Bumper crop

Whether we have our wetter-than-usual winter, or our cooler-than-usual spring, or some combination to thank, it's been a great flower season in south Texas.

And that goes double for the workhorse of our floral arsenal, the all-summer-long-blooming crape myrtles.

Here's a typically rich example

These guys have been just loaded with blooms all over town, including a less-than-photogenic white one in our back yard that, nonetheless, leaves a generous offering of petals on my windshield every morning, as you can see on the right.

Other varieties of colors are also on display, like the lovely lilac shade on the left. I've even seen some deliciously dark, dark, red blossoms, but not in places where I could stop and snap a photo.

Most of them, though, are the luscious pink that you can see in my other photos. Although, trust me, my camera work doesn't really do the hue justice.

One of my neighbor's trees, with palm fronds in our yard serving as a screen

I get to see this wonderful lineup of beauties every day on the way to and from work. Some genius planted them all along Woodlawn Avenue's tiny esplanade some years ago, and paving the street with gold couldn't have made it any more spectacular!

Normally, these amazing trees bloom all summer, no matter what the water situation. I wonder if that will be true this year, though, since they've put out so much energy so early. Many of the trees still have plenty of buds, though, so I'm hopeful.