Winter reminded us this weekend that even though it’s almost gone, it’s not over yet. The weather turned cold, wet, and overcast this weekend. It’s hard to believe that winter is over in about two weeks.

My hike today concentrated on the small signs of life again. The landscape is still mostly brown, not having sprung back to life yet. This tends to focus my attention on the small things. There is always something going on out there, but sometimes you have to look harder.

I noticed, though, that the live oaks are starting to drop their leaves.

Here’s a patch of lichens on a small oak branch. I like the gray-green color and the tiny cup-shaped brown spots. The cups are less than a 1/6 inch in diameter. I think the cups are the fruiting body of the fungus part of the lichen known as the apothecium. There are also sections which are sprouting delicate little hairs.

Lichens on Oak Branch

This colorful lichen patch on a Texas Persimmon (Diospyros texana) called out to me as I walked by. It’s colored yellow, green, and orange, which makes a nice combination. When choosing a color palette, you can’t go wrong by following nature’s choices.

It’s quite different in appearance from the previous one on the oak tree. If you look closely, you can see that it spreads by branching, but it stays flat against the tree.

Lichens On Texas Persimmon

Here’s a sure sign that spring is almost here. These tiny yellow Agarita (Mahonia trifoliolata) flowers were tight red balls about two weeks ago and now they’ve opened.

Here, too, is a wining color combination – green, yellow, and red. I always like the delicate veining of the Agarita leaves. Note how the leave are in groups of three – that’s the trifoliolata in the species name.

Agarita Flowers