The Obligatory Texas Wildflower Picture

One beautiful spring day during my second year as a University of Texas undergrad, a strange sight caught the corner of my eye as I barreled down IH35. Off to the right side of the road, a young couple stood motionless, staring at the grass covered hill running parallel along the highway. Their car seemed fine, they didn’t seem distressed. They just stood there, staring at the ground and pointing.

“More Texas weirdos” I mumbled to myself as I drove by…

Then a few days later, another young couple - also staring at the ground, this time with a a camera; no car wreck, smoking hood, or flat tire in site.

Luckily, this time around my travel companion happened to be a native Austinite who educated me on the Central Texas tradition of taking pictures of your new baby surrounded by Bluebonnets during the 6 to 8 week-long springtime wildflower season.

Great idea I thought, but on the side of the freeway??

Sure, the highways are gloriously abundant with swaths of blue, pink and yellow Texas wildflowers – thanks in part to the Ladybird Johnson-inspired Texas Department of Transportation’s wildflower planting program, but certainly there are safer photo-worthy locations to be found in Austin!

Luckily I found such a place. So in my unrelenting attempt to play the part of the consummate texas wannabe, here are Paisley's safely-taken-out-of-harm's-way Texas wildflower pictures:

(click for more!)