DAY 2  of a Seven Day Bouquet, yellow flowers.

 

 

“So far as seeing things is an art, it is the art of keeping your eyes and ears open. The art of nature is all in the direction of concealment. The birds, the animals, all the wild creatures, for the most part try to elude your observation. The art of the bird is to hide her nest; the art of the game you are in quest of is to make itself invisible. The flower seeks to attract the bee and the moth by its color and perfume, because they are of service to it; but I presume it would hide from the excursionists and the picnickers if it could, because they extirpate it.”  John Burroughs, The Art of Seeing Things.

Extirpate. 1. To remove or destroy totally; do away with; exterminate. 2. To pull up by or as if by the roots; root up.

When it comes to yellow flowers at the Lost Madrone Ranch, they are not hiding but blaring, and they attract both the bees and me.

I, being the “excursionist,” will certainly not extirpate the flowers. Enough of that is going on with the wild pigs growing in numbers across the Texas Hill Country, and sadly The Lost Madrone Ranch is not immune. But luckily, there are many native flowers the hogs don’t bother and leave to me for the “seeing.”  

Welcome back to day two of a seven day bouquet of flowers I’m sharing with you from Comfort.

Today’s post is all about yellow! 

Yellow flowers in spring and summer are the most prolific bloomers across the ranch. 

Unlike the blue flowers in yesterday’s post that nestle in the landscape in a cooling manner, the yellow blooming flowers lift from the landscape like light from a flashlight beaming thanks to above. 

The fields of Slender-Leaf Hymenoxys, Hymenoxys linearifola, are like floodlights. 

Hymenoxys are abundant at the ranch and swaths of them stretch across the hilltops. 

As an individual flower, this late spring bloomer would be neutralized against a canvas of the hill country, but collectively they make a stunning impression and command their own attention. 

When you walk among them it is easy to get the notion that every flower is the same. 

But one early morning when the wind was still, I took to a field on my hands and knees and discovered a million different flashlights. 

Another yellow perennial found blooming right now is the Slender-stem Bitterweed, Hymenoxys scaposa.

This plant has a crowded clump of leaves at the base and a single bare flower stalk that grows up to 16 inches. I find them most on strips of caliche. In early April I was walking the road and saw a single Bitterweed in the middle of the grass strip in our road. 

Can you see it?

As I got closer, I laughed seeing the wacky way the leaves were positioned and it made me think of the current unsettled time.

As I was taking a few pictures, a spider crawled out from the closed up petals. For a few seconds, the spider sat on one of the open flower petals as if looking about,

and then crept back in his flower home. How fun to hang out in a happy yellow flower, even if a wacky one.

According to reference books, this plant has a bitter taste and unpleasant scent when crushed, but something must attract the bugs because they are always present on the flowers.

Another plant with a powerful aroma is Damianita, Chrysactinia Mexican. I personally don’t like the smell but I enjoy catching the scent in the air because then I know Damiantia is blooming nearby and it’s a cheerful plant to see in full bloom. 

Damianita is a small scraggly shrub that grows only a foot or two high. The woody stems have dark smelly leaves and a profusion of yellow flowers bloom over the entire plant. 

It grows in clusters on small slopes.

And every so often I find a single plant alone and it is always a standout.

Similarly dotting the landscape, Zexmenia, Wedelia acapulcensis var. hispida, has started it’s run through the summer heat. 

The green bushy plant can be seen all over the hills — in bare caliche and grassy areas too. 

The orange-yellow flower will bloom all summer long.

I never thought of it as a showy plant, just a dependable bloomer that cycles through the stages of bloom.

And then I looked up close and realized it is exquisite.

The last of the yellows to share is Navajo Tea, or Thelesperma simplicifolium. 

It is so, so lovely.

This plant rises to over two feet tall on very slender branching stems.

There are few thin leaves, so the flowering heads appear to float.

These flowers are difficult to photograph because they sway with the slightest breeze, so it calls on patience to wait for a still moment.

Navajo tea colonizes on the bare limestone strips. When the wind is blowing it looks like the flowers are dancing.

Oh, that we can gather again soon and celebrate.

 

Tomorrow, Day 3, is a one plant post. 

Hint:  It’s pink and smells amazing!

I can’t wait to share! 

I hope you will return each day for your flower presents. And please share with others who you think may enjoy the bouquet.