Low-angle view of a Leafy Aster with several lavender, yellow-centered flowers and orange spent seed heads, rising from golden grass in a Colorado meadow with pine trees and cloud-covered mountains in the background.

Lavender Stars of the High Country

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Colorado in late September is about more than fall colors. Under cloudy skies, we set out on a short hike along the Lower Salt Lick and Sunrise Trail Loop. Although the trail runs parallel to Interstate 70 in places, it … Read More

Macro photograph of a Rio Grande Globe Amaranth flower head with layered red and magenta papery bracts and tiny star-shaped yellow florets, set against a dark background.

Paper Fireworks: Rio Grande Globe Amaranth Up Close

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In early September 2026, I went to the Sunken Garden at San Gabriel Park in Georgetown, Texas. The garden is small but offers a good variety of plants and flowers. Although I often go there to photograph pollinators, nature often … Read More

Tall stalks of white common beargrass (Xerophyllum tenax) flower clusters in the foreground of a green valley in Glacier National Park, with snow-streaked mountain peaks and a streaked, long-exposure sky behind.

X Marks the Spot: WXYZ Florals

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We have reached the end of Terri’s Flower Hour ABCs. It was a fun and revealing undertaking. For these last letters, the hardest one for me was X. I wanted to stay in Texas, but it was not easy. You’ll … Read More

A dense stand of American Germander (Teucrium canadense) along the Katy Crossing Trail in Georgetown, Texas, with upright green spikes of small pale pink-lavender flowers opening from the bottom up, tight buds at the tips, and toothed leaves below, against a softly blurred background of more flower spikes and greenery.

Open to the Sky — American Germander Along the San Gabriel

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In late May, while walking along the Katy Crossing Trail at San Gabriel Park in Georgetown, I noticed a plant I hadn’t seen before. It stood well above the ground cover, with upright spikes of small pink-lavender flowers swaying in … Read More

Collage of four Central Texas wildflowers blooming together — scarlet leatherflower, Turk’s cap, upright prairie coneflower, and violet ruellia.

STUVendous Florals

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Here’s another installment of Terri’s Flower Hour ABCs. This week we are close to the end of the alphabet. My entries are pretty common in many places, but one flower is endemic to the Edwards Plateau region in central Texas. … Read More

Black-and-white macro photograph of a shrimp plant flower cluster against a dark background, showing overlapping bracts with crinkled, paper-like texture, fine hairs along their edges, and a single curled filament extending from the tip.

A Heart with Two Valves — Shrimp Plant in Macro

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Whenever I photograph our Shrimp Plant (Justicia brandegeeana) in macro mode, I am surprised by what the lens reveals. Take the monochrome header image. Stripped of its color, the flower is all texture: the bracts turn paper-thin and crinkled, every … Read More

Close-up of a single Texas Indian Mallow (Abutilon fruticosum) flower with five veined, pale orange-yellow petals and a cluster of yellow stamens at the center, a tiny insect resting on the lower petal, against soft-focus green leaves along the Katy Crossing trail in San Gabriel Park, Georgetown, Texas.

A Small Sun Beside the Trail — Texas Indian Mallow at Katy Crossing

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Sometimes, while biking along the Katy Crossing trail in San Gabriel Park, I spot beauty that steals the moment away. I apply the brakes and stop to appreciate what Nature gives me. No special equipment is needed — a simple … Read More

Three-panel collage of wildflowers — a magenta Panicled Ticktrefoil bloom with unopened buds on a hairy green stem, a cluster of lavender-purple Queen’s Wreath flowers with dark violet centers, and two yellow Rock Flax flowers on a thin curling stem.

PQRfectly Floral

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We now reach the PQR flowers in Terri’s Flower ABC challenge. Initially, I thought it would be hard to find flowers beginning with the letter Q. I found a few in my catalog. What surprised me even more is that … Read More

Wide view of a Texas wildflower field densely packed with yellow Stiff Greenthread and red-and-yellow Firewheel blooms, photographed at 200mm with a shallow depth of field.

A Thread of Gold in a Field of Fire

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“Wildflowers don’t care where they grow.”Dolly Parton Sometimes it pays off to carry only one lens. It forces you to create more with less. When I met a friend for a walk through a field in Pflugerville, I deliberately left … Read More

A three-panel collage from Big Bend Ranch State Park: a wide view of a sunlit rock outcrop under a streaked sky, a monochrome ocotillo against wind-blown clouds, and a close-up of a blooming Spanish Dagger.

One Photo, Two Edits

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Lens-Artists Challenge #410: One Photo Edited Looking Back at Lens-Artists Challenge #154 — One Photo Two Ways Sometimes, when I’m composing an image, I can’t be completely sure which way to go. Sometimes it’s whether the scene will be more … Read More

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