Category: Field Trips

Chapter Field Trips

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Burleson Prairie walk, May 4, 2019

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Join Central Texas Master Naturalists for a Burleson Prairie walk (near Temple, TX in Bell County) on May 4, 2019.  Details, RSVP instructions and a map are in the document below.

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Field Trip Report: Garey Park 2/16/19 “In Search of Early Bloomers”

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— by Vicky Husband

NPSOT Field Trip Report for Garey Park, Survey 5 of 12

On Saturday, February 16th, 2019, thirteen field trip attendees explored the top half of the newly named Saddle Loop equestrian trail at Garey Park in Georgetown, Texas. We enjoyed finding a number of early spring blooming species, mostly with diminutive flowers, such as elbow bush, agarita, pink vervain and prairie verbena, bluets and mistletoe. This particular Saturday was overcast and chilly, but the Friday before had seen temperatures in the eighties! We were sure we would find something “tricked” by the weather. We even saw Mr. Garey out in his mule on the trail.

We observed the following species during our walk: some botanical names cited might be outdated due to recent classification revisions. Also, E.123 refers to the page number in Wildflowers of the Texas Hill Country by Marshall Enquist; W.123 refers to the page number in Trees, Shrubs, and Vines of the Texas Hill Country by Jan Wrede.

  • Agarita, blooming — Berberis trifoliolata, E.33
  • Cedar elms with wings — Ulmus crassifolia, W.168
  • Cucumber weed — Parietaria pensylvanica
  • Dakota vervain, Prairie verbena — Glandularia bipinnatifida, E.158
  • Dewberry — Rubus trivialis, E.49
  • Elbow bush, Spring herald, blooming — Forestiera pubescens, W.136
  • Greenbrier — Smilax bona-nox, W.189
  • Lace cactus — Echinocereus reichenbachii, E.109
  • Little bluestem — Schizachyrium scoparium
  • Malta star-thistle — Centaurea melitensis
  • Mexican Hat — Ratibida columnifera, E.227
  • Peppergrass — Lepidium virginicum, E.39
  • Pink vervain, Low verbena — Glandularia pumila, E.159
  • Sedge — Carex texensis or Carex, ssp
  • Small bluets — Houstonia crassifolia, E.197
  • Storksbill rosettes — Erodium texanum, E.80
  • Texas bluebonnet, rosette — Lupinus texensis, E.63
  • Texas thistle — Cirsium texanum, E.248
  • Twist-leaf yucca — Yucca rupicola, E.11
  • Mistletoe — Phoradendron tomentosum, W.174
  • Fruits of Western horse-nettle — Solanum dimidiatum, E.178
  • Wind-flower, white — Anemone heterophylla, E.28
  • Yellow mystery plant !
  • Yarrow — Achillea millefoilum, E.243

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Newcomer’s Winter Walk at Berry Springs

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— by Gary Bowers

Saturday, Feb 23, 2019 1:30 PM

On a bright, blustery Saturday a tiny but mighty group met in the upper parking lot at Berry Springs Park and Preserve. After a short meet and greet, the team fueled up on some high carb snacks before heading into the park.

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Shepherd’s Purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris), naturalized annual

The group walked a short, level loop around the ponds chosen to provide a variety of micro-climates in a short distance. We were almost immediately greeted with the wonderful scent of a Mexican Plum (Prunus mexicana) in full bloom (and hope the summer walk coincides with the ripening of these fruits). A few minutes later, we found a large area of Bluebonnets skirting the pathway. Combined with rosettes of Cutleaf Daisy (Engelmannia peristenia) and Mexican Hats (Ratibida columnifera), we are all anticipating a great show once the blooms are underway.

While the many mature pecans (both in the orchard in the natural areas) are stand out trees, there are many hidden gems if you slow down. Ten-petal Anemones (Anemone berlandieri), clumps of Buttercups (Ranunculus spp.), thickets of Roughleaf dogwood (Cornus drummondii), Elderberries (Sambucus nigra ssp. canadensis) and clumps of Bushy bluestem (Andropogon glomeratus) were just a few of those that we saw along the walk today.

Thank you to all who braved the bad hair day and joined us! And if you didn’t make it today, we hope you’ll join us in April when we return to the park for the Spring iteration of the walk.

See photos from today’s trip at this link in our Field Trip photo album.

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