Wildflowers - Hill Country, TX - Apr 2007

I'm baaack!!! I know what you're thinking -- "It's about time!" I'm going to begin my first post with recent stuff, but as I get time, I will add some historic posts that will go back to the first of the year, so keep checking back to see what's new.

Well, we're on the road again and our first stop was at one of our favorites -- Llano River Park -- a lovely setting that is deep in the heart of the Texas Hill Country. I'll include pics of that delightful park separately because I wanted this post to be all about the beautiful Texas wildflowers.

I absolutely love the Texas Hill Country in the springtime. The bright green of new growth combined with the colorful wildflowers that blanket the roadsides and fields are a feast for my eyes. This year was an especially good year -- mostly because of all the rainfall that we've had. However, another weather related phenomenon happened -- a record-breaking, late freeze and snowfall in central Texas that left the wildflower experts mystified as to what would happen to the plants. It turns out that the cold temperatures slowed down the seed germination process for the early bloomers -- Bluebonnets and Paintbrushes -- and this allowed their flowers to remain lush and vibrant much longer into the season. As a result, all the plants that would normally have spread their blooms over a two month period, peaked almost in unison and gave us a wonderful assortment of flowers in a riot of color that is rarely seen. On a beautiful, sun-filled day we toured the area around Llano, Mason, Fredricksburg and Lake Buchanan and saw so many picturesque scenes -- rolling hills, open fields and winding roads all painted with color. My pics don't do them justice, but hope you enjoy a little peek of springtime in the Hill Country

I'm always researching stuff on the internet and have a couple of sites that post "wildflower hot spots." This year, one site mentioned a new drive that was the best the author had ever seen, so of course we had to go see it. It was on FM 1900 just east of Mason. The Bluebonnets were spectacular -- the best we've ever seen too. The roadsides and fields were covered in blooms and in certain spots, the White Prickly Poppies were mixed in with the Bluebonnets giving the scene a refreshing contrast of blues and whites.

Llano County is noted for it's pink granite outcroppings. The large boulders add yet another contrasting color to Mother Nature's palette. This was outside of Llano on Hwy 29, the yellow Coreopsis (aka Golden Wave) spread as far as I could see including being nestled in amongst the pink granite outcroppings.

A huge field of White Prickly Poppies separated by barbed wire from the Bluebonnets -- only in Texas! This was taken on the Willow City Loop road. For those who aren't familiar with this area, the Willow City Loop begins on FM 1323 -- northeast of Fredricksburg and off of Hwy16. It's about 15 miles of driving through one of the prettiest areas of central Texas. The narrow road traverses up and down through the most diverse landscape in a very short distance. It goes from level, flower-filled meadows, through cliff lined canyons to way up high overlooks and most of the time there is a meandering stream near to the road. Even on a quiet Thursday afternoon, we saw dozens of gawkers and on the weekend, it's a regular traffic jam of wildflower seekers.

The Firewheels (aka Indian Blankets) were intensely red this year. This stand was mixed in with yellow Sunflowers and the whole scene gave the eyes a break from the solid fields of bluebonnets. Of course, after miles and miles of these.....

A refreshingly, cool blend of purples, blues and whites. This is an assortment of Winecups, Bluebonnets, Verbenas and Poppies, with a few Firewheels thrown in for punctuation -- and, once again, a favorite with the butterflies (and bees too, but they didn't bother me.)

There are lots of ranches along the Willow City Loop road. This one had the most unique gate that I've seen. In this shot of the whole gate, can you spot the typical Texas icons -- the Alamo, gushing oil well, cowboy, longhorn, dancers, cactus, buzzard and snake? The next photo shows what's written across the top.

Here is a close-up of the lettering on the gate -- it said "Take me back to my sweet Texas home" -- sweet words to our ears when you travel as much as we do.


This brightly painted mailbox just looked like Texas to me. It was the only mailbox for miles around and I'm sure it brought smiles to all who passed it.