April 7th, 2008
Blue Bonnets welcome the Texas spring
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Come April, Texas flora begins to wake up from its winter hibernation and bloom slowly to life. Admittedly, Texas doesn’t have much of a winter but the distinct dry and dreary landscape dotted with bare trees and dry grass cannot be missed. As Washington D.C. welcomes the spring with its famed cherry blossoms, Texas does it with blue bonnets. The trees are green once again, the mornings are getting warmer but the most noticeable change is along the Texas roads. Lady Bird Johnson is credited with having beautified Texas highways with these pretty flowers when she asked truck drivers to sprinkle seeds during their travels.
I had missed the splash of this blue until this year because of the untimely freeze last spring. Blue bonnets, the state flower of Texas is spotted mostly along the highway medians and the exit ramp grassy mounds. We spotted them while driving along Hwy 6, the road that goes past our town so we decided to head out on the weekend and shoot them before they vanish. Thankfully, we could park near in Post Oak Mall parking lot while I scooted over to the grassy patch between the feeder road and the highway, armed with
my Nikon D40. The late evening light was perfect and cloudless skies with a slight breeze presented the perfect photo opportunity. I didn’t stay around for too long lest a cop came along asking questions about a brown guy taking pictures near physical infrastructure. The flowers are quite small and are best seen in large swaths of blue over the green grass. I managed to get quite a few beautiful shots and you can check them out after the jump:
by Patrix | on Monday, April 7th, 2008 at 2:55 pm | 
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April 7th, 2008 at 5:15 pm reply
aww.they DO look like blue bonnets. Well, spring it yet to come here, but I do have some bulbs pushing through the earth..lets see what they become..
April 7th, 2008 at 5:46 pm reply
I remember seeing them along Highway 290 and also on interstate 45 near Huntsville. The Indian paintbrush and the bluebonnets make driving along texan roads a delight during spring.
April 7th, 2008 at 7:57 pm reply
Is this the first post ever on NEFA about flowers?!!!! What had marriage done to you?!! j/k
BTW, I read a previous comment about these flowers resembling bonnets … I dont see it…but why?
April 7th, 2008 at 9:16 pm reply
Sqrl, I don’t see the bonnet look but then I am always thinking of a car’s bonnet :) Good luck with your bulbs. hope they are environmentally-friendly..j/k
bloghopper, Seeing them for the first-time can be quite a surprise, right? You just don’t expect them in this Texan landscape.
Michelle, unfortunately this blog has been gay before. The last flowers post was incidentally last spring bemoaning the lack of blue bonnets and instead satisficing with yellow ones. Ditto about bonnets. Prolly think of Mary Poppins.
April 8th, 2008 at 1:48 am reply
Nice pics. We went to DC a week early, otherwise I would have captured some cherry blossoms myself. Your pics remind me of wildflowers in w. virginia - they are beautiful too.
S
April 8th, 2008 at 4:33 pm reply
Supremus, thanks. Visiting D.C. during the cherry blossoms blooming remains one of my travel wishes.
April 9th, 2008 at 1:19 am reply
very lovely..
April 9th, 2008 at 2:07 am reply
great pics.. .makes your heart smile
April 9th, 2008 at 9:29 am reply
Cynic, Harini, thanks! Glad you liked them.
April 9th, 2008 at 2:54 pm reply
[...] Spring is in the air! Sujatha eagerly awaits cherry blossoms in Washington,DC, while Patrix scoots over a highway to photograph bluebonnets in texas. [...]
April 9th, 2008 at 6:46 pm reply
Awww! Blue Bonnets! I lovvee them! They are everywhere around this time. :-)
I’m 45 mins from DC and I’ve been here for 6 yrs now and haven’t seen the cherry blossoms yet! Lol! I know!! I’m planning to go this Saturday though.
April 9th, 2008 at 8:24 pm reply
Beautiful! Particularly when it feels as if spring will NEVER come to New York this year!
Kamini
April 9th, 2008 at 9:37 pm reply
Truthfairy, long time, huh? And shame on you for not checking out the DC cherry blossoms. Go this year or else…
Kamini, wish you a speedy Spring but at least until then you can go skate at Rockefeller.
April 10th, 2008 at 9:01 am reply
Beautiful flowers and photos Pat
April 11th, 2008 at 5:14 am reply
I see blue flowers in all my contacts flickr streams for some reason!Looks like spring is blue this time :)
BTW arent these also known as larkspur?
April 11th, 2008 at 11:07 pm reply
lovely flowers…colorful images! I liked the one red among blue:-)
April 18th, 2008 at 11:30 pm reply
I wish I had half your talent with the camera. As a life-long Texan, I love bluebonnets but haven’t been able to see many since I moved north. Which is why I have to look for them vicariously on the computer! If anyone wants to see more bluebonnet pics, here’s another site with a few decent ones, and of course the pictures on this blog are just plain adorable.