floral design & botanical blog

Winter Driftwood

February 06, 2017 by Travis Ward in Plant Hunt

On a mission to forage mesquite wood for succulent arrangements, I ventured back out to the YL Ranch. I showcased this area in southwestern Throckmorton County last summer. Unlike then, it is the dead of winter without much living botanical interest, but the history of the property is interesting enough. I was easily distracted by the discarded and out-dated farm equipment that was scattered across a slope behind the barn. I even picked up a few bottles in some unique shapes.

Koger

December 02, 2016 by Travis Ward in Plant Hunt

Throckmorton 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.

Crystal Beach

November 13, 2016 by Travis Ward in Plant Hunt

Typical of Texas beaches (with the exception of South Padre), the water is muddy and the sand is pretty brown. But for someone who can count on one hand how many times they've been to a warm-weather beach, it was a treat. Although the weather was not that cooperative, I was still able to observe a lot of great native Texas species of flora, and many are unique to coastal areas.

Garfield Park Conservatory

July 31, 2016 by Travis Ward in Design, Plant Hunt

Over the July 4th holiday, I visited Chicago and its Garfield Park Conservatory. The conservatory was established in the 1880s with the structure pictured below constructed in 1907, and designed by famous Chicago landscape architect Jens Jensen. The shape of the greenhouses was meant to emulate the haystacks of the Midwest. The interior specimens were planted in forms that relate to each other naturally and create "landscapes under glass", a style that was revolutionary at the time of construction. The conservatory is one of the largest in the US at 4.5 acres, 2 of which is under glass. It is known for its extensive collection of rare palms and its popular Desert House.

YL Ranch

June 22, 2016 by Travis Ward in Plant Hunt

In the far southwestern corner of Throckmorton County is the YL Ranch, encompassing 5,500 acres of responsibly-managed, grazing pasture among low, rolling hills. Two prominent waterways cross this property; Ranger Creek and Tecumseh Creek, both with exposed limestone bottoms. About 5 miles to the southeast is the famous Lambshead Ranch, established in 1880 after the area was purposely evacuated of the Tecumseh tribe of the Comanche Indians.

The area is dominated by Hackberry and Mesquite trees, along with plentiful grasses and short scrub. Abundant rainfall over the past 2 years has really benefited the perennials, and many early summer bloomers were showing their colors. It was the last day of spring and the temperature would reach the upper 90s. After taking a dip in one of the stock tanks, I set to document some of the more interesting species of the area.

Big Bend N.P. in Bloom

May 29, 2016 by Travis Ward in Plant Hunt, Big Bend

It 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.

Ouachita National Forest

May 04, 2016 by Travis Ward in Plant Hunt

In 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.

Ennis Bluebonnet Trails

April 17, 2016 by Travis Ward in Plant Hunt

One of Texas' most notable wildflowers, and the state flower, is Lupinus texensis, or Texas Bluebonnet, and there is a festival centered around this flower over one weekend in April each year in Ennis, Texas, a community about 30 miles south of Dallas.

Oak Point Nature Preserve

January 26, 2016 by Travis Ward in Plant Hunt

In Plano, a suburban city in the Dallas metropolitan area, the community has purchased 800 acres of farmland and utility right-of-ways to create a sprawling, multi-use park. The design of the park is great in its simplicity as it's mostly open with run and bike trails. The focus of the park is preserving the land and restoring the property to its pre-human existence. The park is also home to one of the few native prairie remnants still intact in Collin County.

Dormant foliage of summer's past can be interesting and beautiful during cold, winter months, but difficult to properly identify. This post will highlight the prairie plants of Oak Point with identifications when possible.

Big Bend N.P. Herbs

January 08, 2016 by Travis Ward in Plant Hunt, Big Bend

On this trip, it was unseasonably wet, as it has been in much of Texas this fall. Foliage and flower colors are especially vibrant when damp, and the muted light of cloud-covered skies only added to the effect. Many plants are even blooming out of season or have abnormally fleshy growth due to the moisture. It is a special time in the Chihuahuan Desert.

This post will cover the more herbaceous plant materials found in Big Bend National Park during my visit in November 2015. (Disclaimer: I realize not all of the plants described here are particularly herbaceous, but they better fit this post than my earlier post about cacti.)

I was especially attracted to this grouping of endemic species. Leucophyllum, Dasylirion, and Ephedra create a contrasting palette of color and texture, and are surrounded by red bedrock. Few could create a similar effect manually.