The Wonders of Wildflowers

My favorite thing about Texas in the Spring is the wildflowers that dot the roadways. It can look like a few specks of blue peeking out of the green grass (when there's been some rain during the winter) or full carpets of blue when you speed past them. But when you can stop and take a look, it becomes magical.

First, you must know that bluebonnets have an amazing scent! I don't even know how to describe it except to say that it is fresh and a little green. I don't know why it's not used in perfumes and candles because it is really special! These white-tipped flowers are the state flower of Texas. They can grow outside the Lone Star State, but it seems like they don't like to leave home.

When highways were being made, it was to accommodate the growing number of these things called motor vehicles. What Texas highway workers noticed was that wildflowers popped up. It took about 15 years before the highway department decided to highlight and preserve them along with native plants. They went beyond razing them for roads or mowing over them. They plant thousands of seeds every year to color between the lanes of the highways. 

Former First Lady Lady Bird Johnson also championed the efforts to keep the native beauties.

"For me, it describes the whole effort to bring the natural world and the man-made world into harmony; to bring order, usefulness -- delight -- to our whole environment, and that of course only begins with trees and flowers and landscaping."

Her passion for conservation and education led to the creation of the National Wildflower Research Center (and it is worth the trip to Austin to see).

These beauties aren't just limited to highways and roadways. It's not hard to find them taking a standing ovation in front yards. I took a little day trip in search of wildflowers and found some in Seguin (pronounced suh-geen). There were small scatterings and whole fields in bloom. It was so pretty! While we don't get a lot of seasonal tree color changing, we do get the wildflowers. Once the heat takes over, many of them fade off and wait until the next Spring. They're resilient. We have more than 100 years of work to make sure these flowers keep coming back. That's a little thing about Texas I have taken for granted for too long!

To get in on the wildflower fun, here's a link to a few celebrations around the state.