Texas groundsel with phlox
Click to enlarge.
From March 6th along TX 71 east of Bastrop, here’s a closer look at some Texas groundsel (Senecio ampullaceus) in a mixed colony with phlox (probably Phlox drummondii). The scattered bits of blue are bluebonnets (Lupinus sp.).
© 2020 Steven Schwartzman
Portraits of Wildflowers 
This is even lovelier than your previous post showing the flowers. Some of these color combinations rival the effect of combined bluebonnets and paintbrushes. I found groundsel beginning to bloom at the Brazoria refuge on Saturday. They only had dried grasses as their background, but they were just as cheerful.
shoreacres
March 17, 2020 at 7:04 AM
The other picture was what I think of as a scene-setter. In this take I was playing around with near versus far, wanting the background to be as far out of focus as I could get it while still keeping all of the closest groundsel in focus.
Happy cheerful groundsel to you in Brazoria. Over here, two local huisaches have finally started putting out a few flowers.
Steve Schwartzman
March 17, 2020 at 8:42 AM
You captured another floral carpet. A real joy to view, Steve!
Peter Klopp
March 17, 2020 at 7:45 AM
Call it our magic carpet, Peter. Happy flying to you.
Steve Schwartzman
March 17, 2020 at 9:04 AM
A magic carpet indeed. I like how you set off the senecio against the pointillist colors.
melissabluefineart
March 17, 2020 at 9:46 AM
I aimed (literally and figuratively) to make the background flowers as amorphous as possible to contrast with the details of the groundsel in the foreground.
Steve Schwartzman
March 17, 2020 at 10:51 AM
I have tried to get a photo to be just like the background, without anything in sharp focus, but I lack the skills. Really I’m thinking it is time to let go of the crutch and just paint outdoors.
melissabluefineart
March 17, 2020 at 10:54 AM
Painting en plein air:
We hope to find you there.
Steve Schwartzman
March 17, 2020 at 11:36 AM
Painting out in the air
Gives me a scare
But I’ll see what I dare.
melissabluefineart
March 17, 2020 at 5:43 PM
That sounds fair.
Steve Schwartzman
March 17, 2020 at 7:37 PM
🙂
melissabluefineart
March 19, 2020 at 5:53 AM
If you have a camera (not a cell phone) that allows manual focusing, you can throw a picture way out of focus to create the effect you’re after.
Steve Schwartzman
March 17, 2020 at 11:38 AM
Ah, ok I’ll try that. I confess I’ve let the battery go dead on my poor neglected digital camera. Time to dust if off and see what it can do.
melissabluefineart
March 17, 2020 at 5:42 PM
Yes, go for it.
Steve Schwartzman
March 17, 2020 at 9:30 PM
Beautiful balance of near and far. And an explosion of color.
Michael Scandling
March 17, 2020 at 11:45 AM
A happy balance, yes. And ka-boom goes Texas in the spring.
Steve Schwartzman
March 17, 2020 at 2:32 PM
Bloom goes Texas
And bloom CA,
More blooms for you
And more blooms for me…
Michael Scandling
March 17, 2020 at 2:38 PM
Agreed: better blooms than ka-booms.
Steve Schwartzman
March 17, 2020 at 2:41 PM
That looks like a full field in bloom there! We’re not seeing any flowers in bloom yet. It snowed last night so I woke up to a gorgeous winter landscape in my backyard.
circadianreflections
March 17, 2020 at 1:36 PM
Enjoy the snow while you can. I took this picture not in a field but along the edge of a highway. The Department of Transportation may have seeded the area, or the flowers may have sprung up on their own, as they did for aeons before there were any highways.
Steve Schwartzman
March 17, 2020 at 2:35 PM
Still pretty either way. 😀
circadianreflections
March 17, 2020 at 4:22 PM
Agreed.
Steve Schwartzman
March 17, 2020 at 6:14 PM
Zounds! That’s a beautiful landscape bouquet.
Steve Gingold
March 17, 2020 at 4:48 PM
And with a beautiful bountiful bouquet bokeh besides.
Steve Gingold
March 17, 2020 at 4:50 PM
It’s been six years since you left a comment here with “Zounds!” in it. Welcome back, “Zounds!”
Steve Schwartzman
March 17, 2020 at 6:17 PM
I wasn’t aware that I had ever used it before.
Steve Gingold
March 18, 2020 at 12:28 PM
I didn’t initially remember, either. I searched all my comments and found you’d used the exclamation twice:
https://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com/2014/11/18/theres-that-profile-again/#comment-32268
https://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com/2014/06/24/two-intermingled-wildflower-colonies-in-the-texas-hill-country/#comment-27728
In case you didn’t know, “Zounds” arose as a taboo deformation of “God’s wounds.”
Steve Schwartzman
March 18, 2020 at 12:50 PM
Egad! I don’t remember those usages but obviously I did. Now I finally used that Hoopleism I referred to in one of those.
Steve Gingold
March 18, 2020 at 12:58 PM
No one has before you has said “Egad!” You’re forging a new path here.
Steve Schwartzman
March 18, 2020 at 1:05 PM
An anachronism am I..
Steve Gingold
March 18, 2020 at 1:23 PM
That has a nice sound to it, and it’s not a bad thing to be.
Steve Schwartzman
March 18, 2020 at 2:54 PM
And B to the fifth power is welcome, too.
Steve Schwartzman
March 17, 2020 at 6:18 PM
And bokeh is also okay.
Steve Schwartzman
March 17, 2020 at 6:18 PM
Okie bokie.
Steve Gingold
March 18, 2020 at 12:29 PM
Bouquet bokeh made me smile, the words Steve G and the photo Steve S 🙂
Ms. Liz
March 18, 2020 at 2:30 AM
It’s a happy partnership involving a happily mixed colony of wildflowers.
Steve Schwartzman
March 18, 2020 at 5:51 AM
Steve’s usually the clever wordsmith. This time Steve got a good one. 🙂
Steve Gingold
March 18, 2020 at 10:18 AM
You did indeed.
Steve Schwartzman
March 18, 2020 at 12:52 PM
Hehe 🙂
Ms. Liz
March 18, 2020 at 2:00 PM
Sure looks like a magic carpet! Fabulous image Steve 🙂
Julie@frogpondfarm
March 24, 2020 at 2:57 AM
That’s Texas in the spring for you.
Steve Schwartzman
March 24, 2020 at 4:33 AM