It hit 104° here yesterday but the botanical calendar is already saying autumn.

That’s right: it was 104°F (40°C) here yesterday afternoon, but you can see from this photograph that I took in the morning to avoid the worst of the heat that the Texas botanical calendar is already beginning to say autumn. The prominent plant with the white-fringed bracts at the tips of its branches is snow-on-the-mountain, Euphorbia marginata, which begins flowering in the latter part of summer and continues well into the fall. The low greenery is broomweed, Amphiachyris dracunculoides, which also flowers from the late summer into the fall. At the left is a sunflower plant, Helianthus annuus, quite a few of which have continued blooming since the late spring.

The location of this photograph from yesterday was the fringe of one of the ponds adjacent to the Costco in the Austin suburb of Cedar Park.

© 2015 Steven Schwartzman