A male (red) & female (yellow) summer tanager couple:
Summer.
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Category Archives: Flowers
Sunny.
We have some giant sunflowers growing out back. Seriously. They are at least 8 feet tall.
One of the blooms:
Red yucca blooms.
Pretty flowers. I have four red yucca plants in the yard, each one seems to bloom every other year. But luckily for me they are not all on the same schedule, so I’ve had at least one in bloom every year. My next plant on the wish list for the yard is a white yucca. Stay tuned.
Stop & go.
Black-chinned hummingbird stopping for a taste of Texas thistle…
…and then moving along…
Practice makes perfect.
I am still working on improving my manual focus skill with my Olympus camera. In this picture, I was trying to focus on the butterfly, but turns out I got an absolutely crisp image of the opening zinnia that is just above and to the right of where I was trying to focus. I’ll keep trying…
The real yellow rose of Texas.
Happy Easter!
Red.
And one pink.
Soon-to-be sunflower seeds.
An update from the garden…our sunflowers are beginning to bloom! We planted some from seed, but this one is a volunteer from one of the bird feeders.
Perdinaliss.
If you hang around Central Texans long enough, you will learn that we are fond of bestowing our own pronunciation on the names of some of our favorite local places; confounding out-of-towners, I’m sure.
One of those place names is “Pedernales” – the name of a river, a series of water falls, and a state park. Take note: locals refer to it as “per-din-al-iss.”
Whether or not you can say it right, you must go see all three. I took a day trip and visited Pedernales Falls State Park today. I enjoyed visiting their bird blind, walking down to the Falls, scoping out birds while hiking, doing a little geocaching, and taking in the beautiful scenery on a gorgeous day.
The falls from the scenic vantage point above:
Barrel o’fun.
We have a new rain barrel out back. Just in time for today’s rain. Installed yesterday, and today it’s full! Fyi, City of Austin offers modest rebates for rain water harvesting devices. Check it out if you are interested, or see if your city offers something similar.
Painted poppy.
Ok, it’s not really painted, but a photo that I morphed with an iPhone app called Brushstroke. The poppies came back this year out back. I love their deep red. Hoping for even more next year!
A new (to me) park.
I discovered a lovely park, right off Loop 360 and Spicewood Springs Road. The trail head for the Irving and Hazeline Smith Memorial Trail is on the northwest corner of the intersection. You can park right nearby. It’s an easy, flat, 1.5 mile loop through woods, grassland and near the creek. No dogs permitted, though.
Whitebonnet.
One of the bluebonnets that bloomed in our front yard this spring is all white. 🙂
Spring!
I visited Commons Ford Ranch Metropolitan Park today. There are some short trails that go down by Lake Austin, through a bit of woods, and around a beautiful, recently re-established prairie with native grasses and flowers. I saw about 10 different species of birds, including my first Eastern Bluebird. The bluebonnets are everywhere.
