Decided to take Ava & Elise to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. They’ve been before. As you can see, Elise is excited!

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is dedicated to inspiring the conservation of native plants.  All of the gardens feature plants native to Texas, from the mountains in the West to the Gulf Coast.  The practices focus on conserving resources, providing wildlife habitat, protecting native plants and creating a sense of place. This is the Botanic Garden of Texas and an organized research unit of the University of Texas at Austin.

We took the twin granddaughters (Ava, the brunette, and Elise, the blonde) for lunch and on a stroll through the  various fields of flowers, telling everyone to stick to the path and watch out for snakes—especially rattlesnakes. In addition to rattlesnakes (western ribbonsnakes, thamnophis proximus) there are also redstripe ribbon snakes (T.p. rubrilineatus), squirrels and lizards.
In season now were Texas bluebonnets, Indian paintbrush, pink evening primrose, Engelmann’s daisies, horsemint, Indian blanket (the orange ones by the tree), Rock rose, Antelope horns, Mexican hat (yellow, like small sunflowers) and standing cypress.

Wildflower Cafe & flowers.

Yellow water-lilies.

Yellow waterlily.

Waterliles.

Nature in action.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the road less traveled, and that has made all the difference (apologies to Robert Frost).

Pool in Austin Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

Indian blanket (Gaillardia pulchella).

Chinese girl at Lady Bird Johnson Wildlife Center.

Two Chinese girls at the Lady Bird Jonson Wildflower Center

Fallen tree.

Fallen tree—but the root does not seem to have been anywhere around the rest of the tree. How?

Red yucca.

Squiggy the squirrel, enjoying a snack.

Girls behind the waterfall.

Ava and the deer.

Path.

Waterfall (no girls).

Brilliant wildflowers.

Field of wildflowers.

View from up top.

View from atop the tower.

Wildflower fields from atop the tower.

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