Natural History Wanderings

Texas Wildflower Sightings  has a detailed wildflower bloom report for South Texas posted 3/19/2012:

Bastrop County – Some nice mixed roadside displays along 304 south of town and a few decent fields near Smithville on TX 71.

Fayette County – Several fields with mixed wildflowers between Cistern and Colony with toad flax, large patches of phacelia, grounsel, phlox and bluebonnets. A couple very nice fields and mixed roadside display at TX 95 and Three Mile Rd., just south of Cistern.

Gonzales County

•  baby blue eyes and giant spiderwort in Palmetto State Park along woodland edge.
• Outstanding roadside displays and a few fields on FM 1586 east of the State Park, with drummond phlox, baby blue eyes, bluebonnets, white prickly poppies, gaillardia and lots of bladderpod. Similar mixed displays can be seen on several county roads betweenGonzales/Luling/Harwood.
• Cheapside/Westhoff/Hamon … Sweet Acacias are covered in golden blooms all over the eastern half of the county, adding even more color to the scene. Wildflower displays are sporadic along the route. A sad note: Theyre doing pipeline construction along Cheapside Road and Bellvue Cemetery Road – both roadsides have been graded and prepared for widening/expansion spoiling some of the best roadside wildflower displays in the state. There is VERY heavy truck traffic along these roads; many big rigs are traveling at high speed, and do not readily share the right of way on narrowed roadways. Use extreme caution stopping and exiting your vehicle.
• FM 466 from Gonzales to Seguin has a few excellent mixed fields, steadily improving as you go west.

Dewitt County – There are some very good mixed fields between Westhoff and Lindenau. Once again, oilfield truck traffic on county roads is a problem.

Guadalupe County – Good viewing between La Vernia and Calaveras on FM 775.

Wilson County – A few very colorful mixed displays on FM 2579.

Atascosa/Medina Counties – The highlight of the season, without a doubt! Fields upon fields are absolutely full of wildflowers between Devine and Rossville. There are several large fields of bluebonnets on FM 476 and FM 2504 either side of Rossville. From Devine, take CR 777 and CR 7711/Old Devine Road east, and you’ll see it all – mesquite fields with a solid carpet of bluebonnets, bladderpod and phlox; a massive, multi-acre field of white prickly poppies; many other lots and fields with a mix of color, and a few vistas that have solid color all the way to the horizon. South of Rossville, Iuka road has some fantastic roadside flowers, including poppies, groundsel, gaillaria and winecups.

Important note – Iuka Rd. and the portion of Old Devine Road that’s in Atascosa County are unpaved red dirt/sand. If you plan to drive them, definitely leave a few days for them to dry out after our heavy rains this week ?3/19/2012

See all of their reports at Texas Wildflower Sightings

Related articles

• Texas Also Having Early Wildflower Season (naturalhistorywanderings.com)