Seeds, Seeds, Seeds

I went out for a short walk this morning. With the daily highs above 100, the best times for a hike are in the morning or in the afternoon. Nicely though, that is also the best time for photography with a soft, diffuse light which eliminates harsh shadows.

Usually on my hikes, I'll notice common patterns. I think this is due to my mood or mind-set, but whatever the cause, the theme that I picked up on this morning, is that various plants are putting out fruits or seeds. After the spring rains and before the peak of summer, these plants are producing fruit,  perhaps as an insurance policy for the future.

There's a patch of bristlegrass right in our front yard. I've seen it many times before, so why did it catch my eye this morning? It was something about the beautiful way it waved in the breeze. The seed heads are about 2 feet above the ground and they are turning a yellow color as they mature. I'm not sure exactly what species it is, but I'm pretty sure it's a native.

A little further along, just outside our gate, I saw a Texas Persimmon (Diospyros texana) with many berries. Most of them are still green, but you can see a ripe, black one. The berries are edible and quite sweet. I've tried them before. The only drawback is that the dark juice can stain your fingers, mouth, and clothes!

And finally, many of our Prickly Pear (Opuntia engelmannii) cactus are bearing fruit. The deeply-colored pears are also edible, but I've never tried them. They too have spines, so you have to peel them carefully.

Odds & Ends

I went for a  hike today and even though it's not officially summer yet, it was HOT! I declare summer here, not matter what the calendar says.

The black-eyed susans are still out in force and the Texas thistles are past their peak, which is a good thing. They are nasty.

A few weeks ago, while checking our nest boxes, I spotted this prickly pear heart. More appropriate for Valentine's Day, but it's a reminder that all you need is love.

Our game camera caught a doe and her fawn walking by.

We keep our glass and cans for recycling in plastic tubs behind our garage. A few weeks ago I took the recycling to the local place in San Marcos. I tossed the containers in the pickup bed and drove into town. I emptied the tubs and threw them back in the truck. When I got home and was putting them away behind the garage, I noticed something hanging from one of them. It was a monarch chrysalis!

The butterfly was almost ready to emerge. The chrysalis was turning transparent and you could see the butterfly inside. I checked it the next day and the chrysalis was cracked open and no sign of the butterfly.

I learned several things. First, the chrysalis is attached with something approaching "crazy glue" in strength. I remained attached and survived a round trip to San Marcos and fairly rough handling, since I didn't see it until after my return. Second, the monarch caterpillar is not picky about where it decides to metamorphose. The female butterfly is particular and lays her eggs on plants that will be a food source to her caterpillars. Where the transformation into butterfly takes place is apparently not critical.

Prickly Pears

The Prickly Pear cactus (Opuntia) fruits are ripening right now. The fruits are edible and you can find many recipes for preparing them. They can be eaten raw and also made into jelliies and drinks. The pads are also edible and can be purchased at local grocery stores as nopales.

The prickly pear are also known as nopales or paddle cactus and there are 200 species in the genus, distributed throughout most of the Americas. They are native to the New World but have been distributed throughout the world.

We have many on our property, although I would not say they are so widespread as to be a problem. They are indicators of land which has been over-grazed, becoming more frequent as grass is grazed away, so they may be a sign of damage done to our land before we bought it. Although there are cattle grazing on our land, they are very few and not confined to only our property, and are definitely not over-grazing at this point.

We've taken a few out, by digging them out, but you have to be careful to remove all the plant material. If a pad lays on bare soil, it will root and a new plant will grow. They grow in clumps, usually only a foot tall and a foot in diameter, but some are larger: three feet tall and three or four feet in diameter.

I'm not sure exactly what species we have. The Wildflower Center lists two for our area and we probably have both: the Plains Prickly Pear (Opuntia polyacantha) and the Tulip Prickly Pear (Opuntia phaecantha).

They have beautiful, large blooms, which are about 3 inches in diameter and usually yellow. The cactus bloom right after a good rainfall. In this photo you can see a fully-opened flower and two others which are not yet open.

Some of the cactus have red in the flowers as you can see in this photo. You can also see the green, unripened fruit just below the spent flowers on the left.

Here's a photo of a large plant with many fruits. The photo was taken today, just outside of the fence around our house. The fruit turn a deep red, almost purple color, when ripe.

Finally, this photo, taken at the San Marcos Nature Center, was in the Naturescapes Exhibition in 2009. I like the clean, smooth curves of the pads and the texture provided by the short, almost knobby needle clusters.