A different look at gulf muhly
Click for greater clarity.
Not everything that I photographed at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center on December 6th was colorful. Here you see some gulf muhly, Muhlenbergia capillaris, that caught my attention because the raindrops on it were frozen at the time of my morning visit.
The last time you saw gulf muhly, in a photograph from Arkansas in November, the grass was in a decidedly pink phase.
© 2104 Steven Schwartzman
very interesting! An hour or so later and you may have missed the frozen rain!
SmallHouseBigGarden
February 11, 2014 at 6:11 AM
Exactly. Ice is scarce here, so I was grateful for the chance to photograph some frozen raindrops.
Steve Schwartzman
February 11, 2014 at 1:06 PM
What a great capture. It looks like Mother Nature’s crystal necklace was broken and scattered across the landscape. Who knows? If Joan Baez had seen this, she might have sung about Diamonds and Grass instead of “Diamonds and Rust”.
shoreacres
February 11, 2014 at 8:26 AM
I discern a slightly rusty tinge in this muhly, so Joan Baez is welcome to write new native-plant-related lyrics and keep the original title.
Steve Schwartzman
February 11, 2014 at 1:50 PM
This is such a pretty grass, I can see why people are falling in love with it. I get nervous with people planting grasses not native to their region, though, because when grasses “escape”, they are really aggressive in natural areas.
melissabluefineart
February 11, 2014 at 12:39 PM
You’re sure right about alien plants escaping. Central Texas has been invaded by various non-native species, and two grasses stand out: King Ranch bluestem (originally from Europe and northern Africa) and Johnson grass (originally from the Mediterranean region). We’re fortunate in Texas that pink muhly is native here.
Steve Schwartzman
February 11, 2014 at 2:00 PM
beautiful detail.
sedge808
February 11, 2014 at 7:25 PM
At the price of getting chilled, a price I’ve sometimes been willing to pay.
Steve Schwartzman
February 11, 2014 at 7:39 PM
That’s a beautiful image; I love it!
bluebrightly
February 11, 2014 at 10:23 PM
The pink had mostly faded, but the bits of ice made up for the loss of color.
Steve Schwartzman
February 11, 2014 at 10:31 PM
[…] of subdued colors at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center on the overcast and wet morning of December 6th, […]
Subdued colors | Portraits of Wildflowers
February 12, 2014 at 6:12 AM
Bejeweled they are!
Lynda
February 12, 2014 at 1:22 PM
That’s a good word for it: bejeweled.
Steve Schwartzman
February 12, 2014 at 1:32 PM
Subdued colours but very beautiful all the same.
Gallivanta
February 13, 2014 at 1:47 AM
That’s the way I feel about it.
Steve Schwartzman
February 13, 2014 at 6:49 AM