Spring Wildflowers - Bluebonnets

This will be the first post in a series focusing on the different wildflowers we have growing on our property. Nothing excites me more for spring than seeing the flowers start coming alive and painting their pops of color throughout the meadow. Makes me pause and enjoy the beauty every time I drive by and encourages me to walk around and check on what has emerged each day.

Of course I am going to start with the state flower of Texas, the iconic bluebonnet. There are actually 6 species of the bluebonnet, but all are encompassed together and designated the state flower. They start to bloom around mid-March (mine certainly are!) until mid-May. There is a myth that it is illegal to pick the flowers in Texas, but this is completely false. There is no law prohibiting somebody from picking these flowers! But I like to enjoy them in the field and let them go to seed so that I can enjoy them year after year. These beauties need full sun in well drained, gravelly soil.

All pictures were taken by me on our property:

Top view:

Picnic, anybody?