Bluebonnets

A couple weeks ago, I took some pictures of Texas Bluebonnets.  According to Texas A&M, bluebonnets:

•  Bloom between March and April
• Can also be white, pink, purple and Aggie Maroon
• Will not produce mature seed until June
• Are extremely cold hardy
• Help produce nitrogen in the soil

The time to spread wildflower seed is actually in the fall, not early spring. "September and October are the months for planting cold hardy fall annuals which bloom profusely the following spring" (Parsons, par 10)

According to the USDA, Lupinus subcarnosus Hook (a.k.a.
Texas bluebonnet ) is drought tolerant, and a member of the pea family.

Lupinus subcarnosus became the State flower March 7th, 1901. 70 years later, the state legislature added another species of bluebonnets, Lupinus texensis, to Lupinus subcarnosus as the state flower in addition to "any other variety of bluebonnet not heretofore recorded", and lumped them all into one state flower.  Among the many things the Legislature did not know then was that the big state of Texas is home to three other species of Lupines and the umbrella clause makes all five of them the state flower. And, if any new species are discovered, they automatically will assume the mantle of state flower as well" (Parsons, par 6).

Contrary to popular belief, it is not illegal to pick bluebonnets in the state of Texas. Just because you can do something, however, doesn't always mean you should.

Burnet and Chappell Hill have annual "Bluebonnet Festivals."


"Ennis was designated by the 1997 State Legislature as the home of the Official Texas Bluebonnet Trail and was designated the Official Bluebonnet City of Texas" (Ennis Convention and Visitors Bureau).