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A French-Inspired Garden and Home by Judith Stringham

Texas Bluebonnets

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Texas 
Bluebonnets
are wild lupines.
The state flower of Texas is the species
Lupinus texensis.




Bluebonnets are native to Texas and grow wild 
across plains, along the roadsides, in ditches,
in pastures, under mesquite trees...
Texans rejoice each spring when 
the fields of bluebonnets appear.





The Texas highway department, local governments, businesses, and
landowners plant bluebonnet seeds to supplement nature's wild sowing.
All during the year, we talk about how the bluebonnets are progressing.

We track the sightings of blooms with several state websites.
Towns hold festivals and fairs.
Parents plan outings for photos of children and 
dogs in the bluebonnets.
Newspapers and websites post the most beautiful photos
of fields of bluebonnets 
and bluebonnets with children and dogs.






We pick them and put them in vases, fruit jars, crocks, metal buckets,...
We gather seeds to plant in the fall.





As annuals, each year's crop depends on the germination of seeds
the previous fall and on rainfall at crucial times during fall and winter.
Bluebonnets bloom for about three weeks in the spring.
See the bright magenta centers on some blooms?
And bright white centers on other blooms?
Why the difference?





Blooms are fertile about six days.
The center of the bloom changes from white to magenta
when the bloom is no longer fertile.





I love bluebonnets.
They are one of the highlights of my life every year.





Right up there with my love for Paris
and all things blue...





The hot dry Texas summers sizzle.
Flowers stop blooming, grass turns brown, and trees are dusty grey-green.





But in mid-March to mid-April each year,
bluebonnets are lush,
giving joy to all who see them,
filling acres and acres with their beauty.



Every spring, the Great Spirit remembers my sacrifice 
and covers Texas with the beautiful blue flowers. 
The flowers are called bluebonnets.

quote from
The Legend of the Bluebonnet
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