Did you know?

Okay, so this is probably more than you ever wanted to know about bluebonnets, but I found it interesting.

While I was looking for bluebonnet pictures to put in my last post, I discovered a few facts about bluebonnets I didn't know. Since it is Texas trivia, I found it interesting. You see, Texas has not one, but five state flowers. They're all bluebonnets, but different species.

In March, 1901, the state legislature made the buffalo clover (Lupinus subcarnosis) the state flower.

Another species, Texas bluebonnets, (Lupinus texensis) was more popular with Texans.

So, in 1971, the Texas legislature cleared up any doubt about what the state flower is (or created more confusion depending on your point of view) by making any species of bluebonnet officially the state flower.

There are five species of bluebonnets. The other three are:

Lupinus argenteus Lupinus concinnus (Bajada Lupine or Scarlet Lupine)

Lupinus havardii (Big Bend Bluebonnet)

Okay, so this is really just an excuse to put more bluebonnets in my blog because they are pretty and they make me smile.

Happy First Day of Spring!

There is something about this time of year that just makes me happy. Maybe it's the fact that there is more sunshine. Maybe it is getting warmer outside and I don't feel the need to hibernate any longer. Or maybe, just maybe, it's the wildflowers that are starting to bloom. It could be some combination of all of them. I think the thing that always make me smile the biggest is when I first start to see bluebonnets growing along the highways.

I was 18 years old when I saw bluebonnets growing wild for the first time. They're the State Flower of Texas (all five varieties, officially) and every spring they bloom with wild abandon along roadsides thanks in large part to Lady Bird Johnson. It is a big deal to those of use who live where they grow.

Every year parents park along the highways and byways (no matter how busy the highway is) and plop their children into patches to get pictures. It's the annual tradition of Buttprints in the Bluebonnets... No, seriously. Photographers (professional and amature alike) stake out the best places to take that perfect kid picture. It is so much a tradition, that the Texas DPS has a webpage about it and how to take pictures of your kids safely and legally. They even warn about another springtime tradition. Fireants. They're nasty little buggers! But they are another post.

Anyway back to the first time I ever saw bluebonnets growing wild...I was driving with a friend from college to see her parents (it was college and they were buying dinner!) and I saw these blue-purple blooms along the road. Suddenly it dawned on me that those were bluebonnets. I got so excited that I pointed out just about every bloom I saw. She thought I had lost my mind. You see, she'd grown up where bluebonnets were common. In the Panhandle, they don't grow wild.

So, it's actually now officially spring. I made it through the doldrums of winter and even winter's last death throes of snow and ice last week. And now I plan to take my own pictures of bluebonnets. I might even find a way to take my picture in them this year. I've never done that. Hmmm... I'll have to think on that one. Maybe they'll be in bloom when C gets here in a couple of weeks.

Wait, upon further reflection, we did take our pictures last year in the bluebonnets. It was during Girl's Weekend! See... (and yes, it was a bit windy that day.)

I also am going to put them in my planters on my patio this spring. That way, all I have to do is look out my patio door to see springtime happiness.