Natural History Wanderings

I did an extensive scouting trip Friday afternoon of the Hill Country around Burnet, Llano and Mason. Bottom line is that peak is still at least a week away in my opinion. Good for a nice scenic drive, but not for serious landscape photography. I will note, however, that this is an unusual season, I’ve never seen the wildflowers in such wide stages of bloom, from going to seed and shriveling up, to small plants without blooms. I noticed this both from the bluebonnet and paintbrush plants. This is undoubtedly due to the lack of winter rain and spells of unseasonably warm temperatures. Here are the routes I traveled and my findings:

• – TX 29 between Georgetown and Liberty Hill: few wildflowers scattered along the roadsides; Rating 0
• – Hwy 29 between Liberty Hill and Burnet: only very scattered roadside bluebonnets, very few in fields; Rating 0-1
• – Hwy 29 between Burnet and Inks Lake: roadside bluebonnets and lots of paintbrush; Rating 1-2

• – Hwy 29 between Inks Lake and FM 1431: roadside bluebonnets and lots of paintbrush, but not as good as usual; Roadside Rating 2-3, Beyond Roadside Rating 2-3
• – Park Road 4: roadside bluebonnets less than usual, old golf course is covered in groundsel; Rating 1-2
• – Old Spanish Trail: in good years all the lots are thickly covered in paintbrush and bluebonnets, the area is improving, but pales in comparison to good years; Rating overall 2-3, some patches of 4
• – Hwy 29 between FM 1431 and Llano: roadside bluebonnets and lots of paintbrush, but not as good as usual, occasional lightly covered fields; Roadside Rating 2-3, Beyond Roadside Rating 1-2
• – Hwy 29 between Llano and FM 1900: roadside bluebonnets and lots of paintbrush, occasional lightly covered fields; Roadside Rating 2-3, Beyond Roadside Rating 1-2
• – FM 1900 from Hwy 29 to FM 2618: roadside bluebonnets (best at north end) and many fields of groundsel; Roadside Rating 2-3, Beyond Roadside Rating 1-2 (groundsel 3-4)
• – Fly Gap Rd to Hwy 71: extremely poor for wildflowers, there are large areas of recently plowed land with barren brown dirt; Rating 0
• – Hwy 71 between Pontotoc and Hwy 29 : roadside paintbrush and bluebonnets, with some nice fields of groundsel or paintbrush, few bluebonnets in fields, best near Hwy 29; Roadside Rating 1-3, Beyond Roadside Rating 0-2 (groundsel or paintbrush 2-4)