Texas expecting bountiful array of wildflowers
DALLAS, TX
By the end of March, Texas should be awash in the reds, yellows,
whites and blues of wildflowers, with the season peaking in
mid-April, said Damon Waitt, senior botanist at the Lady Bird
Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin.
With rains throughout the fall and winter bringing an end to
drought conditions that have persisted in the state since late
2007, Waitt expects exceptional early and late spring wildflowers
in many parts of the state.
"That really favors our Texas wildflowers, especially our early
spring bloomers," said Waitt, who added that flowers making an
early appearance include Indian paintbrush, Drummond phlox and
Texas' state flower: the bluebonnet.
While different species thrive in different conditions, the last
two years overall have been less-than-spectacular for wildflowers
in Texas due to the drought, said Joe Marcus, collections manager
at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
"They were all there," he said, "just not to the extent or
showiness that we're used to seeing."
But experts say this spring should be impressive.
"My forecast is there's a 100 percent chance of bluebonnets,"
Waitt said.
In Brenham, a town of about 14,000 nestled in the rolling hills
between Austin and Houston, dozens of the state's famed bluebonnets
made an early appearance this month, with their proud blooms
dotting a hillside at a local intersection and standing tall
against snow there earlier this week.
"We do have some very early bloomers, which is not something
very typical," said Seneca McAdams, marketing and sales manager
for the Brenham/Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau,
which posts a wildflower watch on its Web site.
But she's not advising people to start coming just yet, saying
the real show will be when entire fields bloom and those with
bluebonnets are a sea of blue.
In Cuero, about 80 miles southeast of San Antonio, the DeWitt
County Wildflower Association is gearing up for what will hopefully
be a good wildflower season.
"We're still keeping our fingers crossed," said Myrna
Hassfield, president of the association.
She said people come from all over to tour the county. When the
season is in full swing, they'll be giving tours, passing out maps
showing the prettiest wildflower spots and will have a display in
the DeWitt County Historical Museum in Cuero of the current blooms,
she said.
"We hope toward the middle of March we'll start seeing some
things popping," Hassfield said. "At the beginning of April, we
hope they'll lift their heads out and get some sunshine."
Waitt said the wildflowers are the result of a Texas Department
of Transportation planting program along highways and roadsides,
people planting their own wildflowers in yards and pastures, and,
of course, the wildflowers that pop up as a result of Mother
Nature.
"Texans take real pride in their wildflowers," he said.
Winnie M. Spitz, 82, who lives near Buda outside Austin, said
she expects her yard of wildflowers will soon draw not only
butterflies, but also parents having their children pose for
pictures among her bluebonnets.
"I have people in my yard all the time," said Spitz, who
volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
Dennis Markwardt, director of vegetation management for the
Texas Department of Transportation, said the department both
protects naturally occurring wildflowers and has yearly plantings.
He said he's already seen some wildflowers blooming south of San
Antonio.
"There are wildflowers that grow in just about every region of
the state," Markwardt said. "When the conditions are right, you
can just drive from one end of the state to the other and see
wildflowers."