Road Trip & What's blooming this week

Indian Blanket, Gaillardia pulchella, is blooming around the house at Kalorama, and there was lots of it blooming on Texas roadsides this past weekend.

Terry and I visited in College Station, Texas this past weekend. There is really no direct road from here to there, and we love to travel the back roads. After we left Interstate 20 near the Texas state line, I programmed our GPS unit to find the shortest route. That always brings up a disclaimer that there may be unpaved roads involved, but that was not the case this time. We did travel down miles of county roads that were in great shape and when the trees were not meeting to form a canopy over the road, the roadsides were covered with wildflowers that were thick and natural, not planted by the highway department. However, when folks asked us which way we came, we didn’t have a clue. I studied a map later on and tried to figure out our route, but was not ever sure about it.

I have spent every spare minute since we returned watering this hillside. The temperatures hovered around 100 degrees south of Palestine, TX. It was not that hot here, but it hasn’t rained a drop in weeks and it shows. I am leaving tomorrow for Little Rock to join our daughter on a trip to New York City this weekend and next week. It will be a first for us. She will be working most of the time, and I will relax and play.

While working around the garage and the fountain areas, I have found two resident speckled king snakes. Neither is anywhere near what I would call full grown. The larger of the two lives out at the garage. It was staying inside a roll of pond liner that had been lying near the garage. I disturbed it when I moved it to store it inside. The snake seemed quite confused when I moved the roll, and kept coming back to where it used to be. It finally moved on into one of the garage bays. I have not seen it in a few days. Today I discovered a slightly smaller one is probably living in the brick wall surrounding the fountain patio. It is very shy and races away into a hole as soon as I come around. I hope to get a picture of one or both. I have also seen a gigantic Texas rat snake around the garage. I always look up before I walk into any of the bays or rooms, expecting it to be hanging out in the rafters. The last thing I want is a snake falling on my head.

There are a few more things blooming this week, and most of the flowers from the past few weeks are still going strong. There will be even more things blooming in July.

Purple Coneflower, Echinacea purpurea is just beginning to bloom.

Turk's Cap is a member of the hibiscus family. It is adored by hummingbirds and is one of the most dependable summer flowers there is. The little twirled petals always remind me of icing flowers on a cake. The pollen is magenta colored, and ruby-throated hummingbirds will appear to have bright magenta patches on their faces after feeding on a few hundred Turk's Cap flowers.


Prairie Coneflower, Rudbeckia grandiflora, is yet another in the black-eyed susan genus. It is a more refined plant than the common black-eyed susan, but smaller than the giant coneflower in a previous post.

This flower also is called Prairie Coneflower, but it is related to Mexican Hat. This is Ratibida pinnata. The ray petals are lighter yellow than the black-eyed susans, and the cone part starts out gray-green before the tiny brown flowers pop out. They always remind me of badminton birdies. These plants are from seeds collected around Olla and Urania, Louisiana on US 167 before the road construction to create a four-lane highway. There are some interesting plants and were some pocket prairies around there at one time.