Dense wildflowers of a different color and shape
In contrast to the (slightly orange) yellow of the greenthreads that brightened not only the last three posts but also the field on the southwest corner of Grand Ave. Pkwy. and Picadilly Dr. in Pflugerville, here’s a portion of a wonderful colony of (distinctly violet) mealy blue sage, Salvia farinacea, that I found while I was on my way to that site on April 28. This other colony was busy livening up its own southwest corner, the one at Burnet Rd. and Shoreline Dr. in far north Austin. The pinkish flowers in the background were prairie verbenas, Glandularia bipinnatifida.
If you’re interested in photography as a craft, you’ll find that points 2, 6, 9 and 15 in About My Techniques are relevant to this photograph. If you’re interested in spring wildflowers, come to Austin now.
© 2013 Steven Schwartzman
Wow again. I’ve never seen this salvia so dense, ever. You are really finding some wonderful stands of wildflowers lately. 🙂
petspeopleandlife
May 2, 2013 at 5:38 PM
Yes, after a slow start things have picked up and I’ve been coming across some great places lately. You’ll see more of them here in the days and weeks ahead.
Steve Schwartzman
May 2, 2013 at 9:13 PM
This is another whose scientific name I can remember – because of the cereal called farina, of course.
I’ll not make it as far as Austin, but I clearly have to schedule another trip to the Schulenberg area. One reason is to see what changes there might be in the flowers. The other is to retake photos that were – ummmm – less than stellar once I got home. Besides, I’ve never had such good cream cheese kolaches as I had in Schulenberg.
shoreacres
May 3, 2013 at 10:17 PM
Farina was the Latin word for ‘flour,’ and this species of sage is ‘floury.’ You speak of kolaches, but I think back to when I was a child and my mother used to cook Cream of Wheat farina with raisins and lots of milk: yumm.
A few days ago I got as far as about 10 miles east of Lockhart, and I found the sides of FM 20 to be intermittently wonderful with flowers. That should be a good omen for places farther east, like Schulenberg.
Steve Schwartzman
May 4, 2013 at 7:13 AM
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