Melinda and I walk in the prairie about every other day. The prairie wants us to. It changes that quickly and someone needs to see it. And we need to. In these times of separation and quarantine, being outdoors and witnessing the life of spring in South Texas helps to center us, to remind us of God's providence with His Creation. The world of humanity is suffering in unimaginable ways, but the natural world about us goes on its way with life and beauty, bearing witness to God's goodness.
The American Basket Flowers are standing tall across the field. Theses beauties were part of the seed mix we planted sixteen months ago. A few of them are just now opening their blooms to the sky. Soon there will be scores of them.
Insect life is abundant. Butterflies, moths, bees, flies of various sorts, wasps, caterpillars, and beetles are everywhere. It is a challenge to try to capture the beauty of a blossom without being photo-bombed by some other creature. Some kind of fly and a beetle are taking advantage of this Black-eyed Susan.
Last year Maximillian Sunflowers, also a part of our seed mix, stood some six feet tall with flowers around their stalks from the ground to the top. They died off with winter, but at the base of nearly each dead stalk still standing in the field is the evidence of new life and a promise of more flowers this summer.
We came across one patch of Berlandier's Yellow Flax. We can't recall seeing that one before. The blooms are small, but striking.
The dominant yellow in the fields these days are the neon blossoms of the Plains Coreopsis. Whole fields of them can be seen along the county road. In the back of the property we also find Nueces Coreopsis (below).
And Lance-Leaved Coreopsis (below)
The prairie is now demanding some work of us. Some invasive plants are best deal with by using our solar powered plant removers (shovels and pruning shears). We are hunting down and removing the small patches of prickly pears that are showing up and we are taking on the Baccharis (also known as Roosevelt Weed, Poverty Weed, or Depression Weed) that is coming up in numbers. When we first got the property in 2007, these covered the fields.
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| Baccharis |
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| An uprooted Baccharis |
The Spotted Horse Mint or Spotted Bee Balm is back. It is just now commencing its blooming. They'll be plentiful soon.
Near the house there is a patch of red-colored dock that the Salt Marsh Moth caterpillars are finding attractive.
More than anything, however, we are delighting in seeing the grasses make their appearance. We've found evidence of the Big Four (Little Bluestem, Big Bluestem, Switchgrass, and Eastern Indian Grass), but others in the seed mix are there as well –– Lovegrass, Green Spangletop, Windmill Grass, Eastern Gamagrass, and Side Oats Grama.) These are summer grasses and so will be showing up more and more as the weather warms. The Eastern Gamagrass is already forming its distinctive seed heads and the Switchgrass is stretching taller than last year (it can get almost 9 feet tall!).
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| Seed heads forming on Eastern Gamagrass |
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| A stand of Switchgrass |
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