Figurative lemonade
You’ve heard it a zillion times: if life hands you lemons, make lemonade. After my return to Austin on February 27th, the skies remained dreary for days and there was often fog and drizzle. Finally on March 4th I made a run for it; profiting from a lessening of the drizzle, I drove to Great Northern Blvd. and photographed my first springtime Texas wildflowers for 2015, including this square-bud primrose, Calylophus berlandieri. The species is also known as sundrops because of the flowers’ bright yellow color, which is akin to that of lemons, even if in this photograph you see drops of rain rather than of lemonade.
UPDATE: the latest botanical classification for the square-bud primrose is Oenothera capillifolia subsp. capillifolia.
NZ – 2.
© 2015 Steven Schwartzman
Portraits of Wildflowers 
Thanks; I needed this. There is hope! I see about 6 inches of frozen snow from my window in Virginia.
Birds are making spring callings, but it is cold and white in the surroundings.
Dianne
March 8, 2015 at 6:23 AM
And this is late for Texas. Yesterday I drove along a road where at this time last year I saw plenty of anemones, but yesterday I didn’t see a single one. I did, though, spot some of the familiar four-nerve daisies that I’ve also seen there in recent years. A week into March still sounds early (at least on average) for spring in Virginia, wouldn’t you say?
Steve Schwartzman
March 8, 2015 at 8:48 AM
Woo hoo! Spring is springing! Lots of flowers (trees, shrubs) on my latest posts, including the exploding redbud. Your little lemon-y sunshine flower is a perfect first one for the year.
Shannon
March 8, 2015 at 8:29 AM
I’d seen your posted redbud plus several here on the way home from the airport nine days ago, but wildflowers still seemed to be lagging in Austin. Now, finally, some are beginning to make their customary appearance,even if their numbers are still small; no doubt they’ve been delayed by the cool weather and overcast skies, as I’ve seen happen in some other years. It won’t be long before many people in Texas are longing for the good old days of early March.
Steve Schwartzman
March 8, 2015 at 8:53 AM
Mmmm~ sun drops and rain drops and lemonade~ you are making me thirsty for summer. As always, you’ve done a stunning job of capturing that yellow.
melissabluefineart
March 8, 2015 at 10:26 AM
I’m glad to have stirred up your thirst for summer, even if I couldn’t stir up some actual lemonade for you. Bright yellow flowers can create havoc with camera sensors, so I was happy that this one stayed under control. Sometimes I think yellow is my favorite color.
Steve Schwartzman
March 8, 2015 at 10:47 AM
Beautiful. We haven’t seen much rain here this summer in New Zealand. Parts of the South Island are awash, while others have been declared drought regions.
Raewyn's Photos
March 8, 2015 at 12:29 PM
It’s another gloomy, drizzly day here in Austin, like the one four days ago when I managed to take this picture. Too bad the South Island can’t balance its rainfall to give a better share to each part.
Steve Schwartzman
March 8, 2015 at 2:05 PM
How lovely!
Sarah Longes - Mirador Design
March 8, 2015 at 2:22 PM
A bright yellow day to you.
Steve Schwartzman
March 8, 2015 at 2:30 PM
I’m hoping for a few bright days this week!
Sarah Longes - Mirador Design
March 8, 2015 at 2:43 PM
The more the yellower.
Steve Schwartzman
March 8, 2015 at 2:50 PM
At first I thought you were posting a competing mullein. We have a few wild primroses around here and grow the garden variety evening primrose in our garden. I think this bloom looks smashing with all those rainy baubles decorating the lemony petals.
Steve Gingold
March 8, 2015 at 5:49 PM
Something we’ve recently done can color (good word here) our perception of something we encounter soon after, so I’m not surprised that you first perceived this flower as a mullein, which you showed in your own most recent post. We have several members of the evening-primrose group in central Texas, a pink one being the most prolific (but it hasn’t debuted yet for this season).
The raindrops did add a texture I don’t normally get to have in my closeups.
Steve Schwartzman
March 8, 2015 at 8:38 PM
Wow! What a superb shot!
photoleaper
March 8, 2015 at 8:24 PM
I was grateful for the chance to bound into spring.
Steve Schwartzman
March 8, 2015 at 8:39 PM
Thank you for sharing the photograph of this dazzling yellow beauty. Dressed in raindrops, she appears even more lovely. No lemons in this one.
Mary Mageau
March 9, 2015 at 7:53 PM
You’re welcome, Mary. I notice you refer to the flower as “she,” but this hermaphrodite has anthers (male) and a stigma (female), so “it” would seem more accurate, even if less personified. Whatever gender you consider the flower, it sure is dazzling.
Steve Schwartzman
March 9, 2015 at 8:10 PM
One of my favourite things…..rain drops on (prim)roses.
Gallivanta
March 10, 2015 at 4:54 AM
Let’s not forget the whiskers on photographers.
Steve Schwartzman
March 10, 2015 at 6:29 AM
😀
Gallivanta
March 12, 2015 at 3:38 AM
[…] While several of the mountain pinks along Capital of Texas Highway on June 19th were white, most of the plants had flowers of their usual color. A few were vibrant, including the ones shown here that I used as the middle ground against which to play off this square-bud primrose flower, Calylophus berlandieri. The stigma in these flowers can be yellow, as here, or black, as I showed a couple of years ago. […]
Yellow before pink | Portraits of Wildflowers
June 29, 2017 at 4:54 AM