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| Texas wildflowers (Texas Highways/Don Allen) |
By Julianne G. Crane
During this time of COVID-19 crisis, if you are a Snowbird needing to travel through several states to get home, check the Centers for Disease Control’s advice on ‘Coronavirus and Travel in the United States.’
If you are able to travel and your route home takes you through the Hill Country of Texas, one small upside during these challenging times is that now is the peak of spring wildflower season. With more than 5,000 species of native flowering plants, the Lone Star State is known for its breathtaking spring (now through June). Autumn wildflowers bloom September through November.
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| Gardens (Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center) |
Lady Bird Johnson, a former First Lady and pioneering environmentalist, believed in the beauty and power of healthy landscapes to transform lives. The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, a research unit of the University of Texas at Austin. The Center is devoted to the preservation and use of native plants. During the COVID-19 crisis, the Center is scheduled to be closed now through May 1. Check the website for the most current information.
The “Wildflower Center’s 284 acres are a mix of cultivated gardens, an arboretum, managed natural areas and wildlands. The sustainable gardens display many of the 650 species of native plants growing throughout the Center.”
“Even in the poorest neighborhoods you can find a geranium in a coffee can, a window box set against the scaling side of a tenement, a border of roses struggling to live in a tiny patch of open ground. Where flowers bloom, so does hope.” — Lady Bird Johnson.
When you can go:
University of Texas Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
4801 La Crosse Ave., Austin, TX 78739
512.232.0100
When Open Hours are Daily: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Admission: Adults – $12, $10 Seniors (65+), Youth – $6
Wildflower Café is open daily from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
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| Bluebonnets (FredericksburgTexasOnline) |
Additional resources
Four scenic drives around the Hill Country and Fredericksburg that will take your breath away.”
Texas Highways magazine and online site are incredible resources on “Everything you need to know about Texas Wildflower Season.”
Read more of Julianne’s RV Short Stops posts here.
To read more RV lifestyle articles go to RVWheelLife.com
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We recently (last Sunday) traveled across Texas, from Midland in West Texas to Texarkana, and saw many wildflowers. I will agree it was a bit of a pick me up. The wife and I talked about the ones we didn’t recognize and marveled at the size of some of the Blue Bonnet patches. I’ll say it was the highlight of our 1900 mile trip to Pennsylvania
This makes me a little sad. We had planned and booked a trip from our home in New Mexico to the Texas Hill Country starting in about 10 days. First NM closed all our state parks voiding the reservations we’d made. Next two of the main attractions we were planning to see, Pedernales Falls SP, and Hamilton Pool closed. We were going to stay at a few COE locations along the way. Closed. Sigh. Maybe next year.
just a note: all of Presidio, Brewster and Pecos counties are closed in Texas. No hotels/motels/restaurants (fast food drive thru’s are open). These normally sparsely people locations are seemingly dead: no traffic on the roads, no people on the streets in the towns. scary.
This is not the time to stop and smell the flowers!