By Jan Wrede
Guest Columnist

I am sure that you have noticed all the pink primrose flowers along Interstate 10. Aren’t they pretty? Nothing so fine as a mess of giant pink wildflowers nestled in green grass.

After admiring spring wildflowers along the highway for a few days, I finally went out to check on the progress of spring in my wildflower pasture. Did not get there! Was too much to see just in the front and back yards. Admittedly our yards are wild and full of “stuff”, but spring has definitely sprung here too. No pink evening primroses but many other blossoms that make up for a lack of pink.

A native trunk-less palm or dwarf palmetto (Sabal minor) grows where the graywater from our clothes washer flows out onto the ground. I see that our palm recently has grown 12 green inches of a new flower stalk that eventually will rise to 5 to 8 feet high. The bees will be happy when this flower stalk blossoms.

Perhaps my favorite bits of spring are the tiny, new leaves on trees and shrubs. They are small and delicate for such a short time before they turn into drought-resistant leather. This week may be the only time all year you can see tender cedar elm, netleaf hackberry, Texas ash, Carolina buckthorn, rusty blackhaw, and Blanco crabapple with soft spring leaves.

I hear many folks saying that they have not seen many wildflowers this spring. Certainly, this spring is light when compared to last spring’s exceptional bonanza of wildflowers and exceptionally long wildflower season. Our wild perennials are still with us but fewer and farther in-between.

Here are a few of the wild perennials blooming in my yard: wild garlic, black-foot daisy, Engelmann daisy, slender-stem bitterweed, square-bud primrose, coral honeysuckle, prairie verbena and dewberry. They are still here.

My best find was a cluster of small cactus plants that I nearly stepped on when searching for them. At least five years ago, I planted two little plants given to me by a friend and now I have a colony! The blossoms are non-descript but the fruiting bodies are brilliant red. Beautiful.

On our recent native plant field trip to a canyon west of Pipe Creek, we nearly stumbled on another native succulent—lace cactus. This one is fairly common and has vivid pink blossoms! Ah, pink. Excellent color for a wildflower.

Except during its brief bloom time, lace cactus is also easy to miss and step on. Look for them when walking in rocky upland sites that are exposed to the sun. These plants are tough. Happy wildflower hunting and watch your step.