While we see many wildflowers throughout the summer, few are as spectacular as Mountain Pink (Centaurium beyrichii) that has a happy home in the Edwards Plateau and westward. Vibrant in color, this bouquet-like plant prefers the rocky outcroppings of Central Texas to deeper and richer soils of the Blackland Prairie to the east. Early settlers called this plant "quinine weed" and used it to reduce fevers. Evidently hard to propagate, the seeds should be collected when the blooming period wanes at the end of summer then seeded before or just after a rain. Mountain Pink provides nectar for butterflies, moths, bees and insects. Look for these colorful bouquets on the eastern canyon wall and along the western trail that runs parallel to Bee Cave Road.
The heat of summer also brings out cold-blooded animals and on our July hike we were rewarded by a snake, which we think is a Ribbon Snake (see this article for a discussion
about the difference between ribbon and garter snakes). Can you see this three-foot long snake in the middle of this photograph? It is well camouflaged among the plants, soil and rocks in the canyon trail. Like garter snakes, ribbon snakes are non-venomous beneficial to gardens as they eat worms, insects, and small rodents.
