“The keeping of bees is like the direction of sunbeams.”Henry David Thoreau Spring seems to be in full force in Austin, Texas. Not only are the city and surrounding areas getting covered with wildflowers, but pollinators have also started to … Read More

As winter loosens its grip and the first trees break into bloom, one of nature’s quietest spectacles begins — the return of the pollinators. This featured image was captured at Balcones District Park in Austin, TX, where an Eastern Redbud … Read More

February 2022 brought our second freeze of the season: three quiet, cold days of ice and snow blanketing everything in stillness. After the trauma of 2021’s catastrophic storm — when millions of us lost power and water for days — … Read More

Suspended in a split second between flower and flight, a Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) hovers above a rose bed in search of a winter meal. Cold-season pollination is an opportunistic affair — honey bee colonies remain semi-active through winter, and … Read More

Lens-Artists Challenge #389: Time to Relax For this week’s Lens-Artists Challenge, Anne wants to know what relaxes us. She writes: “What gets you away from the stresses of daily life. What’s your passion?” The short answer for me is nature. … Read More

There is a specific kind of magic that happens in the high desert of Big Bend Ranch State Park when winter’s grip begins to loosen. It’s a landscape defined by its “hardness”—rugged volcanic rock, heat-shimmering horizons, and plants that have … Read More

The saying may not come from this perennial shrub, but I can certainly see that it would apply to a Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) shrub. Even though this shrub may look a bit like a weed for some people, the round … Read More

Lens-Artists Challenge #385: Unusual Crop Photography rules can help create a balanced photo. However, the old saying that rules are written to be broken should be kept in mind if a photographer wants to blur the lines and show creativity. … Read More

Just ten days after our three-day freeze, I was walking along the Play for All Abilities Park in Round Rock when my eyes caught the beautiful sight of Henbit Deadnettle (Lamium amplexicaule) flowers. These tiny wonders did not seem affected … Read More

In mid-November 2025, I paid a visit to the Sunken Garden at the San Gabriel Park in Georgetown, Texas. Although small, the garden is known for its vibrant array of colors. In this particular visit, one flower caught my eye. … Read More