Hill Country scenery
Despite those crazy pink bluebonnets still blooming in my garden, Texas wildflowers in summertime favor orange, yellow, and red, with a few white prickly poppies and yucca blooms thrown in for good measure.
Yesterday we drove our son to summer camp in the Hill Country west of Austin. As you may have heard, Texas is suffering from an extended heat wave, with temperatures at 100 degrees (37.7 C) nearly every day for the last few weeks. Austin gardens, even drought-tolerant ones, are wilting without irrigation, but native wildflowers like the Mexican hats (Ratibida columnifera ) pictured above are unfazed, blooming with abandon on the roadsides with no care whatsoever.
Lest you question our sanity in taking our kiddo to camp when it’s this hot, let me say that you can get used to this heat, especially if you stay in the shade during the hottest part of the day, stay hydrated, and are having a blast while swimming in the river. Texas in the summer isn’t for sissies (so what am I doing here?!), but the Hill Country can be 10 degrees cooler than the city, and getting away from all the asphalt makes a huge difference in your perception of the heat. Pictured above is the Guadalupe River near Hunt, flowing strong despite the lack of rain. If I’d taken a picture in the other direction, you’d have seen dozens of people frolicking in the river to stay cool.
Deer, javelina (wild pigs), wild turkeys, tarantulas—you might expect to see these animals in the Hill Country. But blackbuck antelope, native to India and Nepal? Apparently so. We spotted these animals grazing in a field and cooling themselves under a cedar grove. At first I thought, oh, it’s just some deer. But then I noticed the long, spiraling horns on a male, did a doubletake, and stopped the car for a better look. They definitely weren’t deer, and I was pretty sure they weren’t the native pronghorn antelope of west Texas either. A four-foot tall fence surrounded the field, but we knew it wasn’t tall enough to keep in a deer, much less an antelope.
My husband snapped a few pictures from the car window as the antelope ambled away, disturbed by our presence but not alarmed. A little research on the Internet taught me that blackbuck antelope were imported from India to the Hill Country for hunting at exotic game ranches. Their natural habitat is open plains, and in India human encroachment and disease from domesticated cattle have led to their becoming a threatened species. They have thrived in the Hill Country, even escaping from game ranches and living wild, as the deer do.
I guess they don’t mind the Texas summers.
All material © 2006-2008 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
How interesting to see the exotic deer in the Hill Country. It is record heat for our area now.
Lots of plants are wilting in the heat. We can hope for a little relief after this evening according
to the weathermen. I hope they are right. I have tried to grow some of those Mexican Hats before
without luck. I think they are so cute and colorful for summer. I also remember swimming in the river
to keep cool during summer as a child. Those were the days. Your child will come home so healthy
and happy.
I saw in the paper today that Ohio and Indiana and even NYC are suffering from record heat too. Blech! I hope you get some nice cool rain soon, Lisa. If you do, please send some down here. —Pam
What’s a great thing to do when the temperatures drive you inside? Why read blogs of course. The Hill country can certainly look cool even in this blistering heat. Wow! those Mexican hats have a wonderful color. I must go out and check mine. I don’t think they have quite the same depth of color.
Jenny
Don’t go out until it cools off, Jenny! I’m sure there are more blogs you can catch up on until then. 😉 —Pam
Good Afternoon Pam – BOY those wildflowers are just WONDERFUL! Thank you for sharing those. I Love the deer. We had two little does and their mama walking along our wood line a few days ago. Isn’t that a wonderful gift?
Best wishes – Happy Gardening!
It was great to see the antelope—in someone ELSE’s yard. Ha! I’m just glad they weren’t grazing in my garden. Thanks for visiting, Bren. —Pam
The Mexican hats look lovely in your photos but I don’t really like them much in person. If only I liked red and orange more. They always look dull rusty brown to me–you captured a vivid side I don’t see myself.
Did you get a little bit of that rain over the weekend?
We got drizzled on at the pool, but when we got home there was nothing measurable in the rain gauge, alas. —Pam
Thanks for the picture of Mexican Hat–I love those flowers. I planted some seeds in my little
corner wildflower garden. They are up and I see buds–so hopefully I’ll have some flowers soon.
More of that yellow and red I love!!
Yes, this is yellow and and red as Mother Nature does it. I love the rusty red with the gold too. —Pam
Wow, and I thought I knew about almost all of the wildlife in our area, but I certainly haven’t seen the antelope! Definitely a much larger animal that the west Texas pronghorn, and very pretty, too. Thanks for researching it and educating me. Looking at your river pics makes me think I’d better head for Barton Springs soon for some magical cooling down.
