Bald cypress tree in autumn
From a year and a day ago at McKinney Falls State Park in southeast Austin, here’s a bald cypress tree (Taxodium distichum) turning its customary autumnal orange-brown.
There have been times when I’ve gone to a place in nature and taken plenty of photographs, few or none of which made their way into this blog. It’s not that most of the pictures in those cases weren’t good enough (that can happen, too), but merely that I took so many other photographs at around the same time that there were too many to deal with properly here. The visit to McKinney Falls State Park on November 24, 2014, was one of those jaunts whose fruits, figurative as well as literal, barely appeared in these pages. In today’s post and several ahead I’m mining that previously untouched part of my archive to show you a few of the things you didn’t get to look at last fall.
© 2015 Steven Schwartzman
Portraits of Wildflowers 
So thankful to have these beauties in my own yard! McKinney Falls SP is still on my list of Texas places to see. Looking forward to seeing more images from there. Will be looking. Happy Thanksgiving, Steve. 😀
Shannon
November 25, 2015 at 7:08 AM
Ah, in your own yard: how convenient. The closest one I know of—and it’s a small one—is in Great Hills Park, about half a mile away. McKinney Falls, the only state park in Austin, is in the opposite corner of this area, about half an hour away. Onion Creek flows through it, hence the presence of falls. You may be aware of the venerable bald cypress in the park:
http://texasforestservice.tamu.edu/websites/FamousTreesOfTexas/TreeLayout.aspx?pageid=17077
The trail to it is still closed due to damage caused by flash flooding in the creek, but there are also other good-sized bald cypresses in the park.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family as well, Shannon.
Steve Schwartzman
November 25, 2015 at 7:22 AM
300 years? Amazing! I didn’t know bald cypress could live to be so old. I have seen the ‘knees’ get 4-5 feet high, which I am reminded every time the tractor-mower shaves off a bit of the ones showing up. NOT a good species to plant among turf grass, but I’m happy to have them anyway.
Shannon
November 25, 2015 at 7:28 AM
At 300+ years, Old Baldy is still a youngster compared to the bald cypress in Florida known as the Senator:
http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/photos/the-worlds-10-oldest-living-trees/the-senator
Steve Schwartzman
November 25, 2015 at 5:19 PM
Okay. My mind is officially blown. Time to go back to bed.
Shannon
November 27, 2015 at 7:17 AM
I was really impressed with that bald cypress but saddened by the update at the end of the article saying that the tree burned down in 2012.
Steve Schwartzman
November 27, 2015 at 7:20 AM
…or, if you click away on the bristle cone pine, you can learn (as I did) about the intentional felling of a thousands year old alive and thriving tree in 1964, all in the name of science (Prometheus). I think I am numb to being sad about loss of wilderness and wildlife anymore, Steve. Being in Texas in the booming 21st century isn’t exactly helping.
Shannon
November 27, 2015 at 11:09 AM
I followed your lead and read the sad story of Prometheus. That destruction was in our (at least my) lifetime, alas.
Steve Schwartzman
November 27, 2015 at 1:31 PM
A beautiful tree like this is worth waiting a year to see. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, Steve.
melissabluefineart
November 25, 2015 at 8:26 AM
Well worth the wait. We wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving as well.
Steve Schwartzman
November 25, 2015 at 11:19 AM
Love the gold against the blue.
Julie@frogpondfarm
November 25, 2015 at 12:17 PM
The blue and the gold will never grow old.
Steve Schwartzman
November 25, 2015 at 1:40 PM
Blue and gold make a great combination. I think we probably have an affinity for anything with bald in its name.
Happy Thanksgiving, Steve and Eve.
Steve Gingold
November 25, 2015 at 2:14 PM
Happy Thanksgiving to the two of you, too. I can’t believe we’re that far into the year already.
Steve Schwartzman
November 25, 2015 at 5:16 PM
It’s interesting that you took this photo at the same time I was photographing cypress at the Rio Frio last year. A friend who was with me then also came to Goliad with me, and we were commenting on the contrast between the two years and the two locations. Quite apart from no blue skies or sunshine, the landscape around Goliad seemed quite dull. I’m sure sunshine would have helped, especially with the grasses. Thank goodness there were yellow flowers in abundance, and quite a variety.
In any event, the photo is beautiful. Cypress is one of my favorite trees, and it’s nice to see it glowing like this.
shoreacres
November 29, 2015 at 9:26 PM
I’ve noticed that central Texas has been rather dull so far this season. Whether the rain and the turn toward cold this weekend will give us any good fall foliage remains to be seen. As you said, there are still some wildflowers, especially of the yellow sort, including Maximilian sunflowers and even a few lingering goldenrods that I noticed on the way to a Thanksgiving get-together in Round Rock.
Our separate bald cypress pictures last year are yet another coincidence to add to the record. May there be more.
Steve Schwartzman
November 29, 2015 at 10:50 PM