Yes, the bluebonnets on our land started blooming this week, a few weeks earlier than normal, just like all the other bloomers around here. The redbuds are almost gone, the crabapple has started putting on buds, and the dogwoods will probably pop in the next week to ten days. The forsythia is in bloom and I found a bud on one of our irises today. All the pictures on today's post were taken today, Thursday, March 15. After attempting pictures of bluebonnets I have a newfound respect for photographers who are able to show such beautiful photos of pastures and hills of bluebonnets. I find them very difficult to photograph. They're quite small and it's hard to get a lot of definition in a large shot.
We even have three small patches which have come up in little plots of grass growing in the middle of the driveway through cracks in the asphalt. If you come to visit, DO NOT DRIVE OVER THEM! Of course to drive over them, you'd have to get your tires off the pavement and drive in the meadow, and who would do that, so don't worry about it!
I do much better with closeups of these little lupines than I do with the panoramic shots.
My mother has always wanted some Indian Paintbrush to grow with her bluebonnets. Thanks to my bloggie buddy TexWis Girl who sent us some paintbrush seeds last fall, we spotted our first paintbrush wildflower today. So far there's just one and it's not even on the side of the driveway where we planted them, but the seeds are tinier than poppy seeds and probably some were blown across the road by the wind. TexWis Girl, my mom was overjoyed when I told her about this little flower and showed it to her!
Now back to that little bundle of bluebonnets in the middle of the driveway. Here is my mom's dog Jubal giving it a little sniff. I don't think he was investigating the smell but probably deciding whether or not he should pee on it!
Here in Texas we often see cows grazing or calves playing in a field of bluebonnets, but we don't have a fence in this area of our meadow so there are no cows allowed. But Jubal shows off just how high that clover is that surrounds the bluebonnet patch. That particular variety is scarlet clover and it has just started opening its buds in the last couple of days. There is one scarlet clover blooming in the first picture of the bluebonnets and yellow wildflowers. I think within the next week we'll have a beautiful mixture of scarlet clover, bluebonnets, and hopefully Indian paintbrush. Jubal and my mom are the same age. She will be 91 her next birthday and he is 13, which also makes him 91! They are best friends!
