Still farther west on Texas 71
Heading west from Austin along TX 71 on the morning of April 23rd, the pullover for the Packsaddle Mountain historical marker in Llano County served double duty as a safe place to get off the highway and take nature pictures like the one below. As Burnet County Rd. 309 was adjacent, I followed it, and within short order was able to photograph a spread of wildflowers with Packsaddle Mountain in the background, as shown above.
The yellow flowers in the top picture are greenthread (Thelesperma filifolium). The red ones appear to be red blanketflower (Gaillardia amblyodon). The yellow flowers in the bottom picture are brown bitterweed (Helenium amarum var. badium).
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UPDATE: Two days ago I showed you the letter I mailed to the President of Columbia University, my alma mater (literally ‘nourishing mother), in which I outlined a reasonable set of rules that protestors should have to follow, with violations to be punished first by a warning, then a suspension, and finally expulsion or dismissal. Yesterday morning the pusillanimous Columbia (mal)administration cancelled its main graduation ceremony, thereby letting a gang of lawbreaking protestors once more control the university at the expense of the vastly greater number of law-abiding Columbia students and their parents. My alma mater has become an indecora (‘disgraceful’) mater.
© 2024 Steven Schwartzman
Portraits of Wildflowers 
I’m grateful for your diligent wildflower explorations, Steve. I’m enjoying the season of beauty!
Eliza Waters
May 7, 2024 at 6:09 AM
“Diligent” is a good word for it, and one I don’t recall anyone ever using here in a comment. The longest treks have turned exhausting by the end of the day, but that’s not an exorbitant price to pay for what we’ve been able to see and document.
Steve Schwartzman
May 7, 2024 at 8:17 AM
The first photo reminds me of the views from the Willow City loop, as well as those of the Love Creek Preserve near Lost Maples. It’s a wonderful hill country view. I hadn’t heard of Packsaddle Mountain; I’ll have to look that one up. The flowers are very similar to spreads I’ve seen on the Willow City loop in prior years. Despite doomsayers, it’s clear that the area got enough rain for the spring flowers to thrive.
shoreacres
May 7, 2024 at 7:40 AM
Only a few times in the past couple of decades have I driven the stretch of TX 71 between the Marble Falls area and Llano; that’s because if Llano is the destination, it’s shorter and less trafficky to go north from our house to Liberty Hill, then swing due west on TX 29. This time, however, I’d had a good wildflower report about TX 71 along the stretch I mentioned, so it made sense to go out that way in the morning and take TX 29 eastbound on the return late in the afternoon.
Because I’ve rarely driven that stretch of TX 71, I hadn’t focused on Packsaddle Mountain, which is pretty puny to deserve the name “mountain,” but such terms are relative. Two centuries ago, when roads didn’t exist in that area and travel was difficult, it didn’t take much of an elevation for a geological feature to get called a mountain.
Steve Schwartzman
May 7, 2024 at 8:35 AM
And yes, that general area came to life, florally speaking, by late April. I’ve seen some recently taken pictures of the Willow City Loop showing wildflowers other than bluebonnets, notably white prickly poppies.
Steve Schwartzman
May 7, 2024 at 8:44 AM
Once again I had to press the reply button to write a comment. Some oversized ads do not leave enough space. Texas is a very large state where the urban centres have not encroached too much on the vast remaining wilderness areas. Hence, the opportunities to explore and search for wildflowers are endless.
Peter Klopp
May 7, 2024 at 9:57 AM
While I’ve lost and continue to lose many nature sites in Austin and its suburbs, you’re right that I don’t have to drive all that far to find myself in large rural areas. There I have to contend with the different detractions that come from farming and ranching. Farmed areas, unless abandoned, leave me things to photograph only along the margins, which are hard to mow and plough. Ranches are usually better, though I almost always have to settle for what I can photograph from the outside of a barbed-wire fence.
Sorry about the continuing obtrusiveness of WordPress ads.
Steve Schwartzman
May 7, 2024 at 10:06 AM
Cancelling graduation???! I agree – that is disgraceful.
At Sunnyside - Where Truth and Beauty Meet
May 7, 2024 at 2:44 PM
Yup, the gang of woke students, sympathetic teachers, and outside agitators has taken the Columbia administration hostage. That administration claims it will still go ahead with smaller individual graduation ceremonies, but who knows?
Steve Schwartzman
May 7, 2024 at 2:58 PM
Beautiful photos, great examples of Texas Hill Country land!
Tina
May 7, 2024 at 4:19 PM
It’s been a flowerful spring, that’s for sure. Six days later I found (and of course photographed) great wildflower displays filling parts of the Capital of Texas Highway median right here in northwest Austin.
Steve Schwartzman
May 7, 2024 at 4:30 PM
Yes I’m also grateful for your many outings searching for those divine wildflowers ..
Julie@frogpondfarm
May 16, 2024 at 2:43 PM
Thanks, Julie. As I’ve said before, I hope you’ll get to see these displays in person one of these days.
Steve Schwartzman
May 18, 2024 at 2:42 PM
That would be super …
Julie@frogpondfarm
May 18, 2024 at 3:18 PM
Next spring (Texas style) is already on its way. Hope to see you here.
Steve Schwartzman
May 18, 2024 at 3:39 PM