The late-spring flowers of the Hill Country

May is considered late spring, early summer in Central Texas. The spring Bluebonnets have been lovely this year and now we need to wait for the seeds to mature before we can mow down the wildflowers. With Bluebonnets, it is easy to tell when the seeds are mature because you can see when the seed pods have opened to release the seeds. If you mow before the seeds are mature you will not get new plants. Bluebonnets are annuals. That means the individual plants will not come back the following year, but if their seeds were allowed to mature and they fall to the ground, the seeds may germinate in the same general area.

The Mealy Blue Sages have appreciated our rains. There is a nice patch of them in front of the Winter-Wimberley House near the entrance to the Wimberley Community Center. Mealy Blue Sage is a perennial which means that the same plant will come back from its roots year after year as long as it doesn’t die. You can mow over it and it will come back as long as it has a minimum amount of rain. Mealy Blue Sage also makes seeds and if the seeds are allowed to become mature they may germinate and start a new plant. We call these plants that germinate and grow even if you didn’t plant them, “volunteers.”

Late spring is also the time of intense weeding. Unfortunately there is a bad weed that has done exceeding well this year. It is Maltese Star Thistle. Most people are not aware of it as it does not stand out but it certainly knows how to spread itself. There is a terrible patch of it in the plot in front of the Wimberley Community Center Sign on Ranch Road 12. This weed needs to be pulled up by its roots because if you mow or weedeat it, all those thistle burs will start new plants and you will have a plot dedicated to Maltese Star Thistle.