Spring arrives in colorful succession
- jjvanm
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
Published March 7, 2026, in the McAllen Monitor
Story and photos by Anita Westervelt, Texas Master Naturalist
The trees know. That’s what old-time Texans will tell you. When mesquites bloom, danger of frost is gone.
Before the orange and creamy-white mesquite catkins contrasted with their stark, bare, black tree branches in our yard in mid-February, a lone yellow flowerhead popped out alongside the driveway, foretelling, in my mind, that spring was here.
Quickly, other splashes of yellow-blooming native Texas dandelions, Pyrrhopappus pauciflorus, were everywhere. Next, patches of pinkladies, Oenothera speciosa, began their late winter color show. A trio of Corpus Christi fleabane flowers, Erigeron procumbens, joined the spring affair.
Before you get the mower out to turn your yard into an even sea of green grass, consider the early spring benefits these colorful pop-up plants bring to your habitat.
The nectar and pollen of mesquite flowers support a variety of insects. Various songbirds, flycatchers and roadrunners, eat the insects that are drawn to mesquite flowers. The blooms produce protein-rich bean pods; quail, doves, songbirds and other birds eat both pods and seeds. Squirrels, rabbits, rodents, coyotes and other critters eat the pods.
Mesquite trees are host plants for colorful local moth caterpillars, like the large good-luck black witch moth, Heiligbrodt’s mesquite moth, Hubbard’s small silkmoth, io moth and the indomitable graphic moth.
Pinkladies, also known as Mexican evening primrose, thrive in the Rio Grande Valley. They spread by runners above ground and can cover a wide area. The flowers attract many insect species, including bees and butterflies. White-lined sphinx moths visit the flowers at dusk and dawn. Hardy in full sun, pinkladies are drought tolerant but may go dormant during extreme heat. Providing water will bring them back. Seed-eating birds and small mammals eat the seeds.
Corpus Christi fleabane, a coastal native and marsh edge plant, comes to life in February. The daisy-like wildflower has many narrow white ray flowers around yellow disc flowers. It, too, offers excellent nectar for early spring pollinators, attracting bees, wasps, flies, butterflies and moths.
My favorite announcement of spring is the dandelion. While common dandelions, Taraxacum officinale, are found worldwide, they are rare in the extreme southern coastal areas of Texas and less common in deep South Texas’ hot, dry climate. What we have is the Texas dandelion, also known as false dandelion and smallflower desert-chicory; its native range is south-central and southeastern United States.
Dandelion species have a deep tap root which helps aerate compacted soil and pull nutrients, like calcium, potassium, phosphorus and nitrogen, and trace minerals, like iron, magnesium, copper and zinc to the surface, which help benefit surrounding vegetation. The physical action of the taproot creates channels in compacted soil, and allows air, water and microbial life to penetrate deeper, further helping nutrient cycling.
Dandelion nectar and pollen are vital foods, especially in early spring, for bees, flies, wasps, bee-flies, hoverflies and butterflies. They are great wildlife plants that provide seeds and foliage. Rabbits eat the leaves, flowers and roots. Bobwhite quail, Rio Grande turkeys, and other birds eat the seeds. Bright, happy yellow dandelions are a good deal all around.
