There isn’t much blooming yet here in north central Florida, but it won’t be long before it starts. In anticipation of that, I chose one of our common but always beautiful spring flowers. It called Carolina desert chicory (Pyrrhopappus carolinianus), which is really interesting because it’s most common in dry, sandy environments in Texas (hence some other common names; Texas dandelion or Texas false dandelion). There it grows along many roadways and is considered a weed in lawns even though it is a member of the Aster family which are often used as ornamentals. It does grow other places besides Texas including the Carolinas and of course, Florida. Both here and in the Carolinas it mainly grows in the sandhills since many of our other habitats are too wet. I’m looking forward to seeing these little beauties popping up before too long. And I don’t even mind if they grow in my lawn.