greenthread are starting to make an appearance.

If you think you've seen large patches of pale lavender out of the corner of your eye you've just spotted some wild garlic which seems to be having a banner year. You'll also find the Pink evening primrose varies from a pale shell pink to deep rose.

Here I offer a huge thank you to Ladybird Johnson for her efforts in beautifying our highways and no one does it better  than Texans.






Gordon Seibold, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Stop and Smell the Flowers

2007-03-29T10:27:00Z

The first ten miles of my daily commute is a reminder of why I moved to the country. Here in the Texas Hill Country there is something blooming most of the year.

I started this blog with the idea that I would write about the things I saw as the seasons change. Great idea but right now I'm about a month behind in tracking to early spring show. Part of the reason is that sometimes I have make a stop and take a closer look at a flower in order to identify it and since it seems I'm always running late that stop doesn't happen.

Yesterday I came home early and stopped to identify the yellow flowers that are so prolific along the roadside right now. Yellow seems to be the most common flower color along our roads and one needs to literally stop and smell the flowers to make an accurate id.

Right now we're seeing the spring bloom of yellow bitterweed. While I was figuring that out I spotted wild garlic, blue gila, (I think) some sort of fleabane and, of course, bluebonnets. All this within a few feet, well worth the stop.

The 1st Hummer!!!

2007-03-19T23:41:00Z

There heeeeere! Okay, NOW it's officially Spring. I sighted my first hummer today, think it was a Black-chin but the light wasn't right to make a positive ID.

I had the same (I assume) family of Black-chins for seven years but last year a group of Ruby-throats ran them off and then stayed for the season. I tried to put out enough feeders on different sides of the house so that my loyal "blacks" would not think I was neglecting them but I never did see them again. I hope they're back now.

I had more of the Ruby-throats and they were not as shy as the blacks but I feel a loyalty to the original visitors who kept me entertained for so many years.

I usually put my feeders out when the Crossvine bloomed (usually around St. Patricks Day) but it died off last year. This year I put several out on the 11th just to make sure I'd catch the first little guys coming through since there wasn't anything yet in bloom that would get their attention. The salvia greggii are now starting to bloom and the rosemary too so that should keep them busy for awhile.

Let us know when you see your first hummer of the season.

The Gray Days

2007-01-25T12:00:00Z

When I started this blog I thought I'd be able to find something about which I could "wax poetic" week after week. I was wrong.

This past month in the Hill Country can be easily summed up in few words.........gray. Oh, and wet. Though I know that the sun must have peaked out once or twice I can't seem to summon up a memory of a sunny day. For any of you up North of me, I know you've had it bad and I have no reason to whine but here in Central Texas we're just not accustomed to all this grayness.

People seem to be in especially bad moods and I find myself wanting to sleep all the time. Maybe because the only time I feel warm is when I'm under a couple of quilts. The cold is another thing. I did not move to Texas to be cold.

My house does not seem to have been build for cold weather, the back rooms are freezing so I spend most of my time huddled on the couch with several afghans tucked around me. At least I have a couple of garden catalogs to peruse. Theoretically I've spend hundreds of dollars on Richter's herb and Dutch bulbs.

At least when I nod off once again my dreams will be filled with Madame le Feber tulips surrounds by fifty kinds of thyme.

Observations and Meditations from the Garden- Withdrawal

2006-11-14T12:50:00Z

I've been missing in action for awhile. Between preparing a talk on native plants for the Refuge and another on deer resistant gardening for the garden club I needed to catch up inside the house and haven't spent much time in the garden.

I vowed that on Sunday I wouldn't do anything but water between loads of laundry and I held true. Now understand that I water in small sections and have to move the hose quite often. So...every time I went out to move said hose I had to stop and look over my "prairie patch".

The seedings are starting to show, I have one lone Indian blanket and some of the artemesia twigs (seller calls them roots!) have started to take. Here and there I'd spot a sand bur I'd missed or some KR blustem (trash grass) that had crept in. Of course I had to stop and take care of the interloper immediately.

In the end I didn't get much done either inside or outside but the prairie patch is my new baby and I'd missed it. And, in the end, the sense of nurturing and calm I got from pulling a weed here and there made me realize that I'd been suffering "garden withdrawal" and the only cure is to get back out there.

Another Roadside Attraction- Color in the Hill Country

2006-11-06T14:21:00Z

I'm starting to see it here and there, that wee smudge of red in the hills. Born and raised an upper Midwesterner I spent my youth among the brilliant colors of the Sugar maples. After years in the Rocky Mountains I came to appreciate the gold of the aspens. Here in Texas I eagerly await the reds of the Flame sumacs and the Spanish oaks.

Some years are better than others. A few years back the oaks along RM 1174 were spectacular. We don't have as many Spanish oaks along the road between Lago Vista and Austin but there are a few in the hills and, along with the sumacs, their fall color gives me a feeling of another season changing, another year passing.

Observations from the Garden- A Gardener's Vacation

2006-10-21T10:30:00Z

Yesterday afternoon I took a vacation. Oh, I had the whole week off; spent last weekend at the Refuge talking to folks about using native plants and the rest of the week planting all the stuff I got at the nursery.

