Unexpected beauty

This is the first post I've written that isn't about my own garden. Strictly speaking, it's not about a garden at all.

On the way out of my mostly lovely neighborhood, there's a partly abandoned strip of commercial properties. The Hilton Garden Inn is still there, along with Bone Daddy's, a couple of convenience store/gas stations, and a small strip mall. For years, two vacant restaurants and a former gas station turned used car lot have been the eyesores of the neighborhood.

This past fall, we heard exciting news that a Pappadeaux restaurant is in the works. Construction crews razed one of the existing vacant restaurant buildings and converted an adjacent lot to a parking lot. All of this took several months, and so far, I haven't seen any work started on the new restaurant. So it goes with building projects, I suppose. My neighbors and I eagerly await a gourmet restaurant within walking distance.

As I drove by recently, I noticed a line of bright white flowers peaking over the construction fence, seeming to gawk back at the neighbors eyeing the lot. I thought they might be prickly poppies. Today I pulled over for a closer look.

My plant identification skills are novice at best, but I think this is White Prickly Poppy. There are a bunch of them, about 3-4' tall.

Several bluebonnets have popped up, too. I love that the official state flower so quickly reclaimed this land, in a matter of mere months.

Prairie Verbena shows up, too, along with several other yellow-flowered species I did not recognize.

The girls and I will keep watching this property, and when those bluebonnet seed pods dry out, I am going over there to grab them. I'm no expert in seed collection either, but it's worth a shot.

Before we know it, this land will be capped with a building again, but for now, nature has reclaimed it.