A Springtime Drive Through Flowering Fields in Central Texas
April 11, 2023 | By John Clark
wildflowers
Beauty and the Beast: The Battle of the Bluebonnet Co-Capitals of Texas
April 6, 2023 | By John Lumpkin
When the Texas Legislature focuses on bluebonnets, it can take unprecedented action, with our State Flower getting drawn into regional rivalries and larger political disputes.
An Expectant Mother Contemplates Growth at Austin’s Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
March 16, 2023 | By Ali Montag
Celebrate Spring Wildflowers in Texas at These Festivals and Trails
March 15, 2023 | By Amanda Ogle
Beautiful wildflowers are popping up across the state from March through May. And while we all love our bluebonnets, other types of wildflowers keep the landscapes colorful as well, including Indian paintbrushes, Mexican hats, pink evening primrose, horsemint, and firewheels (also known as Indian blankets).
2023 Wildflower Forecast: Bluebonnets Arrive Early Ahead of a Lush Blooming Season
March 10, 2023 | By Asher Elbein
Spring has settled over Texas, and with it, the roadsides and pastures of Texas are beginning to bloom in carpets of wildflowers.
Texas’ Flowering Trees Take Seasonal Blooms to New Heights
February 28, 2023 | By Asher Elbein
How to Find Wildflowers Year-Round Across the State
February 24, 2022 | By Joe Nick Patoski
Wildflower season isn’t just a spring thing
The Russian Immigrant Behind One-of-a-Kind Western Wear
February 24, 2022 | By Andrea Luttrell
A New Biography Portrays Lady Bird Johnson as Much More Than Just a Flower Girl
March 23, 2021 | By
After a year of the ongoing pandemic and, more recently, the Great Texas Freeze, all Texans will welcome the colorful blooms of this wildflower season.
Enjoy Spring Wildflowers and Sample 42 Wineries with This ‘Passport’
March 22, 2021 | By Gabrielle Pharms
Spring is most glorious time to be outdoors in the Hill Country. Wineries in the area up the ante with discounted tastings, allowing oenophiles to make the most out of this special season.
Despite February Storm, Experts Predict a Colorful Texas Wildflower Bloom
March 8, 2021 | By Sabrina LeBoeuf
Winter Storm Uri’s snow, ice, and frigid temperatures took a toll on flora and fauna across Texas.
Stories of the Wild(flowers)
March 15, 2020 | By Jane Kellogg Murray, Illustrations by Jack Molloy
Warm Winter Brings Early Wildflower Bloom to Texas This Spring
March 5, 2020 | By Melissa Gaskill
Gas up the car, pack a picnic, and charge your camera: Texas is set for a beautiful wildflower season this spring.
Everything You Need to Know About Texas’ Native Wildflowers
February 27, 2020 | By Joe Nick Patoski
The 3 Best Places to See Poppies in Texas
February 21, 2020 | By Shari Biediger
Springtime calls for road trips to see Texas’ native wildflowers—bluebonnets, firewheels, and pink evening primroses, just to name a few. But other flowers bloom this time of year, too, and they’re celebrated in festive fashion in El Paso, Castroville, and Georgetown.
Catch May’s Second Wave of Wildflower Blooms While You Still Can
May 6, 2019 | By John Lumpkin
This May, the Texas Hill Country is proving there is more than bluebonnets to revere. A second wave of blooms is eclipsing the dazzling bluebonnet crop with prolific Indian blanket, reddish-purple winecup, pinkish primrose, coreopsis, and others. The same combo of rain and sun that produced the bluebonnet displays are benefitting this second wave, as well.
Identifying Texas Wildflowers with The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and Studio 512 in Austin
April 11, 2019 | By TH Staff
Senior horticulturist Julie Marcus helps identify the common wildflowers blooming this spring
A Runner Reflects on Lady Bird Johnson’s Legacy and the Companionship of Nature
April 5, 2019 | By S. Kirk Walsh
Johnson described nature as her daily companion. “The song of the wind in the upper branches of the pine trees is the most evocative symphony I’ve ever heard.”
Gallery: Wildflowers of the Hill Country
April 2, 2019 | By TH Staff
For our March 2019 issue, we sent photographer Theresa DiMenno out to capture spring color in 2018. These are some of our favorite images that we didn’t have room for in the issue.
