Family Sunday! Spring Wildflowers
April 26, 2009 by Steph
Spring is in the air, which means wildflowers are starting to bloom! This month Lucas Miller shares information about the iconic bluebonnet as well as some suggestions for viewing wildflowers with your family. The photo to the left is of Lucas and his family enjoying a beautiful spring day in Texas.
I was raised in Kentucky and moved to Austin, Texas, in my early twenties. I had heard a bit about the bluebonnets, the state flower, and how devotedly Texans loved them. But I really wasn’t prepared for the spectacle when I experienced my first Texas springtime. We had flowers back in Kentucky but the gaudy mixture of colors, shapes, and sizes blanketing the hills of central Texas left me astounded. I’m not Mr. Macho or anything but I never expected to be so taken with wildflowers.
Soon I started to notice another Texas phenomenon–cars parked before particularly splendiferous roadside displays and parents gazing through viewfinders at smiling children posing amid the expanses of bluebonnets, Indian paintbrush, primrose and myriad other wildflowers I have yet to learn the names of.
It’s a springtime rite of passage down here. Folks throughout the Lone Star State pack up their cameras, herd the young ‘uns into the minivans, and patrol for the biggest spread of bluebonnets they can find. There they snap the annual portraits of their newborns, toddlers, little league all-stars and high school graduates, as well as their dogs, cats, miscellaneous livestock, motorcycles, guitars (that one may just be me), and whatever else they may treasure. Get a poster-size print, frame it up and hang it over the fireplace and you’ve staked your claim as a proud Texan, regardless of your original birthplace.
I have to admit, I thought it was all kind of overdone for a long time. My wife worked in an art boutique for a year and the owner, wanting her store to be taken seriously, had one rule—no bluebonnet photos, watercolors, oil painting, sculptures, embroidery or other art of any kind!
But this spring, my wife and I decided it was time to take the family out and partake in the ritual, leaving our sarcasm and northern self-awareness at home, along with the dogs (but not the guitar!). And what do you know—we had a great time! I did a little Googling (best bluebonnets + central Texas + 2009); punched the destination into the GPS and hit the farm-to-market road. We reached our destination and, once out of the car, gasped when we beheld at least 2-3 acres of blue blossoms tottering spritely in the spring breeze.
Being careful not to tread on any blooms (or fire ant hills) my children ventured into the field, awed by the sea of color. Once the wonder of the countless flowers began to wear off, we took a closer look at individual plants. Bluebonnets hide their pollen between two petals cupped together like praying hands just below a little white spot. I showed them how they could pull petals down and see the pollen hidden inside. We also saw how some of the white spots had turned magenta which means the pollen is getting old and signals the bees to visit another blossom. We noticed the fuzzy peapods left behind by flowers that had already been pollinated and faded.
Bluebonnets are a Texas endemic (that is, we don’t share them with other states) but wherever you’re from, there are bound to be some spring wildflowers peeking up about now. Why not take hop in the car and see if you can find a spread of wildflowers, bask in their beauty and snap some family photos. While you’re at it, have your kids get some close ups of some of their favorite flowers and see if you can identify them (a field guide could be of great help here) as well as the important bits—stamen and/or pistol, petals. See if you can learn who pollinates the flower, whether or not it makes nectar and other factoids. There’s a lot to learn and you might find your children open to the lesson. Don’t expect to know all the answers, just be curious and willing to do a little reading research.
The important thing is to just get outside at this beautiful time of year with your family. I have a feeling my kids will remember our day in the wildflowers for a long, long time even if I don’t actually frame and hang that poster-size print.
If your family library does not yet include a field guide, the National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers: Eastern Region
The U.S. Forest Service has a website dedicated to wildflowers called Celebrating Wildflowers. On it you can find information about wildflower events in your area, gardening with native plants, and the pollinators that help make the beautiful blooms possible as well as activities for kids. (Teachers, there are resources for you here as well!)
Lucas is a professional children’s author and songwriter from Austin, Texas. Check him out at www.lucasmiller.net. He’s currently working on a song about bluebonnets!
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Thanks for the great info on your blog, and great picture of the Bluebonnets. I use to live in Texas when I was a kid nice state, now in Idaho I am not sure what our state flower is will need to have a look.
Thomas
Thomas, all the state flowers can be found at The United States National Arboretum. BTW, the state flower for Idaho is the syringa mock orange, which is beautiful!