A Wild Spring to Remember
“I can’t believe it’s June already,” a few people told me, and I echoed their sentiment. June marks the end of spring in the North Texas area where I live, and gone are the delightful, cool mornings in the 50s (10°C). The days now start in the 70s (21°C), and they easily heat up to 96°F (35°C) or more.
I will remember spring this year as the “wild” one, not for the strange circumstances caused by Covid-19, but for the number of wildflowers that I encountered. I saw them in my yard, in my neighborhood, and in the parks around the city. No doubt, those beautiful wildflowers had been there in the past spring seasons, but I didn’t notice them. With the stay-at-home order, suddenly I had the blessing of downtime to see them in their glory.
So, here are eight of the many wildflowers that I stumbled upon this spring. Lady Bird Johnson, the former First lady and a wildflower lover, once said, “Where flowers bloom, so does hope.” Indeed, amidst the uncertainties of the past three months, these wildflowers have given me joy and hope. I hope the story of my journey with them brightens your days, too!
A word of caution: I am not a botanist, so what I wrote about these plants may be inaccurate. Your comments and corrections are welcome.
Bugleweed: The Tiny Purple Crayons
I saw this plant sprouting up all over the grass field near my house in early March, just as my business travel started to halt. They were like tiny purple crayons in the sea of green.
I learned that bugleweed is an evergreen perennial that grows to only 4 to 8 inches tall (10 to 20 cm). It is common across the US, but it may have originated from Europe and Northern Africa. Bugleweed belongs to the mint family, and apparently its shoot and leaves can be eaten (raw or sautéed) or steeped in tea. Some websites also tout its medicinal properties, such as to treat sore throat and insomnia.
Alas, two weeks after I saw them, the city park crew began mowing the field, and the bugleweeds were gone.
Field Madder: The Little Pink Stars
As I stopped traveling, I started walking with my dog Bevo more often. There, besides the walking trail in my neighborhood, I saw a profusion of little pink stars covering the ground.
Field madder, or spurwort, as it is called, can grow to 4 to 16 inches tall (10 to 40 cm), but its pink flowers will stay close to the ground. An immigrant plant from Europe, field madder is now common throughout the eastern and southern US. The flowers can be pink or purple, and they come out from early spring to October. One website mentions that the roots can be used to make red dye.
Texas Thistle: The Exploding Pink Balls
Among all the plants mentioned in this story, Texas thistle was probably the one that I under-appreciated the most. Unlike bugleweed and field madder, Texas thistle can grow up to 6 feet (2 m) tall. Hence, I had noticed it before, but I considered it just as an annoying “tall and thorny weed.” That is, until this spring.
Texas thistle is a native plant of Texas, and it grows almost everywhere in the state. There are a few near the small creek that flows through my neighborhood, and their dramatic flowers caught my attention. Once I looked at them closely, I was hooked. I came back to them several times to take their pictures in April.
Texas thistle’s flower will start as a small pink dot surrounded by radial and pointy green petals. Then, as it continues to bloom, the pink portion becomes bigger and bigger (see the feature photo at the top of this article). When it is fully bloomed, it presents us with an “exploding pink ball” like the photo above.
Honeybees, bumblebees, and butterflies love this flower, and goldfinch birds eat the seeds of this plant. One author even wrote that the roots and the leaves make excellent salad and cooked vegetables.
Prairie Fleabane: The Yellow and White Crowns
April is the second-best month in North Texas after November (in my mind anyway), and this year was no exception. Taking advantage of the nice weather, I hiked at Oak Point Park and Nature Preserve with my family and friends a couple of times. This huge park (the biggest one in Plano, Texas) has trails going through wide-open prairie as well as dense woods.
I took the picture of this flower along the High Meadow Trail at Oak Point, but prairie fleabane can be seen in many places as it is native to eastern and central North America. The name is said to have come from an old and mistaken belief that a bunch of dried fleabane plants hung in a room would repel fleas.
Pink Evening Primrose: The Showy Butter Cups
I took the picture above at Ray Roberts Lake State Park, but pink evening primrose is another flower that can easily be found all over North Texas. A few of them even adorned a sidewalk near my house. The name suggests that in some states, the flowers open up in the evening, but in my area, they seem to do it all day long.
Pink evening primrose, also called showy evening primrose or buttercup, is a native plant of southeastern US, and it is an easy-going plant. In fact, if we plant it in the yards, it will spread aggressively, and we may never be able to get rid of it.
Mexican Hat Coneflower: The Prairie’s Bright Mariachis
When May came along, we couldn’t hike in the parks for one reason or another, but my wife Lili found a long strip of wildflower field at the edge of the neighborhood west of ours. It was a sight to behold: a vibrant, multicolored pasture for as far our (old) eyes could see. There, we were greeted by hundreds of “little troops with yellow sombreros.”
Mexican hat coneflower is named for its resemblance to sombrero, the hat with long cone and wide brim worn by Mexican mariachi bands. The plant can grow to 24 inches (60 cm) tall, and its flower petals can be yellow, mahogany-red, or a combination of the two. It originated in the prairies and meadows of the western half of the US, and it attracts butterflies and bees.
Indian Blanket: A Heavenly Gift
Once upon a time, realizing that his time on earth was about to pass, a talented American Indian blanket maker weaved a beautiful burial blanket with brown, red, and yellow patterns for himself. When he died, his family wrapped him in that blanket so he could present it as a gift to the Great Spirit in heaven. The Great Spirit was so delighted with the beautiful blanket that in the following spring, He created a field of wildflowers in its pattern around the old man’s grave for the posterity to enjoy.
Indian blanket blooms in the Southwest from May to October, and as many Texans can attest, a meadow full of it is simply heavenly. The butterflies and bees think so, too.
Yellow Woodsorrel: The Green Hearts Around the Gold
As spring came to a close, Lili and I were entertained by something very close to home: yellow woodsorrel. A clump of this plant has been growing peacefully under the cedar elm tree in my front yard, but we didn’t pay much attention to them before.
Yellow woodsorrel is a plant with heart-shaped leaves that lives very close to the ground. Their leaves curl up at night and open during the day. The cute, little golden flowers (1 to 1.5 cm wide) also seem to appear only during the day.
Yellow woodsorrel is native to North America, and its leaves and flowers are edible. They are said to be mildly sour in taste (almost like lemon) and can be used in salad and soup. It is also a good thirst-quencher, and woodsorrel tea is apparently a refreshing beverage.
I am not sure if we will start eating yellow woodsorrel, but Lili and I are surely grateful to have one pretty wildflower accompanying us in our front yard.
Acknowledgment: Thank you to all the “wild souls” who have walked with me to enjoy the nature this spring!
Originally published at http://rsatrio.com on June 7, 2020.
