by Linda Jo Conn
Is it just me or is spring behaving erratically this year? I am so ready for some consistently warm days and swaths of colorful wildflowers brightening the roadsides!
I did find some pleasant surprises during the past week. On Monday, I had to go to Giddings, so I drove the back roads to check if the plum trees were in bloom. No, but instead, I was delighted to find a couple of Drummond’s Phlox (Phlox drummondii).
Tuesday, I observed the swelling flower buds of the volunteer Eastern Redbud trees (Cercis canadensis) near my house.
While leaving the herbarium at College Station on Wednesday, I finally spotted several specimens of Carolina Crane’s-Bill (Geranium carolinianum) I have been monitoring in the “lawn” area in bloom.
Thursday evening before the new student’s class at the Episcopal Church, I did a little “belly botany” and found a large patch of Bird’s-eye Speedwell (Veronica persica) nearby.
While in Cameron on Friday helping fellow Texas Master Gardeners arrange and display the native plant offerings for the annual plant sale, I noticed non-native Redstem Stork’s-Bills (Erodium cicutarium) blooming in the cracks in the sidewalk.
When I arrived home from Cameron on Saturday afternoon after the plant sale, I was elated to see my first bloom of Texas Baby Blue Eyes (Nemophila phacelioides) for the year.
Sunday afternoon, I again drove to Cameron watch my eldest grandson perform at the Milam County Community Theatre. After the play, among other tiny blooms in the lawn, I found Field Madder (Sherardia arvensis).
My “Let’s Get Outside! Challenge” for last week was to enjoy the approaching spring. Despite my misgivings, I did, and am looking forward to seeing more pops of color appearing in the countryside.
Nature Along the El Camino Real 
[…] and over and over. Spring flowers give me hope. In the past couple of days, both Donna Lewis and Linda Jo Conn have shared flowers from different parts of Milam County. I’d already been thinking of […]
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