There are more than 5,000 species of Texas Wild flowers that offer unlimited viewing pleasure to Texans and visitors, and a challenge to botanists who strive to name and classify all of them.
During the peak season of late March through May, fields and highways abound with the famed, noble, state flower of Texas, the Texas Bluebonnet, which is most often surrounded and flanked by the dignified Indian Paintbrush. Artists and photographers come from all over to capture this exclusive and timely landscape beauty. Along roadsides of Houston, Brenham, Austin, and San Antonio and more, there is spectacular roadside viewing.
The reason for the abundance of Texas wildflowers (more varieties than any other state) is due in part to the great diversity of Texas geography. Nature is never at a loss to provide plants for every kind of environment, and the geography of Texas covers a wide spectrum of physical settings.
The elevations in Texas range from sea level to the rugged peaks of mile high mountains. Rainfall measures more than 56 inches annually in the jungle-like regions of East Texas, and less than eight inches in the sun-baked Chihuahuan Desert of West Texas. A weather station in the North Texas Panhandle averages 24 inches of snowfall each winter, but at the subtropical tip of Texas in the city of Brownsville, it has yet to record any snow fall since the last century.
Texas wildflowers of every kind, shape and color dot the beautiful Texas landscape. Delicate orchids grow wild in the humid tangle of the Big Thicket East Texas. Eerie flesh-eating plants capture insects on shadowy forest floors.
In the subtropical Lower Rio Grande Valley, which includes the southernmost counties of Texas is a year-round floral area. Feathery palms overhang the highways, and groves of citrus trees are always green. Yards are full of Bougainvillea, and gardens in December are filled with giant Poinsettias reaching 12 feet high.
The plains of North Texas display Indian Blanket, Prairie Verbena and Milfoil. Also, the delicate mallow flowers grow throughout the summer. Almost overnight, prairie flowers can turn a featureless plain into a blanket of color.
There is the West Texas landscape where the desert unfolds its glorious arid scenery. The prickly cacti and desert plants like the Ocotillo and Pitaya cactus displays their delicate blooms of spectacular beauty.
Entire hillsides may be splashed with multitude of Texas wildflowers. Depending on the time of year and location, and the rainfall, almost all Texas wildflowers may be found along the Texas highways. The Texas State Department of Highways and Public Transportation plants and preserves Texas wildflowers in a program of beautification that has spanned more than 40 years. The department is, the nation\'s largest "landscape gardener" with more than 800,000 acres of highway right-of-way to cultivate mow and care for.
On barren locations the Department seeds lawn-type grasses and Texas wildflowers. In peak season mowing operations are suspended during primary blooming and seeding seasons. When mowed, part of the seed crop is gathered and scattered in new locations along the right-of-way. Texas is known for its beauty by the mile.
From late March to early May, you can find Texas wildflowers at their peak in roadside parks, rest areas, beside bridges and on stream banks. Texas is wild with flowers! There are many exciting tours for viewing Texas wildflowers <
http://www.florage.com/tx_wildflower_viewing.html
You can visit Florage.com, Gifts, for more information about Texas Wildflower tours and products, and take home a part of Texas, or give a gift to a friend. Choose from a variety of Texas Gifts, "made in Texas".
Copyright: Copyright © 2008 Gayle Christie
About the Author:
| Since 1982, GAYLE CHRISTIE has been preserving memories with flowers. She owns and operates FLORAGE http://www.florage.com, a national company pioneering in the field of floral preservation. FLORAGE employs an innovative vacuum freeze-drying process to preserve customers\' original flowers, from meaningful occasions, which are used to create lifetime keepsakes.
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