09/06/2023 garden after half inch rain!

Three partially opened bright yellow flowers with spiky green foliage and sepals stand in front of tall sprays of delicate white and pink gaura flowers. The gaura and the tall stalks of sunflower with arched green leaves peek above the edge of the roof, visible from this low angle. A sweetgum tree is blurry behind the house with a pale blue sky above.
Last night we had a lovely series of small thunderstorms and got a half an inch of rain in the gauge. This morning I think the flowers looked a little cleaner!! These are Grindelia ciliata in front of gaura and Maximilian sunflowers.
A partially opened yellow camphorweed flower is framed by the spheres of more green buds, including one big blurry one in the foreground. The background is dappled green and pale blue-gray sky.
The smaller yellow flowers are Heterotheca subaxillaris, which I recently learned has the common name of camphorweed. I keep forgetting to smell it.

08/03/2023 Thursday

The last few weeks have been a bit chaotic. Nonetheless, Briar says it’s important to take time to smell the inland sea oats!

07/30/2023 very tall

Ironweed, gaura, four point primrose, gumweed, and more have grown very tall this year.
Briar likes her short grassy spot at the edge of the very tall “prairie”.
My supervisor likes her grassy spot.
A rattlebox flower blooming again!
Gaura longifolia doing well right now.
The gaura are very tall!
A very late Texas Dandelion blooming this morning!

07/16/2023 birthday girl

A black and red coated German Shepherd Dog wearing a hunter orange safety vest lays in the grass in a green prairie valley with lots of yellow flowered compass plant stalks around her. The sky is filled with low dark gray clouds and some small trees ring the valley.
Briar the dog had her sixth birthday today. We took a walk at Lexington WMA! The low clouds and a breeze kept us cooler than usual for July.
Briar the red and black coated fluffy German Shepherd dog is wearing a hunter orange safety vest and sitting next to a seed-covered stalk of Arnoglossum. She is sitting in grass that’s almost her height and very green with various native forbs around her, including yellow compass plant. Her tongue is hanging out and she looks happily at the photographer.
Occasionally I asked Briar to sit so she wouldn’t scare a bug we were looking at.
Briar the fluffy German Shepherd Dog lays full length in a very orange mud puddle in exposed red Sandy loam. Her ears are alert and she glances back towards the photographer. Prairie grass surrounds the puddle and oaks are in the background.
Even with the cooler than typical July weather, Briar still enjoyed laying in her favorite mud puddle. Cool is mid 80s in July!