Natural History Wanderings

Texas WildflowerHaven has a new report for Hill country from 4/7/14

Sparse on 71 west to Llano, then San Saba, Lampasas, 281 to 71

I went out west on 71 again. This time I went all the way to Llano, then up 16 to San Saba, then 190 to Lometa and Lampasas, then down 281 back to 71. I thought before that the bluebonnets on 71 west of 281 would fill in. Scratch that. I think it’s just been too dry. There are bluebonnets there, even some large areas with them, but they are very thin. There is a very nice photo op with thick flowers on a hill on the south side before you hit the construction, but it’s almost the only one. There was a nice clump on the north side, but the extremely dead deer in the middle of it put me off.

 

After the first lot of construction there was a pasture filled with prickly poppy.

16 has been gorgeous in past years, but it’s sadly reduced now, and the bluebonnets are aging. The airport had a fair area of bluebonnets, but they

were thin. I did see some areas of pink phlox in bluebonnets along the roads, and one could stop at the mailbox pulloffs. After Cherokee I started

seeing the prairie paintbrush in many colors, but they were in sparse little clumps. There are a lot of pastures with prickly pear, and they might be interesting when they bloom.

Once I got to San Saba and started heading towards Lometa, the grass was green, and there were bluebonnets and prairie paintbrush. In 2007 there were huge swaths of the paintbrush, but they’ve gotten sparse. They might be a bit better this year than last. The best pickings seemed to me to be between San Saba and Lometa, but there was color here and there all the way to Lampasas.

I was pleasantly surprised by 281 down to 71. It wasn’t great for pictures, but I’ve tended to think of that stretch as a wasteland. This year there were quite a few bluebonnets gamely trying, on the roadside and in the pastures. They were pretty thin, so it wasn’t like pools of blue, but they were there. Maybe next year they will be better.

via Sparse on 71 west to Llano, then San Saba, Lampasas, 281 to 71.

Related articles

• Texas Wildflower Updates 4/7/14 (naturalhistorywanderings.com)