Savanna

Savanna

I watched a zoom presentation by Suzanne and I was reminded our LBJ grasslands are more of savanna than a prairie. The difference I found on the internet was “between the two is based on the percent of land covered by trees. Prairies have virtually no tree cover (less than 10 percent), and savannas have…

Down in the creek

Down in the creek

Continuing on with yesterday’s trip to the grasslands down in the creek. This Eastern Red Cedar’s trunk was really red where it was peeling. A nice Purple Cliff-brake fern. This horsetail reminded me of the Empire State building. Not as old horsetail top. This horsetail was pretty fresh. There was places that had quite a…

Slip and slide

Slip and slide

 Slip and slide is what I did when I tried to go up an embankment at the grasslands to look at moss today. Lucky for you I do not have a photograph or maybe it is lucky for me LOL. We had a nice rain last night. Here at the house we got 1/4″ but…

Who is watching

Who is watching

 It was fairly foggy this morning and stayed damp to wet all day. I thought the temperature was fairly nice in the 51 to 55 degree range all day. And no wind. The heaviest the fog we had here was about 1/4 mile. On dreary days, the orange jelly fungus is always a bright spot….

A name

A name

How often does a name elude you? You look at a plant or something, and you say it looks so familiar. It happens too often to me and sometimes it will be hours or even days later when the name pops out.  Ok, sometimes never LOL. Well, this plant was mine today. But I was…

5.38 miles

5.38 miles

 That’s how far Gracie went on the grasslands yesterday. Humans went only 2+ miles in the three and half hours.  A good part of the day was in the gullies and the creek bed. The side of some of the gullies were this red sandy/clay loam. Roots and red sandy/clay loam were beautiful! From the…

A splendid day!

A splendid day!

 With the rest of week with rain in the forecast, I just had to get out. And today was just beautiful out. So off to the grasslands we went!  The leaves of Pin Clover (Erodium cicutarium) were this colorful red. And it was blooming. It is a non-native plant. According to Wikipedia “it is native…

Many colors for winter

Many colors for winter

Greenbriar  (Smilax bona-nox) in the winter loses a lot of its leaves, but some hang on. Some are subtle. Others do the camo-like thing. Others are like a rainbow of colors. And then some hold onto there green. As a famous frog once said it is not easy being green and that is especially true…

Baby pine cone

Baby pine cone

This caught my eye in the driveway. A baby pine cone must have blown off in yesterday’s wind. It was about 15 mm (1/2″). So pretty.  Closer yet. I wonder how far this fluffy down feather got blown yesterday? Leaf beetle (Chrysolina auripennis) was a surprising find today. Host plants for it are Beebalm (Monarda)…

Orange tack

Orange tack

 Here are the rest of the photos from yesterday’s grasslands adventure. Not sure why this orange tack was there but sure was bright. Maybe a surveyor or a researcher or maybe someone just had time on their hands?? The tentacles look like a snake skeleton.  Blackland Thistle (Cirsium engelmannii). Burl on Bur Oak. Crust fungus….