Variety: Several species and colors of wildflowers grace a field just off of a county road near Gonzales, Texas in early April. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Field of Color: A field of yellow Black-eyed Susan and red Indian paintbrush fill a roadside field near Buchanan Lake in the Texas Hill Country. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
By GARY WARREN
Photographer
Formerly of Los Alamos
Nothing says spring like a warm sunny day and a field of colorful wildflowers. Spring in the Rocky Mountain region seem to never want to lose its grip on the cold, snowy, and windy days remaining from winter even into March and April. By March or April states to the south and other warmer regions of the country have burst into a colorful pallet of wildflowers along the roadways and in many roadside fields.
We love to travel in March and April for some of the above mentioned reasons. We are tired of the snow and cold and want to experience the true colors of spring and warmer temperatures that grace other regions of the country.
Our journey this year took us across the state of Texas. We travel the state often to help Marilyn’s parents in Houston and we have seen the Texas landscape in the dead of winter when the landscape is drab and dead to the spring when the roadways come alive with color.
In Texas, the star of the spring wildflower show is the state flower, the bluebonnet. However, bluebonnets are not the only flower in the fields and along the roadways.. Red blooms of the Indian paintbrush are probably the second most prevalent flower seen while traveling around the state this spring. Other species of wildflowers seen in Texas are Indian blanket, Pink evening primrose, and a variety of daisies and many more wildflowers that put on a beautiful and colorful show every spring.
Many of the flowers can be seen statewide over the period of a few weeks depending on local weather and temperatures while other species like to congregate in different regions of the state. We have found that March and April bring the best blooms in the Texas hill country and the inland areas along the coast.
This year we spent most of our time exploring the hill country to the west of San Antonio and Austin. We also saw an abundance of wildflowers while driving the backroads from San Antonio to the Houston area.
While I enjoy sharing photos of the bluebonnets every spring, this post will feature some of the other wildflowers that contribute to the annual show.
Fortunately for us, the rains in recent months have led to a banner year for the wildflowers this season and the roadways have been beautiful.
We are currently still in the Houston area but hope to see more wildflowers on our return trip across the state next week. Next week’s Post From the Road will feature the bluebonnets that we have seen during the past weeks.
Editor’s note: Longtime Los Alamos photographer Gary Warren and his wife Marilyn are traveling around the country, and he shares his photographs, which appear in the “Posts from the Road” series published in the Sunday edition of the Los Alamos Daily Post.
Indian Paintbrush: Indian paintbrush blooms with a few bluebonnets and Black-eyed Susans fill a roadside near Kingsland, Texas in late March. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Colorful Mix: A colorful mix of wildflowers were seen along a county road near Kingsland, Texas in the Texas Hill Country. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Amazing Paintbrush: An amazing field of Indian paintbrush blooms blanket a field near Shiner, Texas in early April. In the distance, a few patches of bluebonnets also added color to the scene. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
