The tall fluffy Gay Feather also has a fall blooming time. It is about 18 inches to two feet tall and looks like a piece of a purple feather boa. Now there is another version that is little puffs of color on a tall wavy stem, but the plants that grow around here are on a stiff stem with all the blooms running together. When you see them standing along the roadside, remember, they are saying, "Cool weather is coming, honest." The trompillo or silver nightshade is another purple flower of August. It has a light purple star shaped flower with a bright yellow center. The fruit it puts on is mottled with yellow and black. It is grown as a garden plant in other parts of the country. Here it is blooming along the creek bottoms or draws in the fall. The verbena is not an exclusive flower of fall, but it is purple. The prairie verbena gives us color all summer and, if the winter is not too harsh, all winter too. I've seen them under the ice of a November sleet storm. They grow close to the ground and in garden catalogues, come in many colors. Here around Sulfur Creek, they are only purple. The mulberry tree out in front of the house has begun to show signs of fall too as have the sycamores down on Barton Creek, but that's another story. © Copyright 1986, 1996, 1998 by Sulfur Creek Enterprises, Austin, Texas |
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