Texas Highways Debuts Special Issue Dedicated to All Things Texas Wildflowers
March 26, 2019 | By
Over the years, we’ve scouted the state’s best wildflower drives; dug up wildflower trivia; covered dozens of wildflower festivals from El Paso to the Piney Woods; and offered grower’s guides and field guides. But this issue beats them all: 100 pages devoted entirely to Texas wildflowers—a botanical feast for the eyes. It’s a cornucopia of flower facts, folklore, photography, and festivals, and can be enjoyed year-round, even when those beautiful bluebonnets aren’t in bloom. Here we bring you the best of Texas Highways’ wildflower writing, imagery, and useful tips—where to wake up next to fields of flowers, Texas artisans making everything from pressed-flower art to wildflower soaps, and a grand total of 12 scenic drives guaranteed to feed your flower frenzy in every corner of the state.
Poppies Festival on Saturday Celebrates El Paso’s Big Bloom
March 22, 2019 | By E. Dan Klepper
El Paso will celebrate its poppy bloom on Saturday at the El Paso Museum of Archeology’s annual Poppies Festival.
“This year’s bloom is considered the best in the last three years,” Museum Director Jeff Romney says.
The wildflowers are in full bloom throughout the region, accenting the city’s Chihuahuan Desert slopes with brilliant sunset hues of orange and yellow. The show usually begins in late January and lasts through early April. With spring rains, the bloom can extend through mid-May.
The Best Texas Wildflower Photos from 2019
March 19, 2019 | By
Texas is awash in color after a wet fall and winter. These are some of our favorite photos readers have shared with us so far this year.
Gallery: Wildflowers of West Texas
March 7, 2019 | By TH Staff
For our March 2019 issue, we sent photographer and West Texas resident E. Dan Klepper out to capture spring color in 2018. These are some of our favorite images that we didn’t have room for in the issue.
El Paso’s Poppy Bloom is One of the Most Colorful in Years
March 4, 2019 | By E. Dan Klepper
It’s poppy season in El Paso. The wildflowers are in full bloom throughout the region, accenting the city’s Chihuahuan Desert slopes with brilliant sunset hues of orange and yellow.
Photo: Clymer Meadow Preserve
March 1, 2019 | By
With their characteristically droopy petals, Black Samson coneflowers seem ready to turn down for the night as the sun sets on the Clymer Meadow Preserve northwest of Greenville. The preserve protects remnants of the Blackland Prairie, a tallgrass prairie that once stretched from the Texas coast to Canada. Prairies and pastures in North Texas and the plains of the Panhandle provide native habitats for this perennial, which blooms April through July and can also be propagated in gardens.
Texas Highways Magazine Celebrates 45 Years of Traveling Texas
March 1, 2019 | By Emily Roberts Stone, Executive Editor
If there’s one thing Texans can agree on, it’s their love of wildflowers. A field of native blooms graced the second-ever cover of Texas Highways, and readers’ enthusiasm for the bluebonnet and its springtime companions hasn’t dampened since.
Photographers Capture Texas’ Spectacular Variety of Wildflowers in Every Region of the State
March 1, 2019 | By
Awed by the spectacular variety of wildflowers throughout Texas, we sent four photographers on a springtime mission across the state. They combed seven distinct regions of Texas, from the shaded forests of the Piney Woods to the mountains and deserts of the Big Bend, from sandy coastal dunes to rolling hills and the vast plains of the Panhandle. The results are as magnificent and diverse as the lands that nurture our abundant blossoms.
Gallery: Gulf Coast & South Texas Wildflowers
February 28, 2019 | By TH Staff
For our March 2019 issue, we sent photographer Larry Ditto to capture spring blooms in South Texas and the Gulf Coast. These are some of our favorite images that we didn’t have room for in the issue.
In Ennis, Wildflowers Beckon Weekenders in Pursuit of Small-Town Charm
February 19, 2019 | By Allison McNearney
Founded in 1872 by the Houston and Texas Central Railway, Ennis is a product of two pillars of Texas’ 19th-century economy: cotton and the railroad. While Ellis County is no longer a top cotton producer, the railroad still plays a role in connecting Ennis’ thriving manufacturing industry with the world.
Most-Read Stories of 2018
December 26, 2018 | By Peter Obering
Wildflower road trips, barbecued crabs, the wild outdoors, and a snake farm in New Braunfels highlight our most popular stories in 2018.
Editor’s Letter: Misadventures in Wildflower Photography
February 14, 2018 | By
On an overcast spring morning five years ago, with our 1-month-old baby in tow, my husband and I headed out on a singular mission. My mom was in town for the weekend, and we were determined to get that perfect “child among the bluebonnets” picture that was my daughter’s Texas birthright.