Robin at Getting Grounded
It’s definitely Barton Springs weather, isn’t it? Enjoy, Robin! —Pam
That river looks mighty inviting! There’s nothing like walking across a black asphalt parking lot in summer to make you long for such a spot to relax and refresh yourself. Hope the heat breaks for all of us soon!
Me too, Cindy. Fingers crossed. —Pam
Hi Pam,
Hundreds of Mexican hat plants were almost the only wildflower we ever saw at our last Austin house – the deer ate everything else, including the bluebonnets.
While I was grateful to have anything bloom, I still tried to boss them around. In an area on the side slope where a few solid yellow plants turned up one summer, I cut down any bicolors as they opened, only letting the yellow ones mature and go to seed. After a couple of years that one section was almost all yellow, with the mahogany ones still growing at the back edge of the lot.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Interesting. I’d like to see a picture of a yellow patch of Mexican hats. They’d be more like true sombreros, wouldn’t they? —Pam
You got to see antelope in the wild? That’s something I don’t think I will ever see in Alabama, but, I guess anything is possible. There has been no rain here for some time, it’s starting to feel a little bit like Texas at my house. Hot, dry heat
I didn’t think I’d ever see antelope in the wild in the Hill Country either, Randy. There are a lot of game ranches out there, but I didn’t know about any wild herds until this trip. I’ve been fortunate enough to see wild antelope in two other places also: on the plains of West Texas and northern New Mexico (pronghorns), and in Tanzanian national parks last summer. —Pam
I had so much fun at summer camp when I was a kid. I love camping as an adult too, but only in the spring and fall, not the heat of the summer. We can hardly stay outside here in the evenings, with all the rain the mosquitoes are terrible.
I love the pictures of the Mexican Hats.
I have fond memories of summer camp too, in the mountains of North Carolina where it was nice and cool. My husband braved the Texas heat at summer camp, however, and says it was great too. Sorry to hear about the mosquitoes. We’ve got ’em too. —Pam
I just love Mexican hats! Maybe because the dark burgundy makes me think of Autumn – and how I dream of Autumn during these hot, hot days! We all need to be going to camp in the Hill Country.
I’m with you, Mary Beth, in dreaming of Autumn. We Texas gardeners dream of fall in the same way that northern gardeners dream of spring, don’t we? —Pam
my kiddos have gone to Mo Ranch near Kerrville…what camp is he attending …I love your site, happy dirt!
I’ve heard that’s a fun place. I’m keeping our camp name private. Thanks for visiting and your kind comment, ELK. Happy digging! —Pam
Hmmm, red flowers, well at least something is blooming in the heat. It has turned hotter here, but we are also getting waaaaayyyyyyy too much rain in parts of Indiana. Breaking 100 year records.
I can just imagine Annie trying to get a whole patch to be just yellow… very ambitious!
Ha, more red flowers, it’s true. If you lived here, Carol, you might have to rethink your least favorite flower color. Send some rain our way, please. —Pam
If I had the sun I would grow these delightful looking plants. Our temps are about 10 degrees hotter than normal…we all hope this is not a preview of summer. Pam, have you completely adjusted to Texas summers? Gail
No, and I’m not sure I ever will. I can bear it, however, as northern gardeners bear winter. The other three seasons here make it all worthwhile. —Pam
I now have “Home, home on the range… where the deer and the antelope play….” stuck in my head. 🙂
Those Mexican hats are cute, but I have to admit that I kind of like your pink bluebonnets. But don’t tell anyone else that, okay? I have a reputation to uphold, and all that!
Ha—a song for your iPod, Kim. Or not. I admit I’m a bit surprised by your pink confession—from the girl who prefers richer, edgier colors. Don’t worry, I won’t tell a soul. 😉 —Pam
I’m back from the vacation, and I’m catching up on my reading. Whew! Texas and Oklahoma weather isn’t for sissies, but I don’t know anywhere I’d rather be. And, this summer, I’ve been everywhere. LOL. Your photo are fab as usual. Bear goes to camp in a few days.~~Dee
Welcome back, Dee. We’re doing our travels later this summer, and I’m wishing more than ever that I had a sprinkler system so as not to worry about my garden while I’m gone. —Pam
It can’t be any hotter in Texas than it is in India in the summer. Those Antelope feel right at home. The Mexican Hat is kinda cute, but like Annie, I think I’d like it better all yellow.
Yellow is nice. But I love the reds! —Pam