Sunday, March 15, 2009

Bluebonnets -- as Texas as it gets


The Bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis (Fabaceae)) are starting to pop out.  

This was undoubtedly not the best day to photograph them -- overcast, dark, drizzly with a touch of mist.  Focusing was hard.  Depth of field was impossible. At least the wind cooperated for a while.

The explosion of blue along the Texas highways is a sight to see.  On the back roads, field are covered in them like a Paul Bunyon-sized flag laying across the ground.

The Texas Department of Transportation maintains a wildflower sightings site, though it is not very robust.

We were traveling along Highway 105 from Conroe toward Navasota when we started to see a lot of patches of that signature blue.  On the way back were took Hwy 149 and 1365 through the Sam Houston National Forest -- not a lot of bluebonnets in the forest but a lot on either side.

There is a tradition around Texas of taking pictures of children and loved ones in fields of Bluebonnets.   Here's a picture my daughter took of our two grandchildren  (beware, the law of unintended consequences has been invoked.)

--steve buser






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