Since I work for the parks dept., I observe alot of fauna and flora throughout the day. There are three parks we take care of. One of the parks is in town, the second park is on the edge of town and the third park is about one mile out of the city. The third park is over 300 acres but we only maintain about 100 acres(just a guess). The rest of the park is a golf course, soccer field, RV park, several recreational areas, and a pond way in the back.
Anyway, this park is a haven for wildflowers. Today I was on the JD 5200 mowing an open field way towards the back. There are lots of wildflowers out that way. If you read my blog a coupla days ago you know that I have a sudden interest in wildflowers. At this time of year they are absolutely beautiful. Wine cups are a deep velvety purplish-maroon color and petite and I saw some today. They are just nice to look at. Oh yeah I also saw some Texas Bluebonnets. Dakota vervene's are everywhere as are Lazy Daisys, Rain Lily's, and Showy Primrose to name a few. But today I was most stunned at a most stunning flower...the Indian Paintbrush. There were thousands on an easement and inside some private property. I pulled up right next to it and took a closer look then looked it up in my book and sure enough it was an Indian Paintbrush(Castijella purpurea). This frontage of the private property was wild at best but at the same time it was tame and overflowing with beauty. I can appreciate mother nature's gifts such as these wildflowers. I picked one Indian Paintbrush and put it in a lil improvised vase with water. I wanted my Mom to enjoy this beauty and since there are a million wildflowers everywhere I decided to pick a few more wildflowers and made a lil arrangement out of them. I now understand why my Gramma loved flowers so much. I took some pics for you to enjoy as well. Click photo to enlarge.
In this pic, the tall purpley stem flower is a Texas Vervene, the yellow flowers are Desert Marigolds, the small purple mini bouquet are Dakota Vervene, the lone light pink flower is a Showy Primrose and the bright pink one is the Indian Paintbrush..but since this one is of pink hue it is known as the Castijella purpurea..same family.
This is the Indian Paintbrush...it is so pretty that I wanted you to see a close up shot.
I also saw another new to me wildflower called Herbertia. It is a three petal purple flower and it was beautful. Too bad I didn't have camera in hand.
Well, I guess that's it for now. Thanks fer stoppin by. Until next time, see you on the back roads.
2 comments:
Sounds like you're really getting to know your wild flowers Jen. I see all kinds myself, but can only name a few, but I have been getting a little more interested in what things are myself lately. We have indian paint brush here too, but I hav'nt seen any for a long time. Maybe I just was'nt looking.
Hi Hermit. Its so good to see you. Yes, the things that surround me are what interest me. I also think its good to know your stuff so that you may be able to educate someone someday with it. Wildflowers are just so nice to look at with their odd shapes and color varieties. I hope all is going well for you.
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