Wildflower Haven had the following wildflower report for the Llano are:
Generally, it’s looking like only an average year, but maybe it is only still a little early.
Friday, March 28, we drove from Georgetown to Llano, south to Fredericksburg on RR 2323, back north to take the Willow City Loop, onto US 281 and into Marble Falls, then Burnet, and back home.
RR 2341 along the east edge of Lake Buchanan had some pretty spots along the roadway, and the north entrance to Wolf Creek Ranch looks like it’s coming back after several years of not having much. Then back to take FM 690 along the south edge of Lake Buchanan. More roadside bluebonnets, and indications of some pretty fields yet to come where the lake has receded. This is the area I mentioned several posts back on the rosette topic, that can be seen from a bridge along FM 690 and also from N. Chapparal St.
Nothing much at Old Spanish Trail, north off TX 29, where there once were such pretty fields of paintbrush. This is maybe a quarter mile west of the intersection of TX 29 and RM 1431.
We turned off TX 29 a little west of the eagle’s nest, on CR 207, as that’s the quickest way to the Lone Grove Community Center. In 2010 that was among the prettiest displays I’ve seen, with red, blue, and yellow flowers mixed in banks. Looks like it might end up being worthwhile in another couple of weeks, maybe, but not nearly so pretty as in 2010. Also, there’s a little road that shortcuts the intersection of CR 207 and RR 2241 where the Lone Grove Community Center is, and we’ve found pretty combinations of flowers at the south end of that cutoff. This year they may fill in, but so far it’s not looking all that great there.
Back into Llano (and an early lunch at Cooper’s, where my plan to arrive a little after 11 to be ahead of the crowd was thwarted by a busload of folks arriving just ahead of us), then south, taking RR 2323 by Prairie Mountain School rather than the more direct route to Fredericksburg. Bluebonnets and some prickly poppies there, although not in the profusion we’ve seen in the past. Generally, I’d say the road makes for a pretty drive, with a lot of bluebonnets along the road, some paintbrush, and a few fields of prickly poppy, and a couple of small patches of phlox right along the road. It’s possible this area will develop more later, as the mesquite hasn’t even leafed out yet.
The Willow City Loop was very disappointing, partly because it just was, and maybe a little because I always expect so much of it. No fields of prickly poppy, no paintbrush to speak of, and while there were patches of bluebonnets, mostly along the road, it just doesn’t look all that great this year. We’ve occasionally taken Althaus-Davis road north from RR 1323 after doing the Loop, but this time we stayed on RR 1323. Up until last year we’d not seen much along this road, although I think others have thought highly of it. Last year, around the last week in April, we found the prettiest patch of the season, for us, of paintbrush mixed with bluebonnets and some yellow flowers along that road, around Sandy, I think. We saw some early paintbrush and many bluebonnets along the road, nothing much in the fields, although I think I remember a few off-road patches of bluebonnets.
Then pie at the Bluebonnet Cafe in Marble Falls, and back home. Some bluebonnet patches were well-developed, a pretty blue, while others looked like they needed another couple of weeks of growth to show well. The roadside paintbrush were mostly orange, rather than red, and all of these looked to me like they needed more growing time. Of course, the whole idea of a scout was for us to find where things are likely to be looking good in another week or so. We expected to be a little too early. Now we just have to hope that a whole lot more growing will happen. Wouldn’t mind a whole bunch more paintbrush and other colors than blue, if I could have a wish granted, but at least it appears to be a decent year for bluebonnets.
Natural History Wanderings 
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