Native Plants

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Sunday - August 23, 2009
From: The Woodlands, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Seed and Plant Sources
Title: Source for maroon bluebonnets in The Woodlands, TX
Answered by: Barbara Medford
QUESTION:
Please tell me where I can purchase maroon bonnets, seeds or the plant, near College Station or The Woodlands, Texas.ANSWER:
The maroon bluebonnet is still Lupinus texensis (Texas bluebonnet). "Bluebonnet" is the official name of the flower, and the color differentiations are the result of finding and propagating plants which had taken on different colors. More information on Texas Bluebonnet-Texas Pride is found on this website from Texas A&M Extension.
You are probably going to have to go to mail order for these seeds, and we found two sources. When you plant them, be aware that some of the seeds are going to revert to the blue or purple color that is native. Remove these from the field where you are growing the maroon bonnets immediately, in order to prevent cross-breeding which can quickly change the desired color characteristics. All of the sites we found for ordering seeds have information on time of planting, etc.
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