It being late March, we didn’t expect to have much trouble finding a bountiful patch of blooms. We struck out at the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center—its bluebonnets wouldn’t come in until a little later in the spring, one of the volunteers explained.
Everything You Need to Know About Texas Wildflower Season
February 13, 2018 | By
With its sprawling size and diversity of landforms, Texas offers a treasure of spectacular wildflowers for residents and visitors alike. More than 5,000 species of flowering plants are native to Texas.
We’ve curated the best of our recent wildflower features to help you enjoy the best of Texas wildflower season.
Four Wildflower-Focused Texas Road Trips (Plus Guaranteed Photo Ops)
February 12, 2018 | By Melissa Gaskill
At Texas Highways, we’ve learned a few things over the years about spring wildflowers in Texas: We have lots of them, many kinds, all over the place. We’ve learned this, too: Once Mother Nature shakes off winter’s chill, there’s no better way to celebrate the new season than with a wildflower-focused road trip.
Stories of the Wild
March 20, 2017 | By Jane Kellogg Murray
Watching Texas’ prairies and hillsides light up with seasonal wildflowers is a delight for the senses—a farewell to our short-lived winters and a harbinger of the warmer days to come.
Wild about Wildflowers
May 2, 2016 | By
Each year, the first full week of May – May 2-8, 2016 – is designated as National Wildflower Week, a time to celebrate the brightly colored blooms that brighten our landscapes.
The Garden of Yes
July 10, 2014 | By Andrea Abel
Luci Johnson, the youngest daughter of President Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson, admits that her love of nature came later in life, despite her mother’s devotion to protecting and restoring native plants.
Wildflowers: Oooh … Aaah!
March 21, 2014 | By Jill Lawless
Over our 40 years as a travel magazine, we’ve been “Wowed by Wildflowers,” sowed “The Seeds of Spring,” joined in the “Dance of the Wildflowers,” and gawked at “The Great Texas Bloom Boom.” Our various themes have included thoughts from such diverse observers as Moravian-born author Karl Anton Postl, who in the mid-1800s described a Texas prairie “as if clothed with rainbows that waved to and fro,” and a modern-day fourth-grader from Woodville, who penned, “Thousands of blooming hands reaching in the sun … Marching through the meadow with hearts aglow.”
Wildflowers of Texas
February 18, 2014 | By
Texas Highways has chosen 30 of Texas’ most common wildflowers to identify and celebrate. It is a brief introduction to the splendor of a Lone Star spring – just a sampling of the more than 5,000 blooming plants in our lush state, so forgive us if we’ve omitted your particular favorite.
Some Like It Hot
June 22, 2010 | By Steven Schwartzman
While Texans usually make a beeline indoors (or to the nearest swimming hole) on sweltering summer days, some of our native wildflowers revel in the heat.
Trips to Bountiful 2010: Heart of the Hill Country
March 23, 2010 | By Melissa Gaskill
From Lampasas, take FM 580 west about 20 miles to Bend. Along the way, you may see delicate white windflowers, yellow tansy-mustard, and prairie penstemon.
Trips to Bountiful 2010: Nueces River Valley
March 23, 2010 | By Melissa Gaskill
Start in Brackettville with a visit to Fort Clark, a cavalry post built in 1852 near Las Moras Springs.
Trips to Bountiful 2010: Upper Coast
March 23, 2010 | By Melissa Gaskill
From Beaumont, head north on US 96 about 10 miles to Village Creek State Park. This heavily wooded preserve occupies a bend of its name-sake creek, a free-flowing stream that offers a flat-water canoe float through the heart of the Big Thicket to the Neches River.
Trips to Bountiful 2010: Llano Estacado
March 23, 2010 | By Melissa Gaskill
The Canadian River winds through the windswept Llano Estacado, or Staked Plains, in the Texas Panhandle north of Amarillo.
Trips to Bountiful 2010
March 23, 2010 | By Melissa Gaskill
After an unusually cold, wet, and blustery winter, spring couldn’t come soon enough to Texas this year.
Trip to Bountiful: Texas Highways Wildflower Drives
March 12, 2009 | By Melissa Gaskill
For the enlightened and adventurous traveler, serendipity transforms every trip: Hiking a new trail and rounding a bend to encounter an unexpected vista, journeying to a destination you’ve heard about—or visiting a familiar place with someone who’s never been—without an agenda.
