Tandy Hills Natural Area, Part I

Yesterday afternoon I had my second Meetup with the local NANPA group. Our destination this time was the Tandy Hills Natural Area, a 160-acre indigenous prairie remnant located right in Fort Worth. The predominant subject: wildflowers.

I spent my time first looking for backlit opportunities, which I took to a bit of an extreme with this silhouette.

I was surprised to see flowers that looked like foxgloves, which I was certain weren't actually foxgloves.

There was a master naturalist on hand, so I asked her what they were.  Foxgloves, as it turns out.

Paintbrush was plentiful, more of a magenta hue than the bright red variety.

As the sun got lower in the sky, there were more opportunities to get well-lit blossoms against shaded backgrounds.

We were a little early for the Echinacea, which weren't quite in full bloom yet.

Blanket flowers were just beginning to show their stuff.

A few patches of prairie verbena added a splash of purple to the landscape.

I really had good luck finding isolated foxgloves, a flower I've shot all the way from Alaska to Ireland.

I wish I'd asked the naturalist what these tall, solid plants that hadn't yet bloomed were.  There blossoms looked like little Brussels sprouts.

Click here for Part II.