10 Things All Texans Should Know About Bluebonnets
Is it really illegal to pick bluebonnets in Texas? Are bluebonnets poisonous? Are Bluebonnets only blue in color? Do rattlesnakes really live and hide in fields of Bluebonnets? These are only a few questions I've heard all my life about the official flower of Texas.
While there's some truth in some of the above questions there is a lot of myth and misunderstanding. There are many places in Texas where we can go see, celebrate and learn about the infamous Lupinus subcarnosus as botanists know it, or bluebonnets.
The official bluebonnet season starts around the end of March and goes through mid-April (depending on the kind of winter weather we've had in Texas.) Let's get started by answering some questions and learning the facts about our beautiful blue state flower.
I believe that being a Texan, one must know, love, and respect the state flower. While I was born in Texas and I knew a few of these facts. Boy was I surprised to learn how little I really knew.
LOOK: The Blue Bonnets Of Texas
Now that I've learned so much more about the Lone Star States' Bluebonnet. I want to go to those "Bluebonnet Sanctuary Cities" where the bluebonnets are the main attraction. There are several cities in Texas that Identify with the Buffalo Clover or the Wolfe Flower as it's been known.
The four cities I know that are "Bluebonnet Cities" are Burnet (officially recognized by the Texas legislature as the “Bluebonnet Capital of Texas”), Ennis, Fredricksburg, and Marble Falls, Texas.
Sources are Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Assoc., Take Care Of Texas.org, Texas State Historical Assoc., Wildflower Center.org, TxDOT Wild Flower Legacy