I read an article in my newspaper about the blue bonnets blooming here in town at the Water Lily garden. So, I brought my 3 yr old, Justan down there. The patch of flowers wasn't very big, but they are the first ones to bloom this year. They sure are pretty!
Of course Justan was facing the sun!:)
Anybody else have any pictures of blue bonnets this year?
Here's another one
Elizabeth
That is one goodlooking hunk of young man . Oh yeah , the bluebonnets are pretty too . digger
I have pictures. This was taken in my grandmother's patch last weekend.
lol - Ours are HUGE! I was afraid to set a kid down for fear we'd never find them again...
This is the tomato bed at the abandoned city lot we've been recovering. The following photo is the same bed this time last year.
Fine lookin' younguns, everybody!
2009
Great pictures!!
Carla
Boy!! After all of your pictures, my little patch I found looks pitiful.LOL
Sapphirestar- Great picture! Should put on a wall!
Here's Justan on a bridge in the garden.
The patch is actually pretty small. Camera angle makes all the difference! I think I am going to frame it. One of the best he's taken. His birthday is in April, so we have been taking all his yearly photos in convenient patches. Here is his 1yr pic.
And 2 yr pic same patch as the first year, which is in Angleton, Tx, as opposed to Lake Jackson, where my grandmother's house is.
He's adorable! As he grows each year with the blue bonnets, those pictures will be fun to look back on years later.
Thanks! That's what I'm hoping. :)
The Bluebonnets and wildflowers are spectacular just south of San Antonio on I-37 and Hwy 16. The past several years of drought and rain this spring must have popped every seed in the ground.
Although I did not get to see them, talked to several people who said this was the best they had ever seen in the area in memory.
I bought a plant 3 yrs ago and planted it my yard.. this year I found a lsingle lonely plant with one bloom ..Im hopeing for more next year!
You need to buy a bag of seeds that have been prepared for the next spring blooming. Bluebonnets have a very hard shell that takes 1-2 years to striate naturally.
If purchasing seed, make sure they have been striated, roughed up in a tumbler or otherwise treated to bloom the following spring. All wildflower seeds do best if tossed out in September to early fall at the latest.
We've got a bunch of handsome little boys! I have a couple of pics here - one of James in the bluebonnets last year (5 or 6 months old, I think) and this year, at 16.5 months.
Here is this year's! I plan to take more this year; we just snapped this one real quick on the first Saturday we saw bluebonnets. :)
My cousin--Paris, Texas
Oh, I need to be a Grandma! Just looking at these beautiful children brings it on.
We have some nice patches of bluebonnets in Central East Texas, Nac and east of Nacogdoches.
Mine, treated and planted correctly and using seeds from a great local patch that grows 1.5 miles away never took.
I may run by the local patch tomorrow and get a pic. You'd thing you're in central TX.
Here are some that showed up in our yard the last few years. These are ALL volunteers.....we never planted any. But they were pretty so we let them stay. My DH had to pull them out of the pathway this year. They just covered everything.
This area is normally where I plant Zinnia seeds. I threw done some seeds right over all these Bluebonnets.....we'll see if any come up.
Morgan -
That is breathtaking! What is the red plant growing on your fence?
Andrea - The coral flowers are Crossvines....and we DID plant those. They look good together, huh? That is why we haven't pulled up all the Bluebonnets. We are hoping a bunch of the Zinnia seeds take and by the time they are ready to bloom the Bluebonnets will be done.
Crossvines bloom like this in Spring. They bloom here and there through out the summer but never like this carpet of color look. And they are evergreen. Their leaves get a bit bronze in winter but green up fast.
And look at the trees in morganc's photo's background. Bet you're stopping traffic, giving garden tours, enjoying the heck out of it, or all three.
Not really.....it's in the back yard. You can't see it from the street.
East Texas bluebonnets 1.5 miles from home. This soil has more sand than my red clay with pockets of sand.
forgot pic which was taken this morning.
Don't you just love wildflowers?? They are just not picky about their environment.......they can thrive under any conditions.
I'm going to think of myself as a wildflower......I want to thrive like them!!! :-)
Great pic antiquedrose.
Are bluebonnets protected? I was told it was against the law to pick them, cut them down or dig them up. Is that true or just a tall tell?
all wild flowers are protected we are not supposed to do anything to them, no cutting no transplanting, no gathering of seeds..nada..sizeable fines if youre busted doing it
It's not the bluebonnets, it's just all the regular laws about trespassing and vandalism and such.
Here's the list of the endangered and threatened species, with a note about their state regulation. http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/species/endang/plants/
I'm the type to stop on the side of the road and pick flowers to bring home and put in a vase of water. I had mentioned to a friend when I first moved to Texas how I wanted to pick some of "those pretty flowers", well they were bluebonnets and they said I could get into big trouble. They said that if they grow in your yard, you can't cut them or anything? I think that's crazy if they are in your own yard!
Holy Cow 'MorganC' --- All those Bluebonnets were 'volunteers' ?? I know the Hill Country (Austin area) gets really nice wildflower shows...but wow - your lucky to have that many without having to buy the seeds. We were considering planting one of our meadows with Bluebonnets -- we live on 10acres -- but they're really expensive to buy for that big of an area.
This message was edited Apr 15, 2010 7:43 PM
Start with a small allotment spread over a large area. Then let nature spread the bluebonnets and wildflowers to reseed themselves over time. It will happen.
jannz2 -
I think the wind blows the Bluebonnets to our yard and they stay because they like the soil. There weren't that many last year, but they seem to have multiplied. They are so pretty we just don't have the heart to pull them, except so we could still get through the path. They are in the beds I use for my Zinnias, so I just threw the seed right over everything and hope the recent rain pounded them in far enough to grow. The Bluebonnets will be done by the time the Zinnias start to bloom. Might work out...we'll see.
I'd echo the approach of just start, even with a small bit. The meadow we are restoring is a little under two acres. We put out a pound of _mixed_ seed, not even all bluebonnets, two years ago. There were probably a few dozen plants last year, but more like hundreds this year. I was just counting some of the seed pods from this year - looks like each plant is producing around 75 seeds.
I like the look of mixed wildflowers, but if you want the bluebonnet-blanket-for-Easter-photos, you could do one small concentrated are of the 10 acres, then more widely distribute the rest of them and let them concentrate on their own over the years.
I would suggest doing the soil prep. They're tough little seeds, and obviously in nature no one plants them, but you can really up the success rate with a little raking.
Morganic- Since you don't have the heart to pull them, I'm guessing I was told a story? You can pull them, or get rid of them if they are in your own yard?
ejennings , just a word to you and all the others . There is a magic to the words "My son " I only had one child , and don't know the feelings for a daughter , But ," My son " gives me goose bumps . He's 52 , but the magic is still there ,and he is my best friend . Sorry about the off topic . digger
Digger- That's sweet. I have 2 sons. No matter how mad I am or how upset, the 2 of them some how always make me smile!
Here's both of them Justan (just turned 3) and Jimmy ( almost 5)
The older they get , the closer you will get to them . Forget the teen years , you'll want to trade them in on puppies . digger
ejennings - I for one have never heard of people not being able to move a plant on their own property. We had to pull them out of the pathway so we could get to the rest of our plants....nobody came and arrested us.
:-)
