Updated With New Pics in Slideshow HERE. They're ALIVE!
So you've seen a few so far. Maybe some pretty good patches already.
Just wait.
I've seen them and they are real. Really impressive. Already.
And getting bigger. With lots of promising, little, white-tipped buds ready to burst into the blue.
Yep, it's Bluebonnet Season (BS) and already tons of our Texas State Flower are taking over big patches of our state's roadsides and our attention as we drive along.
And with the rain we've had in the past few months here around San Antonio and South Texas, it could be the best and most distracting Bluebonnet Spring we've had in years.
So???
So that means you need to remember a few things:
First, Watch the Road! And don't pull over just anywhere. People can get killed because you want a picture of little Ricky in the flowers so you can give something to Grandma or put up in the hall.
And don't creep along, holding up traffic, and then finally pull over and park
in the Bluebonnets so you can get a picture in front of what's
left of the Bluebonnets.
I love Bluebonnets. I have Bluebonnets in my yard. And I have some pretty good pictures I took of my own kids looking cute in the middle of a patch or two.
Just be careful! I hate doing stories on bad things that happen when good people do dumb things. So don't make me put you on the news!
And share the love.
The more you trample, the less photo-op and just simple beauty-op you leave for the rest of us.
More trampling now also means more Bluebonnets will die before they "go to seed" to be scattered by the winds and bloom into more beauty next year.
Do You Really Need To?
And it's pretty much the same with picking Bluebonnets. The more you take, the less there is for all of us to enjoy today and in the future.
Yes, technically it's legal to pick Bluebonnets along public thoroughfares in Texas (a few anyway). The nice people at the Texas Transportation Department and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin answer the same questions every year.
"Yes, you can." (But we'd rather you didn't)
They discourage Bluebonnet-picking for several reasons, mainly the one about cutting into the natural seed supply for next year.
And let's face it, it just seems wrong.
The idea that Bluebonnet-Picking can get you ticketed or even jailed isn't such a bad Urban Myth to keep alive.
Because while most of us are fine with a few pretty flowers, we all know people who hear something's free and - WHAM! Next thing you know there's big ol' blank spaces where somebody just picked a carload. Some for everbody they know. And a few truckloads to sell.
Lady Bird Johnson helped foster a respect and reverence for the roadside beauty of our state. There's a Wildflower Center in Austin named after her. She might be fine with you picking some to show off back home.
But remember there's that whole "Don't Mess With Texas" thing we do pretty well. And then there's something about ruining a good thing for everybody else.
Don't Mess With Mine, Texas!
Maybe I'm just a proud, overprotective Texan, but I love shooting video and photos of Texas Wildflowers. I've been doing it for years, since before there even was a Wildflower Center.
I also have a ton of Bluebonnets in my yard this spring. Some were there for several years, but my kids and I discovered you can really get them to go nuts if you "harvest" the seeds after the blooms fade and then scatter those seeds all over in the Fall.
Of course the rain is the main ingredient in this Bluebonnet Boom. So if it keeps up we're on the cusp of something cool. Just Don't Mess With it, Texas!
And a quick update here. I just posted a slideshow of some of the still photos I took of that record crop of Bluebonnets in my yard. And if you take a close look, notice how you can see little, goofy faces in the multi-colored blooms. Really.
Thanks,
Beamer (and my Bluebonnets)
