In search of bluebonnets in Texas Hill Country. (Image: Kathryn Reed)

Bluebonnets. Our mission was to find them. We didn’t think we had, but in retrospect I’m pretty sure we did.

Four of us were driving around the Hill Country of Texas between Austin and San Antonio last week after a day of tennis camp at the John Newcomb Tennis Ranch. These seasonal flowers can be prolific. Unfortunately, not so much where we were on that particular afternoon.

I’m pretty sure I didn’t get pictures of any, but I think we saw them as we drove by. When I first saw a photo of a bluebonnet it looked more like a single flower. So when I saw flowers looking like lupine I didn’t think this was a bluebonnet. Wrong assumption.

“Texas bluebonnets are actually six different Lupinus species with only one having the official name of Texas bluebonnet or Lupinus texensis,” according to AccentNatural.com. “The shape of the petals of the bluebonnet flower resembles the bonnets worn by pioneer women, hence the name. Typically blue in color, the flower florets also will grow in shades of white, pink, lavender, purple and maroon.”

While the bartender at the ranch said we would see a lot of flowers, we should have done a little research on our own. Anyone who has searched for wildflowers knows the seasons aren’t all the same. Still, you should be able to trust a local.

“While the iconic blue flowers are beginning to appear along roadsides, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center suggests that this year’s display may require a bit more searching than in previous years,” Fox 7 News in Austin reported on March 18. Of course I didn’t read that bit of info until this week.

It was March 7, 1901, that the Texas Legislature proclaimed the bluebonnet the state flower. There must be something about people wanting to make it illegal to pick state flowers. It’s OK to do so in Texas and California. But why ruin it the landscape? Leave those flowers for the next person to enjoy.