Our thanks to DeAndra Ramsey from the Houston Zoo for bringing a group of  college students to Watson Preserve on May 23.  Eleven young people pitched in and helped us for about 3 1/2 hours that Thursday.  They demolished and removed the old privy; they loaded up a pine tree that had earlier been cut down (it leaned over the cabin) and hauled it off site; they cut down and removed a number of Chinese tallow trees.  We were really amazed at what they got done in such a short time.  It is…

We had a wonderful turnout for our wildflower walk on April 27.  Our thanks to Joe Liggio who led the tour, and to Jim Willis, who had cold water waiting at the end of our hike.

We are always glad to see old friends, of course, but we were especially pleased that there were several people visiting for the first time.  We hope they'll return many times.

The only disappointment was the paucity of orchids.  There were a few rose pogonias (very few), one grass-pink orchid about to…

We want to thank volunteers Bill and Mary Keller and Kathleen and Lisa Appelbaum for leading the birding tour on Saturday, April 13.  They enjoyed very nice weather and identified 29 species of birds, including a great crested flycatcher, a summer tanager, a catbird, a yellow-throated vireo, kingbirds, wood ducks (with babies!) and our resident redheaded wookpeckers.

Pauline Singleton

Thanks for a wonderful tour, Pauline. What a treat this was! Thanks for sharing knowledge and enthusiasm. We will certainly be back. 

The weatherman predicted an 80% chance of rain.  So we canceled our wildflower walk, right?  Wrong!  It was a small group this time, and that is really understandable.  It rained on me the whole way as I drove to the preserve.  Light rain continued off and on all day.

We simply carried umbrellas and pressed on.  What was blooming?  Goldenrod of several species, swamp sunflowers (they will probably put on a more dramatic show in a few more days), cowbane (Oxypolis sp.), Lobilia,…

I've created a web site(s) called “A place apart - Watson Rare Native Plants Preserve” to share pictures of this very special place. I'd like you to be a member of the site. Come check it out at http://watsonpreservephotos.shutterfly.com/.

Pauline,

I put all the Watson Preserves photos I have taken into one set in my flickr.  Here is the URL.  I don't know where it would work best to place it.  You decide.  I am adding it here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/carthamus/sets/72157630898833124/

We had a wonderful group turn out for the orchid walk on July 28.  About three dozen people, from Dallas-Ft Worth area to Louisiana to Houston, braved the southeast Texas heat and humidity to search for the rare Chapman’s orchid, Platanthera chapmanii. We were not disappointed.

Our thanks and our sympathy go to Joe Liggio, who led the walk that day.  A few days earlier, Joe’s mother passed away.  We certainly would have understood if he had canceled.  However, he…

This first time I saw the Watson Rare Native Plant Preserve was in August.  Although it was a typical upper Gulf Coast summer day, I was extremely happy to brave the heat and humidity, for a field of Liatris pycnostachya was in bloom and the breath-takingly beautiful flowers were swarming with butterflies: many of them showy swallowtails such as the black swallow tail, the palemedes, giant swallowtail, tiger swallowtail....  My second summer visit came in July, when the rare Chapman Orchid…