Update at the Dilley Preserve - 30 October 2009

All photos in this update (except for one) were taken by Thea Gavin on 30 October 2009 at the James Dilley Preserve. Photo of the Twiggy Wreath by Jennifer Wood ;)
Above: Sycamore leaves in the morning sunlight.

10-30-2009: This morning at 7:45 AM, Thea Gavin (www.theagavin.com) and I went on a nice little hike on Canyon trail in the James Dilley Preserve. It was a nose-numbing 46 degrees outside, and our warm bodies were the only ones shivering in the otherwise peaceful, waking landscape.



We were greeted immediately by a very healthy-looking coyote - and I was ecstatic!; I realized that this was the very first time that I saw a coyote in our park (sounds strange, doesn't it? after all this time???). After the coyote went on his way, we headed towards the sign-in table, where we spotted some beautiful deerweed in bloom, and lots of croton. (Croton pictured to the left! along with my hand. Thea says I make a wonderful hand model. I am thus now rethinking my career.)




Lining the beginning of the trail were a few of my favorite sage scrub plants, including beautiful displays of California Buckwheat, new growth on California Sagebrush, and new blooms of Twiggy Wreath. (To right: Twiggy Wreath). Of the more remarkable changes to be noticed were the new white and pink flowers which crowded the crowns of the buckwheat plants, creating a very colorful compilation of brown, red, pink and cream tones. (To left, buckwheat). This new blooming reminded me of the power of rain and its gift of life the plant community. (We did get some rain this past month, along with some humidity and lower temperatures, and some of the plants have taken advantage of the situation to get their reproductive processes underway!)



As the sun rose higher in the sky, beautiful silver linings haloed the dried out phacelia (right), and warmed up the air sufficiently for the bees to begin vibrating their wings and to start a new day of flight (below, left).















Update on the lemonade berries in the park: While I recently observed that the lemonade berries on our trails were lacking in zing, some of the lemonade berries at Dilley have a slight zing left in them. It really depends on location, and on the shrub/tree's individual timing.

Thanks for reading!
Jennifer