At Home on the Road

By: rlogan1155

Apr 07 2013

Tags: agave, agave americana, cactus, Century plant, nature, RVing, Texas, Texas plants, travel, winter Texans

Category: RV Living - Full Time Experiences

1 Comment

Early April and the Rio Grande Valley is emptying out, a sad time. All the Winter Texans are packing up and heading north. Here in our park, and every other park in the Valley two or three or more rigs leave every day.  Shortly all that will be left are a few permanent residents and the diehards who will not be leaving until the end of April or even mid May. They really want to avoid any remnants of winter.

sights from our campground

The welcoming frog at the gate

We plan on leaving the 9th of April and taking our time travelling home, maybe 3 or 4 weeks, depending on how soon spring arrives in Canada. Don’t know whether I will be able to post while we’re on the road, but will try.

picking tangarines in our campground

Have not had to buy oranges or grapefruit all winter. They grow all over our park. Lemons and limes are not so plentiful

It was a great winter here, so different than what we experienced last winter in Canada. I’ve shared a lot of what it’s all about and I’ll leave you with some pictures of Texas plants. They are definitely desert natives and have a kind of rugged beauty not seen north or even on the east coast.

Agave americana or the commonly missnamed Century plant lives 25 to 30 years. It blooms only once in its lifetime, just before it dies. It sends up a long spike that can reach 28 feet and looks like a giant stalk of asparagus, from which it the flowers appear. Pictured here in the park is an Agave ready to flower; unfortunately we won’t be here to see it. I’m told it puts on a spectacular display. Before the plant blooms, daughter plants sprout up along side to carry on after the original dies.

Agave americana or Century plant. You can see the smaller daughter plant in the lower left of the picture.

Same plant ready to bloom. The spike is tall already.