Garden Galleries

This white bluebonnet and it's blue neighbors are enjoying good growth after abundant spring rains.

This prickly pear cactus stands guard against a backdrop of bluebonnets.

The diminutive drummond skullcap's (Scutellaria drummondii) purple flower grows along roadsides and in shady spots throughout south Texas. Their tiny flowers look like skulls when you examine them up close.

This beautiful flower has a couple of different names, both referring to the seed pods it makes after flowering. fendler's bladderpod (Lesquerella fendleri), more commonly known as popweed, is usually found covering acres at a time, producing numerous dark yellow, fragrant blooms on each plant. Popweed serves as a nectar source for honeybees, butterflies and ladybugs.

This field is awash in color from bluebonnets, Indian paintbrushes, toadflax and phlox.

This lone indian blanket (Gallardia pulchella) serves as a beautiful example of its name. The fringe of yellow surrounding the red interior resembles the festive blankets made by Native Americans for centuries. This wildflower is among the first to begin blooming when spring rolls around in South Texas and attracts a myriad of butterflies and bees

Indian Blankets wave in the wind blowing across this south Texas pasture.

Indian blankets (left) and Indian paintbrushes (right) share a few weeks in the spring where their blooming periods overlap

This field of Indian paintbrushes basks in the glow of the south Texas afternoon sunlight.

The mexican bonebract (Sclerocarpus uniserialis var uniserialis) is a flower that usually grown in under trees and along fencelines. This beautiful wildflower is a fragrant denizen of sandy soils and grows wild in both sun and shade. Butterflies of all kinds love this flower for the nectar it provides. It's aroma usually finds your nostrils before you see it.

Making an appearance in late spring across Texas is the Mexican hat (Ratibida columnifera). Sometimes called the Long-headed Coneflower, this beautiful cousin to the sunflower is found along roadsides and in open fields playing host to butterflies and pollen feeders. It is a tough, drought-tolerant plant that blooms well into the summer before going to seed.

Indian Blankets, or Indian Firewheels as they are sometimes called, are a beautiful reminder of spring. Here, a naturally pink color variant enjoys the sun's rays.

Nothing typifies springtime in texas more than roadways lined with colorful wildflowers. these roadside purple prairie verbenas (Glandularia bipinnatifida) provide a wash of color amid the greens of grasses and other vegetation. If you stop to admire them, be sure to look for butterflies and hummingbirds flitting among the flowers.

Resembling indian blanket (Gallardia pulchella) or red corn poppy (Papaver rhoeas), the Red Gallardia (Gallardia amblyodon) shown here is actually a cousin to the Indian Blanket. It graces open fields across Texas, providing pollen for honeybees, beetles and various fly species.

The Texas bluebonnet (Lupinus texensis) is one of the most enduring and beautiful wildflowers that graces roadsides and fields across Texas in spring. The purple spots are flowers that have been pollinated by a bee or some other insect and will soon begin to develop into seed pods.

Give wildflowers the right soil and sunlight and they will flourish anywhere. this vacant lot near the texas gulf coast is awash in color from texas bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis), yellow tickseed coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata), white Texas prickly poppies (Argemone albiflora) and dark red Indian blankets (Gallardia pulchella).

Many of us can recall picking the seed heads of dandelions and blowing them into the air to float away like little parachutes. with a bloom much lighter in color, the Texas dandelion (Pyrrhopappus carolinianus) shares the spring landscape with lavender Phlox (Phlox drummondii) and darker yellow Popweed (Lesquerella fendleri), but still produces a fuzzy head that sends its seeds parachuting on the air.

These beautiful flowers are sometimes mistaken for thistles. the white prickly poppy (Argemone albiflora) gets its name because the leaves and stems are outfitted with prickly points and sharp ends to help deter potential grazers. The delicate white petals blow in the breeze and are highly attractive to butterflies and pollen-feeding insects.

Prickly poppy observations in Texas are dominated by the white variety across fields and roadsides in springtime. however, there are purple, pink and yellow variations as evidenced by this shot of a beautiful yellow prickly poppy (Argemone mexicana). Prickly poppies have been used medicinally for centuries by cultures across the world to cure skin, eye and intestinal ailments.