Walk In The Park: Asclepias Absurdity (More Milkweed Madness) and Other Stuff

They are wildflowers.

They would not want a name.

~ Silas House & Neela Vaswani, Same Sun Here

Meadow Pink*

One last field trip for this group - I had to go.

I made this trip in December of last year and, exhausted for some reason, I slept during much of the bus ride. So I hadn't a clue where I was when we unloaded and viewed some of the amazing things at Granger Lake and other spots in Williamson County.

I stayed awake this time (although I am fading fast as I type).

The goal of the trip was to experience some of the different ecosystems we have not seen yet. This is a special place, Williamson County. There is a tiny slice of Post Oak Prairie, Tall Grass Prairie, and a couple of spots where there have been experiments to try and return land back to Blackland Prairie.**

The group headed out into the prairie. Because my last experience there was less than optimum*** I searched the bar ditch and the fence line. While locating milkweed (asclepias) was the object of my wandering, I tried to find and identify as many wildflowers as I could. It may well be that we make a survey of this area in different seasons so the more information I have, the better.

Let's start with the milkweed:

Yes, there was milkweed. I found three green milkweed plants in this stretch of ground. More importantly I found something I knew had to be a milkweed, but that looked just different enough to know it was new to me. It is Asclepias viridiflora, Green Comet Milkweed or "Wand Milkweed." I don't know if it is common or not.

"Woohoo!" [Forgive me as I celebrate another variety of milkweed. It is my 4th so far.]


There were many - perhaps 10 to 15 - plants along the roadway and at the fence line. I wonder if there is more in the prairie proper.

I see why it is called "wand milkweed."

We will have to wait to see the flowers to understand the "rocket" reference I suppose.

We may return next week to observe the blooms.

Okay. Last one of the new milkweed.

Green Milkweed

It is a little "loose" and relaxed. Green Milkweed is supposed to be the most common in the state.

Everything else - Wildflowers or not, I try to give them names (some small bit of structure):

I guess it's appropriate to share wildflowers today, Mother's Day. My mother shared with us a love of wildflowers. She knew what most of them were and looked up the ones she didn't know. Even now pressed examples fall out of her wildflower books and I can see her notes of where and when she observed this flower or that. She grew some in her garden. When we were children in scouts, Mom would go to the fields the day before taking the troop out to insure she could identify the blooms.