Two intermingled wildflower colonies in the Texas Hill Country

How about this profusion of horsemints (Monarda citriodora) and firewheels (Gaillardia pulchella) that I encountered along FM 2766 in Blanco County on June 7th? Most of the horsemints here are more purple than the pale ones in the photograph you saw two days ago, but that’s just natural variation within the species.

© 2014 Steven Schwartzman