bluebonnets! the state flower of texas, and the backdrop of many texas family photos.

it’s that wildflower time of year, which may seem strange if you’re not from texas.  every april, after several monsoon-like rains hit the area, bright vibrant wildflowers bloom along the sides of highways, in abandoned lots, really anywhere you wouldn’t expect to see the lovely blooms.

blurry, but beautiful – miles of bright yellow wildflowers along highway 45

i wasn’t too sold on the flowers when i first moved to texas, preferring more manicured landscaping to the haphazard smatterings of wildflowers along the roads.  but fast forward one year, and i was sold.  there’s something beautiful in the incredible colors and sheer amount of flowers literally lining hundreds of miles of freeways throughout the state.

warning: taking photos while driving not necessarily recommended.

i made the four hour drive along highway 45 between dallas and houston twice last week.  the southbound leg was driven in a complete downpour, with little visibility of the medians.  the northbound drive home three days later was absolutely breathtaking.  flowers followed me for the entire four hours – beautiful! i took some photos on my phone while driving back to dallas; they’re blurry and unfocused, but give you an idea of how pretty the drive was this april.

hundreds of miles of wildflowers line highway 45 between houston and dallas

we can thank lady bird johnson for this unruly beauty, as it was through her efforts on the beautification act of 1965 that improved the previously unsightly medians and billboards.  later, in 1987, the surface transportation and uniform relocation assistance act required that at least .25 of 1 percent of funds spent on landscaping highways be used to plant native flora.  splendid.

texas wildflowers along a hill on highway 45

beautiful day for a drive

a sprinkling of the famous texas bluebonnets, alongside shades of yellow and pink in the median