I'd gone out to Little Bend Nursery to borrow a few plants for my native plant demonstration and came home with a carload of beautiful grasses, vines, perennials and succulents. Add to that the seed I'd ordered and I had a few things to do!

Well, except for planting a few herbs I got it done and yesterday was about the less strenuous tidying up type chores and I had time to actually sit down in the garden and look around.

I was well rewarded for my efforts, the front garden was full of butterflies. Pipevine swallowtails, sleepy oranges, cloudless sulphurs, monarchs, gulf frittilaries, red admirals and unidentifiable skippers....wow! Finally, after six years of working on a wildlife garden I got my reward, sitting in the autumn sun surrounded by fluttering flying flowers. This is what I had been working for.

Who knows, maybe they are there all the time, while I'm at work earning more money for more plants and seeds. But, yesterday I sat down in the garden and was reminded of why I was working and digging, weeding and watering.

It was the perfect end to a gardener's vacation. Sometimes you just have to sit down and look around.

Observations and Meditations from the Garden- Seeds of Procrastination

2006-10-12T12:44:00Z

I've been trying to establish a patch of prairie in my backyard for the last six years. Think a wildflower garden is easy...think again!

Between the hordes of deer, drought and my own laziness my "prairie" measures about eight feet across, it started at twenty feet. The biggest problem is the deer and I've been too lazy to erect a fence sturdy enough to keep the deer from grazing. But, if I squint my eyes and focus on that center patch I'm thrilled with the way it looks.

I mixed the wildflower seed with blue gramma grass which now, after a long-in-coming rain, looks like a fine carpet with seedings of fall blooming wildflowers coming up. I've forgotten what I planted so what flowers is a mystery but the anticipation of their bloom is like a gardener's Christmas!

Another Roadside Attraction- The Queens of Autumn

2006-10-10T11:56:00Z

Though springtime in Texas is celebrated far and wide, autumn in central Texas offers some spectacular sites which may go unnoticed by most. I've lived in the Midwest and the Rockies but until I moved the Texas Hill Country I had never seen the sight of native prairie grasses in full efflorescence.

Efflorescence is the "bloom" of and ornamental grass. We all recognize the plume of the pampas grass but the sight that woke me up to the beauty of the native grasses was a stand of Big muhly along the creek at Doeskin Ranch. Doeskin is part of the Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge and offers nature walks every fall during National Refuge Week.

Several years back while on a hike I came around a bend and there ahead was a stand of five foot high clumps of Lindheimer or Big muhly. Gorgeous!

You can see these grasses every day if you travel Lakeline Bivd. in Cedar Park. They're the big grasses in the median. Another beautiful native grass is Indian grass. These grasses like slightly damper conditions and you can spot their large golden seed heads on the southwest corner of 1431 and Lakeline.

Further down Lakeline at Cypress Creek another awesome sight is the Maiden grass in full bloom in front of the Exxon station.

As the summer sight of the ubiquitous Crape myrtles fades away, take some time to look around for these "Queens of Autumn".

Welcome to A Hill Country Journal

2006-10-08T13:02:00Z

Please use this site as a place to share your thoughts about living and gardening
in the Texas Hill Country.

Where better place to watch the seasons change, share gardening tips "across the garden fence" and get to know your neighbors.

Though the format is a blog everyone is invited to jump in. Share your meditations. thoughts and ideas.

I've started several different categories to get us going and I'm eager to hear your comments.

Your comment need not necessarily relate to the original article. If you want to start off in a new direction I'll move your comment to it's own category.

So...lean over the fence and tell me how you grew those gorgeous salvias....................

"Another Roadside Attraction" ...What does that mean

2006-10-07T18:12:00Z

Another Roadside Attraction" is the name of a book I read in college. I'm using it here because during my daily drive into Austin the phrase keeps popping into my mind.

Everyday seems to bring another "attraction" along Ranch Road 1431.

I track the seasons by the wildflowers blooming or grasses coming into there autumn splendor. Sad to say, sometimes I can plot the love life of the raccoons or possums by the number of would-be Romeos who failed to get across the road the night before.

Everyday there is some small change, some difference that let's us know that the year is passing, the seasons changing.

Observations & Meditations from the Garden- A Sky Full of Butterflies

2006-10-07T15:26:00Z

Autumn is here. The last few days the sky has been full of migrating butterflies.. Aren't they wonderful as the flutter through the air by the dozens!

Those little butterflies that look like blowing leaves are American snouts or hackberry butterlies. In drought years they will migrate by the thousands (or more) looking for a new food source, the hackberry tree. South Texas residents have been experiencing this invasion since August. I guess they ran out of food and are now moving up to Central Texas.

In 1921 South Texans estimated the migration was 6 billion of the little fellas!!!

They're friendly little guys and if you're working in your garden as I was the other day, just stop a moment and they may land on you. It would be nice to think they're just stopping to say "thanks for the flowers" but, in truth, they're sipping the sweat from your hard working gardeners' body!