The Houston Heights has a great jogging/walking trail on Heights Boulevard that extends from I-10 to 20th Street. For quite a while, I was a frequent walker, especially between 11th and 20th Streets. I was sometimes seen with a basket and clippers gathering subjects for my lumen printing. Some of my best prints started as leaves from the trees along the boulevard.
In the 1700 block of Heights Blvd, there was a tree (or really large bush) that required many of us to duck as we passed. I’ve used an app on my phone to identify quite a few of the plants along the path, but I never checked this one. Now I wished that I had.
Circumstances caused me to change the route of my morning walks, and the summer heat kept me off the boulevard during the day. When I recently changed my morning route and returned to the walking path, I was disturbed by what I saw.
Block after block is filled with trees that have died or are in severe distress—some that might not survive the winter. I don’t know if the drought dealt the final deadly blow to our head-knocker, or if it finally hurt a passer-by, but the plant is gone.
In all honesty, this was no longer the beautiful plant it was in 2011, but there was some comfort in the sameness of seeing it–sort of like waving to a passer-by along your morning walk.