The effect of wind on wildflowers

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The red-centered flowers: firewheels, Gaillardia pulchella.

The purple flowers: silverleaf nightshade, Solanum elaeagnifolium.

The pink flowers: a species of Gaura.

The metaphor: a river of flowers flowing from upper left to lower right.

The time: 9:38 AM on May 2.

The place: a field on the east side of Bull Creek Rd. at the equivalent of 43rd St.

The sky: overcast.

The temperature: 53°F , 12°C.

The wind: blowing, gusting.

The photographer: glad to take advantage of those gusts.

The shutter speed: 1/15 sec.

The copyright: © 2013 Steven Schwartzman

The end.

Symphony in white

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In the winter of 1861–62, James McNeill Whistler painted a now-famous portrait that he called “The White Girl” and later, more abstractly, “Symphony in White.” I’ve borrowed his second title for this picture of a very different subject, a field of white prickly poppies swaying in the breeze. The date was April 1, the place a field on FM 2342 in Burnet County.

Argemone albiflora is the only poppy native to the Austin area, where it’s a common sight in the spring. Like so many other species of wildflowers in 2012, this one has been having a good year. A panoramic view of a whole field of them blowing in the wind seemed to me appropriate for Earth Day, which is today. (And I hope you’ll agree that in this blog every day could be thought of as Earth Day.)

© 2012 Steven Schwartzman

What is done shall be undone

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Yes, what is done shall be undone, say the sages, and so it is with the tufts of Baccharis neglecta as they age and begin to come undone in a way that we may find unruly but that surely serves the plant’s purpose.

© 2011 Steven Schwartzman

What if a much of a which of a wind…*

Baccharis neglecta; click for greater detail.

I mentioned last time that Baccharis neglecta is willowy, and in fact one of the names by which people knew it before they contemptuously started calling it poverty weed and Depression weed and New Deal weed was false willow. Because its branches are so pliable, Baccharis neglecta can often be seen blowing in the wind, and that’s how I saw this one on the Blackland Prairie in northeast Austin on the breezy afternoon of October 25. It’s winds like these that disperse the seed-bearing fluff that makes the plants so attractive at this stage. I used a high shutter speed of 1/640 sec. to record a predominantly horizontal view of a young tree that sprang back to being mostly vertical whenever there was a lull in the prairie wind.

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* For the source of the title, click here.

© 2011 Steven Schwartzman