floral design & botanical blog
In the beginning of May 2018, my mother and I visited Caprock Canyons State Park outside of Quitaque, Texas, about 100 southeast of Amarillo. Caprock encompasses over 15,000 acres, an abandoned train tunnel that is home to half a million Mexican free-tailed bats, the Texas State Bison Herd, and over 90 miles of trails.
Read MoreCedar Ridge Preserve is a 600 acre tract of land just southwest of downtown Dallas, adjacent to Cedar Hill State Park. The preserve is maintained by Audubon Dallas, including the 9 miles of trails among the hilly terrain of juniper and oak forest.
Read MoreThe Window Trail is probably the most heavily traveled path in Big Bend National Park, and for good reason. The trail is so aptly named for the framing of the western desert floor by Carter Peak to the south (left) and Vernon Bailey Peak to the north (right). Rain that falls in the Chisos Basin gathers and runs through this opening between the mountains, supporting residents of the park, animals and humans alike. The trail follows this gradual slope down to the opening, crossing arroyos and rolling foothills of scrub brush.
Read MoreThrockmorton County is a 900 square mile, sparsely populated jurisdiction in north central Texas. The landscape is defined by a transition from the oak-dominated Cross Timbers to the scrubby grasslands of the Plains. The area explored lies about 1 mile from the Brazos River where Hog Creek empties into it, and a few hundred yards away from Coon Hollow, a drainage bounded by exposed bluffs of sandstone, rising 30 feet above the horizon. While these features are not particularly impressive, they do vary from the norm of relatively low, rolling hills of the surrounding terrain. If this area of northeastern Throckmorton County had a name, it would be Koger, a small community that once had a school, but leaves no evidence of establishment today.
Read MoreIt was a very quick trip to Big Bend National Park, and my least active by far. I was in the park for a wedding and was fortunate enough to stay in the lodge where I had 4 walls, electricity, and hot water. I almost felt like I was cheating the system by not camping. I didn't make it down the usual trails so many of my observations were from the roadside.
Read MoreIn March, I was able to explore the backwoods of Ouachita National Forest in southeastern Oklahoma, among the Ouachita Mountains. This mountain range extends into western Arkansas and south of the Ozarks, the Arkansas River separating the two.
Read MoreAt the end of June, I spent the weekend with friends on the western edge of the Llano Uplift in Mason County, deep in the heart of the Texas Hill Country. The James River, a short waterway spanning 36 miles before emptying into the Llano River, cuts through the 20 acre property. Never deeper than 12" or so, the river is fed by rain runoff and numerous springs. The area was home to Native Americans, and then white settlers by 1860. The river is known for its cleanliness as it's very remote and unspoiled by agricultural pollution.
Read MoreClose friends of mine have a wild game ranch off of FM1431, east of Marble Falls in Burnet County. The tract is bordered on the south by the Colorado River and to the north lies the Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge. Located on the eastern edge of the Edwards Plateau, there is a large variety of flora found here between the limestone outcrops.
Read MoreThe Big Bend area of the Chihuahuan Desert in Texas probably my favorite region to visit given its diverse botany, topography, and ecology. In October 2013 with the assistance of a botanist who is well-versed in the plants of the area, a coworker and I were able to visit the flora-rich Chinati Mountains in Presidio County, Texas.
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