floral design & botanical blog

Cement Mountain

August 05, 2015 by Travis Ward in Plant Hunt

It was a very warm August afternoon when my mom and I ventured out along Cement Mountain Road in southeastern Young County, Texas in search of some unique flora. This county-maintained gravel road traverses the transition between the Rolling Plains and Oak Woods eco-regions. The soil here is sandy and conglomerate, proving responsible for the formation's "Cement" name. There is a lot of early Texas history on this topographical rise (it's difficult for me to call this a "mountain"), including the murder of a Texas Ranger by Native Americans in 1864. Luckily for us, there were no aggressive Indians in sight, and the county crews had not mowed the bar ditches all year.

Bar None Ranch: Flowers

July 14, 2015 by Travis Ward in Plant Hunt, Hill Country

The third post covering the flora of the Bar None Ranch in Mason County concludes with the details of the flowering annuals and perennials. As I've made clear in the first and second posts, the more-than-average rainfall this spring in Texas has led to an over-abundance of blooms, and blooming cycles well into the summer months when typically few plants are pushing inflorescence. The following photos documentation of these blooms.

Bar None Ranch: Ferns

July 08, 2015 by Travis Ward in Plant Hunt, Hill Country

When you're in the Texas Hill Country, you often don't think to look for all of the species of ferns that have made this region home. Ferns growing among cacti seems counter-intuitive. This site did not disappoint.

Bar None Ranch: Succulents and Shrubs

July 07, 2015 by Travis Ward in Plant Hunt, Hill Country

At 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.

Slaughter Preserve

April 10, 2015 by Travis Ward in Plant Hunt, Hill Country

This was my first time to visit this preserve, but I was guided by two fellow plant nerds who knew where all of the "goodies" were.

Slaughter Creek

April 06, 2015 by Travis Ward in Hill Country, Plant Hunt

Spring blooms are just beginning to pop in the Texas Hill Country. I spent a little over an hour in the Slaughter Creek Metropolitan Park in the southern suburbs of Austin. This refuge consists mostly of shallow limestone juniper forests, all within a floodplain. Light rain in the morning hours had coated the blooms in an attractive misting of water.

New Orleans Botanical Garden

March 31, 2015 by Travis Ward

In the sweltering Labor Day heat, I paid the New Orleans Botanical Garden a visit. Established in the 1930s and incorporated in one of the oldest urban parks in the US (City Park, 1854), the botanical garden is definitely a greenspace worth its weight in ferns and orchids, both of which are many.

Driftwood and Succulents

March 02, 2015 by Travis Ward in Design

A dear friend of mine was having a bridal brunch at a local eatery and I offered to make a couple of centerpieces for the tables. This space is in an old warehouse and the interior is designed in a sort of butcher shop motif with acrylic paintings of quartered farm animals and large hooks and ropes hanging from the ceiling.

Miami Beach Botanical Garden

February 23, 2015 by Travis Ward

A few blocks from the white beaches of the Atlantic Ocean, the Miami Beach Botanical Garden is a wonderful little tropical jewel in the middle of the bustling resort city. While not housing the most extensive collection of equatorial flora, it is definitely worth paying a visit, especially if you're relatively unfamiliar with the local plant palette.

Double Eagle Ranch

January 14, 2015 by Travis Ward in Plant Hunt, Hill Country

Close 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.