July | 2025 | Lagniappe
5 posts published by shoreacres during July 2025| Lagniappe
Rain lily ~ Zephyranthes chlorosolen Despite a bit of drought creeping into our area, rain does fall from time to time. Of course, when the forecast calls for ‘scattered showers,’ the amount of actual rain can vary substantially. Last week, a west Texas ranch manager reported inches of rain from clouds hovering just above his … Continue reading Scattered Showers, Scattered Flowers| Lagniappe
Purple leatherflower ~ Clematis pitcheri The appearance and eventual fall of brilliantly colored leaves may be the most familiar tokens of autumn in northern climes, but as we near mid-October on Texas’s coastal plain, a variety of plants continue to replenish their flowers. Because individual flowers seem to decline more quickly than in full summer, … Continue reading Summer Rhythms in a Season of Decline| Lagniappe
Queen butterflies visiting Gregg’s mistflower Three plants commonly known as mistflowers are native to Texas. One I’ve never seen; the so-called Padre Island mistflower (Conoclinium betonicifolium) grows much farther south, in sandy soils near the coast. A second, Gregg’s mistflower (Conoclinium greggii), is native to central Texas. A pollinator garden favorite, it flowers well into … Continue reading An Unexpected Mistflower| Lagniappe
Blue sage ~ Salvia azurea Thick with ripening grasses and emerging sunflowers, the Armand Bayou prairie is lovely as ever, but much of the color from late summer flowers has faded. Still, along the…| Lagniappe
Needlegrass rush ~ Juncus roemerianus Sedges, cattails, and reeds abound at the Brazoria Wildlife Refuge, as do rushes: thick stands of slender green that line the freshwater ponds. In one of those ponds, a collection of rushes well away from the shoreline provides shelter for a multitude of birds, including Common Moorhens, Purple Gallinules, and … Continue reading The Rush Walker| Lagniappe
A stationary Swift Crab Spider Meadow pinks like those shown in my previous post are far more than pretty collections of petals. For crab spiders like the one shown above (Mecaphesa celer), flowers…| Lagniappe
Meadow pink with its coiled style Sabatia campestris, a pretty pink wildflower native to many local areas, commonly is known as meadow pink; its specific epithet is derived from the Latin word mean…| Lagniappe
American white waterlily ~ Nymphaea odorata As August heat rises, a variety of white flowers provides a cooling counterpoint to the season’s discomfort. At Lake Hyatt in east Texas, white wat…| Lagniappe
Golden wave tickseed (Coreopsis basalis) at Galveston’s Broadway cemeteries A few years ago, when I announced my intention to spend a two-week vacation primarily in Kansas, more than a few fr…| Lagniappe
Hooker’s eryngo ~ Eryngium hookeri Despite belonging to the same genus as the rattlesnake master shown in my previous post, the appearance of Hooker’s eryngo differs somewhat. Its flowe…| Lagniappe
Rattlesnake master buds developing on the Nash prairie Bearing an especially evocative name, rattlesnake master (Eryngium yuccifolium) commonly grows on the tallgrass prairie, although it can be fo…| Lagniappe
