Peachy keen
I don’t think I’d ever appreciated till the Fourth of July in Great Hills Park how much peach~pink appears on the outside of an opening greenthread (Thelesperma filifolium) flower head. Extending horizontally, it reminded me a little of a flag in the wind. That prompted a question to AI, and here’s the reply I got:
“No sovereign nation’s national flag prominently features both pink and yellow as dominant colors. Pink is exceedingly rare in national vexillology, though two countries sneak it into their tiny coat of arms details.”
Vexillology aside, I don’t find this portrait vexing at all, and in fact the wavy green stalk supporting the flower head adds to the overall appeal I find in this view from the side.
© 2026 Steven Schwartzman
Attached yet alone
Pictures in this morning’s post showed a detached prairie verbena flower (Glandularia bipinnatifida) dangling from a strand of spider silk in Great Hills Park on the Fourth of July. Now you see how a single flower remained attached on a nearby prairie verbena inflorescence.
© 2026 Steven Schwartzman
Hanging by a thread
The thread in today’s title was actually a strand of spider silk from which dangled a detached prairie verbena flower (Glandularia bipinnatifida). Though there wasn’t much breeze in Great Hills Park on that Fourth of July morning, it was more than enough to cause the little hanging flower to spin and sway. Trying to time my shots to split seconds when I hoped less movement would show, I worked for five minutes and ended up taking 20 pictures. Of those, the two included here came out okay. And if the flower in the top photo makes you imagine a winged hammer, who am I to say otherwise?
© 2026 Steven Schwartzman
The (green) eyes of Texas are upon you
Between these two pictures you get to see Texas green eyes (Berlandiera betonicifolia) flower heads
developing, opening, and fully open at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center on June 22nd.
© 2026 Steven Schwartzman
Sunflower and lustrous strands
My quest for sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) in northeast Austin on June 27th led me to one encroached on by
the lustrous swirly strands of a Clematis drummondii vine. Nearby I also portrayed strands in their own right.
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It’s become common in the United States for people to cover their refrigerators with magnetized little plaques showing places the people have traveled. The other day a friend said that that kind of display qualifies as a collage (based on colle, the French word for glue, because a collage traditionally consisted of bits of paper or other material glued onto a backing. That got me thinking that we should call a display of little plaques on a refrigerator not a collage but a magnetage. Then I wondered if anyone has already used that word. In response to an Internet search for magnetage, AI replied: “‘Magnetage’ is not a standard English word. You are likely thinking of magnetization or magnetize.” So it seems I’ve coined a term. Whether that term ever sticks in people’s vocabulary remains to be seen.
© 2026 Steven Schwartzman
Horsemints vary a lot
Horsemints (Monarda citriodora) vary a fair amount in color and configuration, as shown in these two views looking straight down at individual horsemints in Great Hills Park on June 21st.
And here’s one from there on May 30th:
© 2026 Steven Schwartzman
More about roughstem rosinweed
As a recent post mentioned, on June 3rd I photographed a bunch of roughstem rosinweed plants (Silphium radula) along FM 2769. That post didn’t show any of the flowers, so now I’m making up for the omission. When I took the picture above, I didn’t notice the little clump of black insect eggs on the rightmost bract. The portrait below shows the asymmetric way the flower heads in the species tend to open.
© 2026 Steven Schwartzman
Like a hammock
When Eve first saw this picture from across the room she imagined she was looking at a hammock. A closer look reveals an open pod from a pearl milkweed vine, Matelea reticulata, and on the would-be hammock the orange folks lounging were immature stages of Oncopeltus fasciatus, known as the large milkweed bug. The photograph is from Great Hills Park on July 4th.
© 2026 Steven Schwartzman
Western ironweed in northeast Austin
In northeast Austin on June 27th the Lady Eve spotted a colorful stand of western ironweed (Vernonia baldwinii) that had a few sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) in and around it. Just off to the left of what the top picture frames, the ironweed was adorned with a web, as shown below. Inspection revealed a funnel at the base of the web, so presumably a funnel web spider had been at work. If that’s correct, it’s the first funnel web I’ve seen that’s not on the ground.
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“Teaching Immigrants the Bill of Rights“
© 2026 Steven Schwartzman
Bush sunflower in Great Hills Park
I noticed on June 21st that a bush sunflower plant had come up in the fringe of Great Hills Park along Floral Park Drive. The common name is accurate, given that this member of the sunflower family really does grow as a bush. It differs in many ways from the common sunflower. so botanists don’t include it in the genus Helianthus but assign it the scientific name Simsia calva. Look at its interestingly shaped leaves (along with a developing flower head and a fly):
© 2026 Steven Schwartzman
Portraits of Wildflowers 
