Natural History Wanderings

For those of you that are new to Texas, the wildflowers are looking good now in the Brazos Valley (area around Brenham) and in the Hill Country. The caveat is that they are limited almost exclusively to the roadsides only. Makes for an enjoyable drive, especially if you’ve never seen them before. That said, you will be hard pressed to find fields with any significant coverage. From a photographers perspective, there are no “WOW” scenes this year (at least that I’ve seen). The unseasonable heat and lack of rain in October are the most likely culprits. Late spring wildflowers may yet put on a good show in the fields, but I’m not very optomistic, I don’t see masses of plants out there. Roadsides are about average, but not great. Some recommended drives for roadside wildflowers and scenery:

• – Hwy 29 between Burnet and Llano: Bluebonnets and paintbrush, and always a nice scenic drive; and you can’t beat the BBQ in Llano at Cooper’s
• – Hwy 16 north of Llano: roadside bluebonnets and paintbrush, decent coverage, fields lacking
• – Hwy 71 north and south of Llano: roadside bluebonnets, decent coverage, again fields lacking