Tag: Garey Park

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— by Vicky Husband

Eight field trip attendees enjoyed a mild and peaceful evening walk through an eastern off-trail portion of grazing land ringed with Cedar elms, Spanish Oaks and native Pecans. We began by crossing a culvert with spent Maximilian sunflowers (Helianthus maximiliani), Broomweed (Amphiachyris amoena), and the seed burs of Rough cockleburr (Xanthium strumarium), affectionately known as Porcupine eggs.  An open field of predominately KR Bluestem (Bothriochloa ischaemum) revealed hints of fall blooming Heath aster (Symphyotrichum ericoides) with stems that turn maroon in winter.  This field sports a couple of specimen Huisache trees (Acacia farnesiana), with one exceeding fifteen feet in height.  After the field, we cut though the Ashe juniper to the exposed river bank below. The setting sun enticed us to use the trail up from the river bench, where we observed some isolated but interesting specimens of narrow-leaved Sneezeweed (Helenium amarum), White tridens (Tridens albescens), Silver bluestem (Bothriochloa saccharoides) and Little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium). Hoping to add a new species, two went back to investigate a prostrate and hoary vervain-type specimen along the trail.  Join us in December and January on a free Tuesday for the final two months of our plant surveys of Garey Park in Georgetown, Texas.

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** ARCHIVED POST – LINKS AND IMAGES MAY NOT WORK**

— 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We observed the following species during our walk: some botanical names cited might be outdated due to recent classification revisions.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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