Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Very hungry caterpillars

 

 
I took a video of one pipevine caterpillar, chomping down on a swanflower. Around here, the butterfly mamas lay so many eggs that the larvae run out of foliage to eat. I transferred the one above to the swanflower. In the meantime, James spotted a larva starting the chysalis process (photos below).
Yesterday afternoon
Taken earlier today


Images below May 9, 2019


Green milkweed blooming

 For the first time! Asclepias viridis, planted October 2014.

Monday, April 29, 2019

Crestrib morning-glory germinating

I'm excited to report that seeds from the Edwards Plateau crestrib morning-glory (Ipomoea costellata var. edwardsensis)–the uncommon plant I found in Blanco last November–have germinated in our back yard! So far, I've counted seven seedlings. Stay tuned!

Saturday, April 20, 2019

Poppies

A volunteer red poppy from maybe some seeds I tossed?
The new Mexican tulip poppy from a recent plant sale.

Cacti research project

This is yet another cool part of having a blog. 

Last December, I received an email from the "other side of the pond." Peter Berresford, a deputy editor with CactusWorld magazine in England, was trying to ID a Texas wildflower  and ran across a post on my blog. "I travel every year to the southern states of the U.S. or Mexico," he wrote. "As well as taking many photos of cacti, I also enjoy wildflowers and habitats." He couldn't figure out a pink-flowered plant he'd photographed. I immediately wrote back, gave him the correct name (common and botanical) and mentioned that we had Echinocereus cacti on our land, the same genus that he specializes in and has collected for 50 years. 

Long story short, yesterday on our rural land, we met up with Peter, his associate, Dr. Martin Terry, who's a retired biology professor at Sul Ross University in Alpine, and Anna Ermakova, a master student originally from Russia who's studying conservation science at Imperial College London.

"Photographer, surgeon, conservator–that's us!" Martin quipped.  

The trio are traveling across Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona, collecting samples from Echinocereus sp. cacti for a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department project centered on the endangered black lace cactus (Echinocereus reichenbachii var. albertii). 

Peter via email explained the project this way: "The number of known locations is slowly increasing away from the Gulf Coast, but the morphology of the plant is much more variable in the inland locations, and we want to understand the relationship of all these populations to the two most local 'sisters'–the comparatively rare E. fitchii subsp. fitchii but also E. reichenbachii subsp. caespitosus. In April, we will visit many sites and take tepal samples from the flowers, from which will be extracted isoenzymes. These will be analyzed and compared to see how genetically close each population and taxon is. From the results, we hope to have a better understanding of how the taxa developed and how they spread."

Here's a page that explains a bit about what's going on with this cactus. 

As part of this spring 2019 trip, the group searched for a black lace cactus near Alice, Texas. "Dr. L. D. Benson and Dr. R. O. Albert found the first individuals in 1965 in Jim Wells County," Martin told me. "We were hoping to find another individual near the original sites where they were found. We hunted for three days but found nothing due to land changes. Fields get plowed, and nothing's left. So we didn't get lucky." 
Martin showing us how you can nearly hug a cactus.
Since our cacti had either already bloomed or not yet bloomed, Martin (the surgeon) extracted samples from three plants. Peter (the photographer) took lots of pictures of the cacti and surrounding plants, including wildflowers.
Anna (the conservator) placed the samples in plastic bags and took lots of notes. All told, they stayed about an hour before they took off for Mason and destinations further north. Ultimately, they'll deliver their collection of samples to the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, where specialists will analyze the plants' DNA sequences to better differentiate species from subspecies.

James and I were honored to have been a part of this research project. Y'all come back any time!  

P.S. As a side note, two other nature-related individuals have contacted me via this blog. An author working on a new field guide to bird nests of North America may use some of James' photos of nests he's photographed on our rural land. And a researcher in Germany has requested that I collect some Phaedon beetles for a project that he's working on. COOL!






Thursday, April 18, 2019

Indigo blooms

Green wild indigo (Baptisia sphaerocarpa), bloom April 2, 2019

Blue wild indigo (Baptisia australis), bloom April 17, 2019

NPSOT garden tour

Photos by JAMES HEARN
Several members of the Highland Lakes chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas braved gray skies Thursday morning to tour our native gardens. One time, a light mist fell, and I worried it might get worse. But nope. The dampness stayed away so we could enjoy our time outside. Thank you for coming!






We shared some plants, of course!

Wildscape presentation (plus a toad)


Photos by JAMES HEARN
This past Tuesday evening, I was honored to give my "Window on a Texas Wildscape" presentation to members of the Lindheimer chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas. As always, James and I met a lot of nice folks.



PLUS A TOAD...Right after we pulled up into a parking slot, I spotted this little juvenile Gulf Coast toad. It was just sitting there at the edge of the curb, like it was contemplating life or what to do next. I talked to it a minute, then I picked it up. I didn't want to leave it in the middle of all that concrete and asphalt. So I released it behind a chain-link fence into a grassy field. Happy life, friend! Do you deep thinking in a safer place.






Monday, April 15, 2019

Patio facelifts

 Most of today, James worked on our three brick and stone patios. He took before and after photos. They look great!