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Sunday - March 18, 2012

From: Canyon, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Wildflowers
Title: When and where are the bluebonnets blooming from Canyon TX?
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

Where can we get reports on when and where the bluebonnets are blooming?

ANSWER:

Since you are in Randall County, in the upper central Panhandle, we thought we would find the most convenient spot for you to begin. According to the this USDA Plant Profile map on Lupinus texensis (Texas bluebonnet), it doesn't appear at all, or very little, in the Texas Panhandle. If you look at that map (all the counties in green are locations where the bluebonnet grows natively) you will see that the greatest concentration of blooming areas is in Central and South Texas. One possibility would be to get down to Travis County where Austin, the home of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is located. Again looking at the map, you can see you are going to drive through some pretty densely blooming areas. In Austin, you can go south on Loop 1 (MoPac) to Lacrosse (the last traffic light going south on Loop 1), turn left and there you are. Here is an article on Wildflower Days, which are going on now, with entrance fees and opening hours. Not only do we have lots of bluebonnets all over the site, but there are special places for you to take pictures of others in your group in front of bluebonnets. We suggest you do not come from April 13 to 15 because our Spring Plant Sale is going on at the Wildflower Center, with plants native to Central Texas on sale, but it is very crowded.

Here is a website On the Trail of Bluebonnets, which originates from Fredericksburg. If you leave Austin on US 290 going west, you will get to Fredericksburg. Another site is On the Bluebonnet Trail.

If you go east out of Austin on Hwy. 290, you will come first to Brenham and then to Chappell Hill, both of which are surrounded by bluebonnets. Here is more information and a map of the area.

As to when bluebonnets are blooming, the time is NOW! Our standard answer to that question is they commonly bloom from March to mid-April. After last year's devastating drouth and heat, the rains came at the right time this year, and the bluebonnets have been responding magnificently. You can just drive around about anywhere in Central Texas and find them in the fields, in front of people's houses in towns and as far as the eye can see.

From the Image Gallery

Texas bluebonnet
Lupinus texensis